Museo delle Storie di Pieve

The Museum of Pieve Stories is designed on two sites, the ancient fortress that houses the actual museum, with finds and rich media content, and the nearby Porta Bologna which houses the Photo-archive G. Melloni, fully digitized.

The fortress was designed and built between 1382 and 1387 by Antonio Di Vincenzo, architect of the Basilica of San Petronio, as a fortress to defend the city. After decades as a private residence, in the 80s of last century, following a restoration campaign, it was used as a Civic Museum. Today, completely restored after the earthquake, it houses the new Museum of Pieve Stories. The eight rooms of the museum tell the thousand years of Pieve di Cento history, from its founding to the changes of the territory, to those about the city-planning and society in all its aspects: the work (agriculture, handicraft, industry) and leisure (traditions, culture, association activities).

The second seat of the Museum, Porta Bologna, is one of the four city-gates built to guard the old town in the fourteenth century, also became a house and later recovered in the original appearance. Porta Bologna is now the seat of the Digital Photo-archive "G. Melloni ", in which there are more than 2,000 images that have made the history of this land and its inhabitants.