Museo Etnografico Pitré

Frommer's Review

This is the attic of old Sicily, a virtual time capsule of the way life used to be lived on the island. Nearly everything that it documents has been virtually swept away in the past half century. Back in 1909, a great collector, Giuseppe Pitré, understood that the old ways were quickly vanishing, so he began to collect the tools of ordinary Sicilian life, accumulating some 4,000 objects that are today on exhibit at this museum.

Nothing is more evocative of old Sicily than the brightly painted, flamboyantly decorated carts, which Sicilians call carretti. A family's social standing was judged by its carts: The more elaborate and intricate the decoration, the more important the family. The museum also displays an intriguing collection of puppets and a vast array of handicrafts, ranging from ceramic holy water fonts to painted masks to 19th-century lace dresses.

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