“I Magli” Museum of Sarezzo
Come and discover the “I Magli” Museum (Forgers’ Museum) of Sarezzo!
The 16th-century forge in Sarezzo comprises a fascinating museum and Ecomuseum itinerary aimed at discovering the centuries-old traditions of Valle Trompia linked to the processes of extracting, casting and producing iron.
In the 18th century, the forge appeared in the list of the Bailo family’s possessions and was indicated as a “forge for refining the cast iron arriving from the smelting furnaces, for hammering.”
In 1879, the Sanzogni family acquired the site, which specialised in producing and forging agricultural equipment and plough parts such as ploughshares, moulders and coulters until the activity was suspended in 1984. Having fallen into a state of neglect for several years, the forge was given a new lease of life in 2001 when the municipality bought it and restored it, turning it into a museum.
The heart of the “Sala Magli” museum: a large, high hall with few windows and a special dormer window to vent the fumes produced by the furnaces, so-called because it contains three mighty hammers with a similar structure but different performances and functions.
The museum itinerary continues on the first floor, enriched by the display of two interesting collections: the Sanzogni collection and the Pellegrini collection.
The first preserves tools and utensils used and made by local forgers, which were catalogued in 2014. This cataloguing campaign produced over 1,000 data sheets that can now be consulted online on the website of the Lombardia Beni Culturali.
The second is the private collection of scientific instruments that belonged to Andrea Pellegrini, a master metalworker from Valle Trompia. It was donated by his family to the Comunità Montana di Valle Trompia in 2004 and exhibited here as a stage of the broader cultural itinerary called “Collectors in Valle Trompia: a heritage to be discovered.” It consists of more than 200 different pieces dating back to the 20th century, including compasses, hacksaws, pliers and glass laboratory containers.
There are also games for children, allowing them to retrace the metal cycle by following the three routes “of colour”, “of sound” and “of qualities of iron” inside the spaces of the Iron Forge and Small Mine, an engaging reconstruction of a mining tunnel.
The “I Magli” Museum of Sarezzo is one of the stages of the “Via del Ferro e delle Miniere” (Iron and Mining Route) of the Ecomuseum of Valle Trompia – The Mountain and Industry, and is part of the Valle Trompia Museum System.
