Museo Arti e Mestieri di un Tempo

The Museum of the Arts and Crafts of bygone days is an ethnographic museum housed in the castle of Cisterna d'Asti, which, seen from above, looks like a ship, with the prow looking east and the stern west. The ramparts surrounded by the villa, contained by the road that the ancient toponymy called 'moat', support the building flanked by the tower. The fortified complex has undergone many transformations over the centuries, until it assumed its current appearance. In 1980, the original nucleus of the Arts and Crafts Museum of bygone days was opened on the ground floor of the castle. Over the course of these decades, again with the work of volunteers, the entire building has been restored and has become home to one of Piedmont's most important ethnographic museums. Inside the 23 rooms, spread over the three floors of the castle, 27 workshops are illustrated through the objects and furnishings that were used in the past.