The history of the potato growing

A private collection focused on the history and on the machines used to grow potatoes. After the entrance of the potato in Europe from America there is a long path that leads to its food usage and to the agricultural related diffusion.

Even though it was considered by the Church for over a century as the fruit of the devil because it grows underground and because of the love for its flowers by the French monarchy, in 1657 the potato's plant is cultivated in the botanic garden of the Bologna University.

The botanist Giacinto Ambrosiani describes it as a medicinal plant, but not yet as a food. You must wait till the second half of 18th century for the promotion of the potato cultivation as food by Pietro Maria Bignami, agronomist and landowner. For this aim he operates trough the "Assonteria dell'Abbondanza", a structure of the government of Bologna at that time.

The Bolognese farmers persuade to grow the potato during the passage of the Napoleon's troops: the French are hungry and want food, so the farmers begin to offer potatoes in the aim of defending themselves from the raids of the soldiers. Finally the intervention of cardinal Carlo Opizzoni (1769-1855) is crucial for promoting the potato cultivation in the whole Bolognese territory, but it tooks two centuries to make it a widespread practice in the province of Bologna as well as among Italian people.

In the province of Bologna takes root the grow of the "Primura" variety, which has obtained the status of PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) and which is promoted and protected as Patata di Bologna by the Consortium that carries this name since 2002.

The museum collection is organized into three sections: machinery for planting and for digging potatoes; tools for the colleection; the sprinklers.