In the heart of the ancient village of Piegaro in Umbria, at the base of an imposing brick chimney, stands the complex of the ancient glass factory, home to the Glass Museum.
The building is very suggestive, a true example of industrial archeology that tells the centennial history of glass production in Piegaro, from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century.
The Glass Museum is the most important testimony of an ancient tradition of glass processing, which has characterized Piegaro and its economy, since the XNUMXth century.
The building that currently houses the exhibition is the last seat, within the town walls, of the glass factory which was decommissioned in 1968, moving production to a new plant in the town valley, which still exists today.
The Museum was inaugurated on April 18, 2009 preserves the ancient appearance of the glass factory and houses many types of artifacts that came out of the kilns of Benton, which are only a part of the factory's production of the last two centuries. These objects were made with various types of processing.
The most ancient and widespread, practiced in the Piegaro plants, up to the 50s, is blowing, which could be free or in molds.
In the 50s, semiautomatic machines were introduced (some examples of which the museum preserves) in which the artifacts were molded into metal shapes using compressed air.
The fiasco, which for centuries constituted the main production of the Piegaresi glassworks, required a further production step to be carried out outside the factory: the stuffing. This occupation, which was carried out mostly by women helped by children and the elderly, constituted for a long time an important source of income for the families of the district.
The Piegaro glassworks produced containers for storing wine, oil and objects of medium use, such as containers for medicines and utensils for the care of the sick.
Within the museum itinerary, there are some curiosities such as the float for fishing nets, the soda bottle containing a glass marble that served as a closure, some payrolls of the workers kept in the day room.
Archival documents dating back to the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries are also preserved, concerning the heritage and activity of the factory in the last two centuries of history.
To get to know this place better, here are the museum opening hours:
From April to September
From Tuesday to Sunday: 10.00 - 13.00 and 15.00 - 18.00
and on public holidays: Easter Monday, April 25th, June 2nd.
Monday: open by reservation
May 1st and August 15th closed.
From October to March
Friday, Saturday and Sunday: 10.00 - 13.00 and 15.00 - 18.00
and on public holidays: 1st November, 8th December, 26th December, 6th January
From Monday to Thursday: open by reservation
24 and 25 December closed
Source: https://www.museodelvetropiegaro.it
