There is a place, in San Lorenzo in Campo, where the culture of the people of Marche is concentrated and highlighted. It is the Museum of the Land of Marche, where the Straccini Collection is hosted. The museum collects more than two thousand objects belonging to the rural tradition of Marche, dating back to the years straddling the XIX and the XX centuries. It is a unique exhibition, animated with images and sounds, that fully re-creates the life of farmers filled with hard work, ingenuity and real solidarity. The museum is structured along four paths. As one enters the “places of life”, one can feel the warmth of a sharecropper’s house and watch, for example, the meat mallet, the graters, the colanders and the heavy cupboards in the kitchen. The “meeting points” path tells about the moments of unity and social life. The re-enactment of a classroom is almost moving with its blackboard and the wooden desks. The “Old jobs” path shows such old shops and artisan factories as the “Salt and Tobacco” shop, filled with products for sale near scales and precision scales, and the barber’s shop, the cobbler’s, the knife grinder’s and many others. It is like being into an old black & white photograph from the grandparents’ age, but everything here is in colour, and so well placed as to give a real-life impression. Finally, there are the “collections”, a museum within the museum, with an extraordinary show of majolica, iron and copper objects made since the XVI and up to the XX century. Particularly impressive is the collection of pottery consisting of real masterpieces made in such specialized locations as Fabriano, Fratte Rosa, Urbania and Pesaro. Many objects, such as oil jugs, gravy boats, coasters and warmers, though meant for practical use, rise to the status of works of art because of the beauty of their shape and of the grace of their decorations. There are innumerable other objects, such as a milkman’s bicycle and ancient models of typewriters, and the wheel of fortune standing above the entrance.
San Lorenzo in Campo