Under the porticoes of Strada Maggiore, or rather, in one of the few stretches where there is no portico at all, stands an imposing palace, which was for a long time the home of the noble Bargellini family. In 1638, they obtained permission to build a façade that was atypical in the surrounding urban scenery. The work of Bartolomeo Provaglia (also the designer of Porta Galliera), the palace does not include a portico but the entrance is emphasized by the presence of two telamons, sturdy figures of atlases that support the weight of the terrace above.
Having become the property of the Da Via family, in 1924 it became, among other things, the seat of the Museo Civico d'Arte Industriale, a collection in line with similar ones, created almost everywhere in Italy and in the world, whose forefather was the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Francesco Malaguzzi Valeri, the Superintendent of the Galleries at the time, decided to organize the materials as if they were furnishings, paintings and objects from a noble apartment in eighteenth-century Bologna. Inside this large 'house', one of the most attractive pieces is undoubtedly a small 'house', or rather the miniature reconstruction of an eighteenth-century apartment, complete with furniture and tapestries. Improperly considered a 'doll's house', in the examples widespread in Nordic countries since the 17th century it is indeed more of an emblem of status, an object representing one's rank that combines with the instinctive and ancestral taste for miniature shared by so many human beings of all times.
In addition to this unmissable testimony of living in the 18th century, there are many reasons to visit the Davia Bargellini Museum, not least the usual Christmas appointment with the Nativity scene: this year the museum hosts a Sicilian example from the Luxoro Museum in Genoa. The exhibition is curated by Adele Tomarchio and is organized by the Musei Civivi d’Arte Antica ( Civic Museums of Ancient Art) in collaboration with the Study Center for Popular Culture.
This is the Museum's website: https://www.museibologna.it/daviabargellini/
A detailed description of the eighteenth-century apartment can be found in: Museo civico d'arte industriale e Galleria Davia Bargellini, Bologna, 1987, p. 170
On the legendary figure of Malaguzzi Valeri: Valeria Rubbi, L’architettura del Rinascimento a Bologna: passionee filologia nello studio di Francesco Malaguzzi Valeri, Bologna, Editrice Compositori, 2010.