Ecomuseum of Stone and Lime of Visone

What is an Ecomuseum?

The Ecomuseum of Stone and Lime of Visone is part of the Network of Ecomuseums of the Piedmont Region. The project was created with the aim of promoting the limestone quarries spread throughout the area and the associated former industrial sites for lime processing, the long tradition of stone working, documented since Roman times, but also the intangible heritage, made up of popular and artistic culture.

Proposed by the Visone and Caramagna Valleys Association based on research for a university thesis in 2002, it is managed by the Municipality of Visone.

The Ecomuseum differs from a traditional museum because its focus is not just on a collection, but on the territory as a whole, representative of an identity with which the population identifies.

“The Region recognises and promotes ecomuseums within its territory as cultural instruments of general interest and social utility, oriented towards sustainable local development, aimed at recovering, conserving, valuing and transmitting the identity-related, cultural, social, environmental, material and immaterial heritage of a homogeneous territory, through the participation of local communities in all their components”.

Find out more on the Regional Ecomuseums

“Theecomuseum is a tool that a power and a population conceive, manufacture and use together. One mirror where the population looks at itself, to recognise itself, where it seeks the explanation of the territory to which it is bound. An expression of time. An interpretation of space. Of privileged spaces, where one can stop or set off. A laboratory. A museum, to the extent that it contributes to safeguarding and valuing the natural and cultural heritage of the population. A school. The culture to which it refers is to be understood in the broadest possible sense. The ecomuseum is committed to making known its dignity and artistic expression, from whatever stratum of the population it may come. On diversity no limits are placed…”

(G. H. Rivière, 1971)

Find out more on the Piedmont Ecomuseum Network

The Visone Stone

The Visone Stone is a biocalcarenite quarried from Roman times until the 1970s, used over the centuries both as cut stone and for the production of lime.

Known in recent historical memory as limestone due to the archaeological-industrial structures linked to its production, it has also been widely used as building and sculptural stone. The quarrying and use of Pietra di Visone has for centuries shaped the economy of the Acqui region, influencing the architectural style of the area.

Itineraries

The Ecomuseum routes wind through woods, ridges and ancient villages, inviting you to discover a territory where the presence of stone has left deep traces in the landscape and in memory. They meander between disused quarries and kilns, medieval towers, Romanesque parish churches and paths once trodden by stonemasons and travellers. Each itinerary, which can be explored on foot or by bicycle, tells the story of the link between man and rock, between the work of lime and the beauty of a landscape shaped by the centuries. From the fossils that emerge along the mule tracks to the views over the Acquese area, walking here means retracing the living history of a community.

Activities and News

The Ecomuseum does not just preserve the traces of the past: it brings them back to life through a calendar of events and initiatives that liven up the town throughout the year.

The Visone in Jazz music festival recalls the great era of the jazz club which, in the 1970s, brought nationally and internationally renowned artists to these hills.

In May, the Festa delle Busìe celebrates the awakening of spring with its crisp fritters and old-time flavours, while in autumn the Antica Fiera della Madonna del Rosario revives vanished trades, the transhumance of the marghè and the conviviality of days gone by.

Giving a voice to this living memory is the "Custodi del Tempo" (Guardians of Time) project: video interviews with workers, confectioners, teachers, blacksmiths, keepers of knowledge and stories that would otherwise risk being lost.

A heritage of stories, sounds, and flavours that the Ecomuseum continues to weave, day after day, together with its community.