Giornate FAI di Primavera alla Casa Museo Spada

FAI Days are fundraising events: participating in each visit with a donation means supporting the mission of the Foundation. In case of high attendance, entrance to the location may not be guaranteed. Those with a FAI card or who sign up for a card on-site are entitled to priority access.

The Casa Museo Spada is set within the Salento context, historically a crossroads of peoples and cultures. It is a territory that protects and preserves its heritage and identity, distinct from the rest of Puglia, fostering dialogue among the many cultural, ethnic, and religious influences that have shaped Southern Italy. In this framework, music and musical instruments play a central role in enhancing and interpreting the territory.

The Museum was established in Montemesola (TA) in 1985 and moved to its current location in Lecce in 2015. The choice to place it in an industrial archaeology building allowed for the organization of spaces for different contexts of use, harmonizing furnishings, paintings, utensils, and artifacts with the instruments displayed in the various rooms. This arrangement offers a narrative of a predominantly anthropological character, capable of bringing the collections to life and making them meaningful for the public, highlighting the aesthetic, functional, and cultural transformations of objects over time and in the different regions they originate from.

The museum is located on the first floor of Palazzo Prete, constructed from Lecce stone as a footwear factory, inaugurated in 1918 under the name Calzaturificio Fratelli Alfredo e Antonio Gidiuli. It spans three above-ground floors with a height of 15.30 m. It occupies a land area of approximately 1,520 sq m, with a covered area of 1,065 sq m and a total surface area of around 3,000 sq m. The building includes a 45 sq m entrance hall on the ground floor, covered by a barrel vault, an internal courtyard of 255 sq m, and four staircases leading to the upper floors, one of which has direct access from Via Sindaco Lupinacci. The external façades are characterized by a wide overhanging cornice made of monolithic stone elements, decorative motifs with arches, and a stringcourse at the first level. The openings follow a regular rhythm: round arches on the ground floor and predominantly arched on the upper floors. Simple frames on the ground floor and second floor, more elaborate on the first with colored lunettes, confer considerable architectural value to the building. The museum features a first room covered by a star vault and a long corridor characterized by a barrel vault.

WHAT WILL YOU DISCOVER DURING FAI DAYS?
The visits will be guided by Dr. Francesco Spada, the owner of the collection, who will illustrate the exhibited instruments. At the end of the tour, brief concerts will be held, performed by teachers and students from the Conservatorio "Tito Schipa" in Lecce, presenting pieces on period instruments. Visitors can also "play" the instruments capable of producing sound virtually, using touch-screen stations or their mobile devices via QR codes. This way, it is possible to consult detailed records, read concise descriptions, or, through short videos, listen to their sound, observe the musician's posture, and the execution technique. This mode allows the exploration of rare and unusual instruments located in the various rooms, each dedicated to specific contexts of use, offering a more immediate and intuitive experience compared to traditional museum cataloging criteria.
Visits are curated by
Students of the Conservatorio di Musica "Tito Schipa" in Lecce.
Web: www.collezionespada.it