Between history and nature
The museums network – carried out by Valli Cupe Natural Regional Reserve – is situated in the city centre of Sersale and it includes:
The “Fauna and Etnofauna” Museum, where different ecosystems (of rivers, agriculture and forest) are recreated with natural materials. Animals (insects, mollusks, mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and so on.) are represented by templates in real dimensions and described from a strictly ethnographic point of view, through rituals, values, beliefs and behaviors, which are the means by which culture becomes intelligible and becomes a means of transmitting knowledge.
The “Botanica e Etnobotanica” Museum, equipped with an herbarium with around 2000 samples, a xylotheque, a corner of perfumes and aromas, an exhibition of plants of ethnobotanical interest (coloring plants, food, medicines, religious rites, of superstitions, and s on) and a small collection of rare dried plants including real living fossils, such as the bulb-shaped fern.
Other museums
The Porta del Parco – an exhibition structure located in the Municipality of Sersale – in addition to a 250 seat auditorium, hosts:
the Museum of Time and Space – equipped with a 45-seat digital planetarium – is provided by an exhibition hall about the conquest of space and the measure of time;
The museums network of Sersale
It emphasizes the relationship between man and nature in order to safeguard and enhance the cultural and ethno-anthropological heritage.
It promotes the knowledge of nature through the interpretation and the know-how linked to it both in recent times and past times of the local populations.
It represents real resources for development and tools for socio-cultural and economic growth.
Thanks to the extraordinary opportunities offered by the development of environmental education, it becomes a driving force for the regaining and enhancement of the historic center, whose architectural and aesthetic richness is immediately accessible to tourists.
It is managed by the association Terra Futura, which supports the activities of the Cooperative Segreti Mediterranei, promoting the study and knowledge of the historical and environmental resources of the Valli Cupe Reserve. Visiting the museums allows to discover extraordinary corners of an ancient mountain village, seen from the inside, in a scenario that magically transforms with the changing of seasons and in close contact with the resident population, whose presence animates old houses and narrow alleyways, in a harmony that is the most authentic expression of the life of a community.