The Civic Museum of Rende


The civic museum of Rende	D. Pisani and D. Pascuzzo

The Civic Museum of Rende, was crested between 1980 & 1985. lt is composed by two sections: "Folklorica" & "Pinacoteca". The section Folklorica, is dedicated to the famous Calobrian Anthropologist Raffaele Lombardi Satriani(1873-1966) and presents a collections of about 3000 objects belonging to the subordinate classes of old north Calabria. Visiting the nine rooms of this section, it is possible to discover fragments of the everyday life, from popular architecture, with objects, interior decorations and furnishings, to domestic activities, with the original everyday costumes, craftsmanship objects, pottery and tools related to the arts of embroidery, weaving and spinning. "Rocche, Conocchie and Fusi", represent real symbols of "domestic virtues", while the loom, represents an instrument of work, whose rhythm, scanned the hours of women's work. The final work of these activities was in fact, "The Corredo" which in a ritual way, was presented to the bride and groon on their wedding day. There is finally in this section, a very suggestive room, dedicated to the goldsmith's art, in which are preserved tools, jewels and memories of an ancient und magnificent Rendese tradition. The section Pinacoteca, is dedicated to Rende's most important pointer "Achille Capizzano" (1907-1951). It offers a full panoroma on the modern and contemporary art. It is possible to admire a beautiful "Madonna della Purità" of Belgian painter Dirck Hendricksz (15741606) and two wonderful masterpieces of the Calabrian painter "Mattia Preti" (16131699): "Sinite Parvulos" in which clearly appears the experiences assimilated by the painter during his stay in Naples, Rome and Venice, and "Il Soldato". Near to Preti's masterpieces, there are many works of Cristoforo Santanna, two studies of Francesco Solimena, representing "The virtues", and a series of works of De Chirico, Carrà, Sironi, Viani, Greco, Guttuso, Balla and Levi. During the year, the museum activities, are various: exhibitions, concerts and conferences, which give to the visitors, the opportunity to live the history and art, considering the museum as a live interesting place, full of memories and signs of time and art. In this sense, the future projects of the Civic Museum of Rende are: An exhibitions based on Gioacchino Murat and Carolina Bonoparte jewel's; a cultural meeting between the Civic Museum of Rende and the Museum of Fine Arts of Malta. During the Murat exhibition, (13 October 1996) visitors con admire paintings, jewels, sculptures and other relics, belonging to Murat and to Carolina Bonaparte and regarding one of the most important pages of Calabrian History. The cultural meeting between the Civic Museum and The Museum of Fine arts, instead, will take place in Malta, at the end of October and will be based on a summa of the most important aspects of the Calabrian world in the field of art, history, popular traditions, touristic attractions and gastronomic products.

The civic museum of Rende