Museum and Exhibitions
The Villa Centanin complex houses a Museum of Fortepianos and Early Pianos, a permanent exhibition of traditional folk instruments and mechanically reproduced instruments. On the walls of the exhibition rooms, a collection of ancient prints on musical subjects is displayed.
MUSEUM OF EARLY PIANOS “BARTOLOMEO CRISTOFORI”
The Museum exhibits pianos from the collection of ancient instruments by Franco Angeleri and from other private collections, or received as donations to the Masiero and Centanin Musical Foundation. The restoration and maintenance operations were contributed to by the Regione Veneto and the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo. The collection presents the various construction criteria and sound characteristics of the early piano in its evolution from the second half of the 18th century to the end of the 19th century in Germany, France, England, Italy, and other Countries.
ANCIENT PRINTS EXHIBITION
In the halls that house the Museum of Early Pianos, a collection of ancient prints with musical subjects by some famous engravers of the period between the 16th and 19th centuries is also exhibited, including Amman Jost, William Hogarth, Aveline, Bartolozzi, Remondini, JG Wille, Dequevauviller, Rops. The prints depict portraits of musicians and musicologists, real and mythological characters related to music, ancient musical instruments, instrument players, concert scenes and music academies. The Prints, grouped by subject, combine aesthetic value with a peculiar iconographic meaning.
TRADITIONAL FOLK AND MECHANICALLY REPRODUCED INSTRUMENTS
In the new halls of the building north of the Villa Centanin complex, renovated with the contribution of the Veneto Region, there is a permanent Exhibition of instruments of the folk music tradition from the period between the mid-nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries, from Italy, France, Austria, Germany, Russia, Hungary, China, Croatia, and the United States.
A section of the Exhibition is dedicated to mechanical musical instruments.
