The Peloritani Museum of Popular Music in Gesso, displays musical instruments and tells the story of the little town’s link to chalk.
The history of chalk and of agricultural instruments.
Gesso’s Popular Music Museum, in the little town of Gesso just nine miles from Messina in Sicily, is named for the nearby Peloritani mountain range. Divided into four rooms, in addition to displaying a varied collection of musical and sound instruments, the museum highlights the characteristics of each instrument, the occasions of its use and the ceremonial functions it fulfilled. The itinerary begins with a section devoted to the history of the little town of Gesso (chalk in Italian), its architectural and artistic heritage and the production of chalk, on which the town’s economy was based and which also gave it its name. In addition to different types of sound and popular musical instruments, the museum also has agricultural and pastoral artefacts linked to the cycles of wine, oil, wheat, cheese and snow. This active and interdisciplinary museum also serves as a meeting and exhibition space for events.
Flutes, bagpipes and shell trumpets
The more than 450 instruments on display highlight the central role they played in agricultural and pastoral society, from reed flutes to bagpipes. Of particular interest are the shell trumpets archaic instruments best known for their signal function in fishing and farming activities. Other special objects are the scacciapensieri and triangles while a conspicuous collection of drums, guitars, mandolins, violins, diatonic accordions testifies to the great vitality of Sicily’s traditional musical culture.
Agricultural, pastoral, ceremonial and festive objects
In addition to sound and musical instruments, ample exhibition space is dedicated to the objects used by the Peloritani, from working tools and costumes to ceremonial and carnivalesque objects. Visitors can admire the costumes of the Shrove Tuesday carnival parade in Saponara, as well as work and everyday objects. A musical entertainment room displays, among other things, some curious pyrotechnic masks, and a collection of Sicilian puppets.
A multimedia room and an outdoor wind harp
The Museum has a multimedia room with the history of sound reproduction, from the cylinder piano to Edison's phonograph, to gramophones and the record player, a bookshop and a computer station, and in the officinal garden visitors can also admire a rarity: the wind harp played by the wind. Opening hours: Sundays from 10.30 to 12.30 or on reservation For information: https://visitme.comune.messina.it/it/luoghi/museo-cultura-e-musica-popolare-dei-peloritani-villaggio-gesso
