We visited it with the musical accompaniment of an old accordion, wandering among the glass cases which display instruments of all epochs and coming from all countries. This Museum, however, is a source of pleasure not only due to its special atmosphere, in which human values are placed firmly at the core - for instance with the workbench transported here from a craftsman's shop together with all the tools, the pictures hanging on the wall, the photos of sports champions and actresses glued to the drawers to please the eye... What we also learn from this bench, from the signs in the air, from the talk of the people, is that every worker in this town has a vocation to become an entrepreneur." To introduce the "International Accordion Museum" in Castelfidardo I chose these extracts from the article written by the great Italian journalist Mario Salvatorelli after his visit to the Museum

Handycraft workshop 1918/1955

Museum hall
In this article, Salvatorelli captured perfectly the intentions of the founders of this museum (Beniamino Bugiolacchi for the Castelfidardo city council and Vincenzo Canali for the Pro-Loco association), which was inaugurated in 1981. The Museum set out not only to document the history of a musical instrument, but also to celebrate the workers and the many craftsmen and industrialists who contributed to produce a cultural transformation and revolutionise the economy of this area in the Marche region, for centuries solely dedicated to agriculture.
The Museum, currently lodged in the XVII century town hall, is slowly developing into a centre for the study of the accordion and its culture. This institution represents an effective teaching resource for it enables its visitors to trace the evolution of the accordion through the observation of the instruments and the photographic panels, as well as to come to know its most influential exponents and the fascinating culture of the craftsmen that breathed life into this world through a mixture of hard work, pride and innovation.
The collection is made up of about 300 different exhibits from 22 countries, including several unique pieces and the precious collection of Giuseppe Panini (an Italian entrepreneur famous for his production of picture cards and a great accordion enthusiast).

Museum hall B

First CD of the Series
"The Fathers of the Accordion"
dedicated to Pietro Deiro
The museum also features the faithful reconstruction of a workshop dating back to the beginning of the 20th century.This fascinating journey begins from the Tscheng and moves on to Soprani's "du botte", Reisner's accordeon, Busson's Harmoniflute, the chromatic accordion with little mirrors made by Dallapé, the beautiful inlaid creations of Pasquale Ficosecco, the first Hohner models, the revolutionary innovations of Zoppichini and finally the instruments owned by Fancelli, Volpi, Deiro, Kramer, Piazzolla. The walls are adorned by a very interesting series of photographic documents covering the period from 1890 to 1970, as well as by copies of paintings by Giovanni Boldini, Fernand Leger, Gino Severini, Silvia Bugari and original paintings by Marc Chagal, Tonino Guerra, Rodolfo Gaspari. The rooms also contain sculptures by Stefano Pigini, Franco Campanari and Edgardo Mugnoz. The curiosities of the collection include a charming letter by Federico Fellini, the first album recorded with the accordion by Pietro Deiro, the original score of Piazzolla's "Adios Nonino", and much more.
A series of collections complement the museum's main exhibits. These include musical boxes from the 18th and 19th centuries, Giancarlo Cocito's complete collection of stamps featuring the accordion, an iconographic collection consisting of around 600 objects and statuettes donated by Armando Bugari and maintained by Beniamino Bugiolacchi, a collection of coins and medals gathered by Giuseppe Mileti and a very peculiar series of cinema posters. The Museum is one of the most visited institutions in the Marche region (averaging around 12,000 people per year) and has received accolades from critics and experts in major national and international newspapers, as well as being featured in several programmes on Italian TV. Opening hours are: every day from 10am to noon and from 3pm to 6pm. The Museum's catalogue, souvenirs and very rare recordings on cassette and CD are sold in the hall.



The MUSEUM in facts (2008)
Displayed accordions: 158  (1840/2005)

Arts Exposition: paintings, sculptures and graphics by:
AURELIO ALABARDI-CLAUDIO BENOFFI-SECONDO BIGNARDI-GIOVANNI BOLDINI (ripr.) BIAGIO BIAGETTI--SILVIA BUGARI-PAOLO BUGIOLACCHI- FRANCO CAMPANARI-MARC CHAGALL-FRANCINE DEOBIENA-DANTE FLORIO-GIORGIO FORATTINI- RODOLFO GASPARRI-SEVERINO GATTI-TONINO GUERRA-ROMINA JACOMUCCI-FERNAND LEGER (ripr.)-FRANCO LUCHETTI-MILENA MARINELLI-FRANCESCO MANCINI- EDGARDO MUGNOZ-NADIR OTTAVIANELLI-DAVIDE PALAZZANI- STEFANO PIGINI-RENZO ROMAGNOLI-GINO SEVERINI(ripr.)-MICHEL SYLVAIN- STENO (Stefano Vanzina)-FULVIO DEL VECCHIO-ALDO VELARDI-MUKY VIOLET-VIRGI’ (Virginio Bonifazi).

Collections:
“Giuseppe Panini”
(n° 73 offered by the Panini Family)

“207 accordions temporarly exposed half of he year in the hall boccosi and the museum)

“accordions on stamps”  by Giancarlo Cocito

“Fisa iconografica”
by Beniamino Bugiolacchi  - partial donation by Armando Bugari-

“La musica nelle monete e nelle medaglie”
by Giuseppe Mileti

*”Accordion music sheets”
9550 music sheets (Piazzola,Deiro,Frosini,Kramer,Volpi, etc.

  1.   Entire collection Berben (donation Bio Boccosi)

*“The music of the accordion”

     8100  incisioni  foniche  (1911/2005)

*“Economical studies regarding the accordion market"
Saggi/Tesi di Laurea/ etc.
(donation: dr.Mauro Bignami)

  • These collections are exposed in the hall“Bio Boccosi” in the “centre "Studi Internazionali sulla fisarmonica”.
    (Entrance under the museum in via Battisti or by lift from the l Museo).

Museum poster
Beniamino Bugiolacchi
-director-
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