The ecomuseum is housed in the former primary school of the Castellengo hamlet, the same building that hosts the management body of the Baragge park. It is not a museum that ends in a single room: it is a scattered museum, holding together the indoor collection and the rural landscape around it, and it belongs to the Ecomuseo del Biellese network.
What to see
The ground floor holds the collections of old farming and forestry tools, the panels on the landscape and the small craft objects that tell the story of peasant life in this part of the Biella district. Upstairs are the large models reconstructing the terrain of the Baragge, geographical maps of the area and taxidermied animals. The same premises work as the visitor centre for the Baragge nature reserve, with dioramas devoted to the heathland environments. In the courtyard, under an old shelter, the working carts are kept.
Visiting
It is visited by appointment and according to an annual calendar of activities: it does not keep the fixed hours of a city museum, so arrange it beforehand with the culture office of the Cossato town hall. The Castellengo site is convenient because from the same spot you can walk to the feudal castle and the church of Saints Peter and Paul, and from there you step straight into the rural landscape of the baraggia.
Our editors' tip
The ecomuseum only makes sense if you then go out and walk. The models upstairs serve exactly that purpose: understanding how the baraggia is built before crossing it, because it is an environment unlike anything else on the plain and to the naked eye it looks like nothing more than a badly kept meadow.