Type:

Luoghi della cultura; Ente/Istituzione

Category:

Archaeology museums; Museums of natural history and natural sciences; Ethnography and anthropology museums

The 'Villa Garibaldi' Museum of Cultures, in the town of Riofreddo (province of Rome), testifies to the presence and the encounters of different cultural identities in a country that, since ancient times, has been a borderland and, thanks to Via Valeria, an old pastoral sheep trail and ancient Roman road, is an important crossroads of trade. Alongside the agro-pastoral economy, these features have favoured the development of crafts, commercial transportation and other services. The home of the museum is the castle, which mirrors the Colonna Castle, built at the end of the 19th century thanks to Ricciotti Garibaldi, son of General Giuseppe Garibaldi and Anita Ribeiro da Silva, and his wife Harriet Constance Hopcraft. The museum was originally created in the part given as a donation by the grandaughter of Ricciotti, Anita Garibaldi Jallet, in memory of her father Sante Garibaldi; the remainder was purchased by the town of Riofreddo from other descendants of Ricciotti through regional funding.