The ceramics museum of Castellamonte occupies the restored rooms of Palazzo Botton, the counts' residence on the square, and opened to the public in 1993 under the name Raccolta civica di Terra Rossa. It is the place where you see, laid out in order, what this town produced for centuries.
What to see
The collection is in two parts. The historical section gathers fragments of friezes and capitals, tableware, franklin firedogs and parts of stoves from the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: these are the pieces that tell of Castellamonte ceramics when it was a trade and not yet a signature. The modern section is made of works arriving from all over Italy, given to the museum by the artists who took part in the annual ceramics exhibition, together with the work of local craftspeople, earthenware and stoves, and that of the art school's students, ranging from classically inspired ceramics to domestic pottery of a post-modern line.
Visiting
The piece nobody expects is the collection of ceramic whistles: about two thousand, from all over the world, and the most important in Italy. They were given in 2015 by the artist Mario Giani, known as Clizia. It is worth asking to see them even if you came in for the stoves.
Our editors' tip
Pair this museum with a walk through the town, looking at walls and chimneys: Castellamonte is where the franklin appeared at the end of the eighteenth century, the first terracotta fireplace with air circulation and a visible flame. In the rooms you see the pieces; in the streets you see the trade that made them possible.