Ocarina Museum – Budrio

The story of the small terracotta flute that made its hometown famous all over the world

Every 3rd Sunday of the month  in Budrio (Bologna) is possible to visit the Ocarina Museum, dedicated to the small terracotta flute created in the mid-nineteenth century  by Giuseppe Donati (1836-1925), who made the first examples by hand.

In the Ocarina Museum the story of the ocarina is narrated together with further terracotta musical instruments, being the only museum in the world that collects hundreds of pieces, photographs, records, scores, documents relating to the small instrument

On display there are important examples of the first ocarinas made by hand by the inventor Giuseppe Donati, those from the early twentieth century created by Cesare Vicinelli, known as the ocarina’s Stradivarius, and the instruments decorated with liberty friezes and equipped with a metal plunger made by Alberto Mezzetti, who made ocarinas from 1870 to 1912.

Also exposed ocarinas made by Emilio Cesari, Guido Chiesa and Arrigo Mignani, the complete series of 9 ocarinas produced up to now by Fabio Menaglio, and the interesting material on the history of local ocarinistic groups, which since 1865 have contributed, with their concerts, to spread the knowledge of this instrument all over the world.

The museum was named after Franco Ferri, founder with other citizens of Budrio of the Municipal School of Ocarina and for a long time promoter, supporter and collector of instruments and documents belonging to the history of the ocarina of Budrio.

In April, Budrio hosts also the International Ocarina Festival.

USEFUL INFORMATION
The museum is open every third Sunday of the month
For more information on extraordinary opening days +39 051 69 28 286
It is possible to request an extraordinary opening – to be paid – on other days by booking a visit by calling +39 051 4846303 or by sending an email to the pro-loco of Budrio>>>

Photo by Ocarina

OTHER CURIOUS MUSEUMS?
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