The Civic Museum of Bracciano has earned awards and funding for its innovative projects. It has undertaken initiatives aligned with modern museological concepts and its core principles: education, participation, accessibility, and inclusion. Additionally, the museum has embraced new tools and opportunities presented by the web environment and Open Access.
An excellent museum
Pio Giuseppe Biron, Visitor Review
The Civic Museum projects have been recognized multiple times by the Lazio Region as exemplary cultural practices and included in its official catalogue. In 2020 and 2023, they were highlighted as standout examples of good practice:
December at the Court of the Orsini family, an event dedicated to the Renaissance in Bracciano. For this occasion, the Civic Museum staged the theatrical play “I Adore You, Bella,” inspired by the story of Paolo Giordano I Orsini and his wife Isabella de’ Medici, lords of Bracciano in the 16th century. The play was based on a meticulous study of their correspondence.
Multisensory point Venus and Adonis, offers a unique way to experience this sculpture, engaging different senses for a more immersive appreciation.
The museum is me, an educational project that won the ‘Wikimedia Italia GLAM – Small Museums’ award.
Beyond the Gaze was an educational project selected as one of the cultural excellences of the Lazio Region in 2023. The project, aimed at primary and lower secondary school classes, included a series of activities conducted in complete darkness, designed to explore the museum’s artworks and the museum itself through the senses. The initiative originated from the thesis of Sara Maccioni, a museum educator, developed as part of her master’s program at the Catholic University of Milan in Educational Services for Artistic Heritage, Historical Museums, and Visual Arts.
In 2020, the museum won the Wikimedia Italia GLAM Small Museums grant for its project Il museo sono io (“I am the Museum”). The project focused on creating a Participatory Guide to the Civic Museum, developed collaboratively with the museum’s visitors and three classes from the IIS Luca Paciolo of Bracciano, specifically students from the Tourism Technical and Artistic High School programs. The guide, available online under a copyleft license, features the museum’s major works with accompanying photos, captions containing essential details about each piece, and reflections written by both visitors and students.
The museum also has:
In 2016, the international conference “Communicating the Museum Today: From Museological Choices to Digital” was held at Sapienza University of Rome. This conference provided a valuable opportunity to discuss the role and practices of museums. The director, Cecilia Sodano, and museum educator, Sara Maccioni, were interviewed to highlight the Municipal Museum of Bracciano, chosen as a case of good practice.
The Municipal Museum of Bracciano is appreciate at both the university and regional levels for its cultural dynamism. Since 2012, the museum has expanded its use of multimedia devices and tactile aids, enabling blind and deaf visitors to engage with its collections. Additionally, it organizes workshops and educational activities annually for a wide range of audiences, including children, families, and schools.
The Civic Museum of Bracciano is cited as a good practice in the guide to itineraries in Lazio’s historic-artistic museums edited by the Sapienza University of Rome and the Lazio Region. L. Branchesi, V. Curzi (eds.), MUSART. Itinerario nei musei storico-artistici del Lazio, Rome, Guaraldi, 2016.
The Civic Museum conducts research on its collections and the cultural heritage of the surrounding area, sharing its discoveries through publications. Notably:
The Restoration of San Tommaso da Villanova Giving Alms: This project focused on the restoration of a painting attributed to the Baroque artist Gerolamo Troppa. The accompanying book details the restoration process, which led to the attribution of the artwork to Troppa. It also provides information about the painter and the Augustinian saint depicted in the piece, San Tommaso da Villanova. Various authors, Il restauro dell’Elemosina di San Tommaso da Villanova del Cavalier Gerolamo Troppa, Edizioni Effigi, Arcidosso, 2009
The museum speaks. Sacred vestments. The book recounts the realisation of a museum project on the communication of sacred vestments. It is an experience of applied museology based on reflections from the analysis of visitors’ questionnaires, which highlighted the difficulty of narrating such special and complex works as sacred vestments. B. De Dominicis, F. Pessolano, C. Sodano, Il museo che comunica. I paramenti sacri, Bracciano, Del Vecchio, 2010.
A critical approach to the reintegration of gaps: the restoration of the terracotta Annunciation in the Museo Civico di Bracciano. The text reports the outcome of the restoration work on the lunette depicting the Annunciation. It gives an account of the critical choices that were made, particularly in the reintegration of the gaps. C. Sodano, Una modalità di approccio critico alla reintegrazione delle lacune: il restauro dell’Annunciazione in terracotta del Museo Civico di Bracciano, in ‘Kermes’, no. 90, April-June 2013, pp.29-36.
From castrum to palace. History and Development of Bracciano Castle between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. This volume is the outcome of a research project resulting from an agreement between the Municipality of Bracciano, Sapienza University of Rome and the Livio IV Odescalchi Foundation. It currently represents the most advanced point of knowledge on the architectural history of the Odescalchi castle in Bracciano. N. Santopuoli, C. Sodano (eds.), Dal castrum al palazzo. Storia e sviluppi del castello di Bracciano tra Medioevo e Rinascimento, Rome, TAB, 2023.
The collegiate church of Santo Stefano protomartire in Bracciano. The history, the community, the people. This volume is produced in collaboration with the Bracciano Civic Museum and the Lions Club Bracciano- Anguillara Sabazia Monti Sabatini; it’s based on specific archive research and tells the story of Santo Stefano in Bracciano, the town’s oldest parish church.
Publications of and on the museum
L. Branchesi, V. Curzi (a cura di), MUSART. Itinerario nei musei storico-artistici del Lazio, Roma, Guaraldi, 2016.
R. Cantone, M. Cardinali, B. De Ruggieri, L. Indrio, C. Sodano, Il restauro dell’Elemosina di San Tommaso da Villanova del Cavalier Gerolamo Troppa, Arcidosso, Effigi, 2009.
B. De Dominicis, F. Pessolano, C. Sodano, Il museo che comunica. I paramenti sacri, Bracciano, Del Vecchio, 2010.
L. Fabbrini, L’Apollo di Vicarello e l’inserimento del suo prototipo nell’ambito della scultura attica del IV sec. a.C., in «Mitt. Deutsch. Arch. Instituts», XC (1983), 1, pp. 1-33.
C. Marini, C. Sodano, Il Museo civico di Bracciano tra presente e futuro, in «Storie di persone e di musei», a cura di V. Nizzo, Roma, Dià Cultura, 2019.
V. Martinelli, Cristoforo Stati e il gruppo di ‘Venere e Adone’, in «Rivista d’arte», XXXII (1957), pp.233-242.
N. Santopuoli, C. Sodano (a cura di), Dal castrum al palazzo. Storia e sviluppi del castello di Bracciano tra Medioevo e Rinascimento, Roma, TAB, 2023.
C. Sodano, Cultural Landscapes in International Charters, Museum International, 69 (1–2), pp. 82–85, 2017. doi: 10.1111/muse.12152
C. Sodano, Il restauro del complesso di S. Maria Novella, Montepulciano, Le Balze, 2002.
C. Sodano, Scheda del Busto di Cristo in «121 diamanti di Cultura Storia e Bellezza nella Provincia Capitale», catalogo della mostra (Roma 2007), Roma 2007, p. 141-142.
C. Sodano, Bracciano dei ragazzi. Arte, natura e storia per piccoli turisti, Del Vecchio, 2010.
C. Sodano, La valorizzazione del patrimonio culturale. L’Apollo di Vicarello, un’opera restituita al suo territorio, in «Kermes», n. 83, 2011, pp. 41-50.
C. Sodano, Le competenze professionali dei musei per la valorizzazione dei territori, in «Museo aperti al cambiamento», a cura di G. Cotroneo, M.F. Guida, M. Mandosi, 2017, pp. 83-89.
C. Sodano, Un percorso per la valorizzazione e la conservazione del patrimonio culturale. Il Museo civico di Bracciano, Firenze, Nardini, 2012.
C. Sodano, Una modalità di approccio critico alla reintegrazione delle lacune: il restauro dell’Annunciazione in terracotta del Museo Civico di Bracciano, in «Kermes», n. 90, 2013, pp.29-36.
C. Sodano, Scheda dei dipinti dell’Elemosina di San Tommaso da Villanova in Bracciano, «Santo Tomás de Villanueva. Culto, historia y arte – II. Corpus iconográfico», a cura di P. A. Iturbe Saíz e R. Tollo, Madrid e Roma, Escurialenses e Biblioteca Egidiana 2013, p. 63, 251.
C. Sodano, Scheda del Busto di Cristo in «121 diamanti di Cultura Storia e Bellezza nella Provincia Capitale» catalogo della mostra (Roma, Palazzo Incontro, 15 ottobre-15 novembre 2007), Roma 2007, p. 141.
C. Sodano, La chiesa collegiata di Santo Stefano protomartire a Bracciano. La storia, la comunità, le persone. Roma, Edicomtec, 2024.
