The museum has been based since its inauguration on July 5, 2019, on the top floor of the Palazzo della Provincia (Viterbi space) and was created at the behest of the Benedetto Ravasio Foundation, which since 1993 has been committed to keeping alive the memory and vision of the great Bergamasque puppeteer after whom it is named.
The facility displays about 120 wooden puppet heads, all significant pieces of Bergamo’s historical production that are proposed, explained and “reinvented” to pass on to new generations an important part of Bergamo’s cultural heritage.
Together with the Ravasio Fund, artifacts from the Angelini, Cortesi, Losa, Milesi, and Scuri private collections are currently on display.
The museum is the crowning but also the starting point of a broad project.
In fact, to promote the study and appreciation of figure theater and its protagonists, the Foundation also curates targeted educational proposals for educational institutions and numerous annual events.
In 2020, a catalog of the exhibits, rich in critical texts and illustrations, was published.
EVENTS.
Events curated by the museum and foundation include exhibitions, conferences, publications, professional training courses, festivals and reviews.
This is an all-round effort involving professionals from the artistic, scientific and cultural fields with the aim of bringing the public closer to this form of theater.
The main events of each year are. “Villages and Puppets“ (summer festival dedicated to Figure Theater, from traditional to modern experimental) and “Gioppino and his Brothers“ (carnival and youth festival featuring wide-ranging performances from the Lombard tradition), the latter together with the Arts Association and Unima – International Union of Puppetry.