Museum of giocattolo antico

The Museum is located in the historic center of Senigallia, in what were once the stables of the ancient and imposing eighteenth-century Monti Malvezzi palace. The museum boasts a valuable collection of antique toys from the 19th century until the immediate post-war period.

The Museum is located in the historic center of Senigallia, in what were once the stables of the ancient and imposing eighteenth-century Monti Malvezzi palace, which, after careful restoration and installation by Gabriele Ogiva, have thus returned to their original splendor. The museum boasts a valuable collection of antique toys from the 19th century until the immediate post-war period.

The twenty-three display cases are accompanied by a historical-artistic tour curated by artistic director Elena Turchi to place the toys within the historical-cultural context that produced them. One of the display cases features reproductions of ancient Roman toys and dolls, such as the famous Crepereia Tryphaena doll, created by Lorenzo and Anna Marconi of Orient Express of Senigallia, one of Senigallia’s finest.

The museum is framed by a small theater, available for cultural events, and a literary café, available to theatergoers, containing valuable artistic and literary books. All this in an environment full of charm, elegant and carefully crafted in detail, full of suggestions that only rare and ancient things can evoke a place that is, in a few words, unique in its kind, which we hope will become a multifunctional cultural hub of quality and value, as it already presents itself to visitors, available to the city and anyone who wants to be able to exploit all the potential that this place offers.

The Museum will also have the pleasure of presenting the history of the ancient toy to schools, where students will be led by a guide, who, using the tones most appropriate to the children’s age, will take them on a journey through the centuries to discover the fascinating history of ancient toys, those that delighted their grandparents’ grandparents, a story little known even to older children.

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION
Since the dawn of time, toys have accompanied the history of man. All it took was a polished stone,a piece of cloth, a piece of wood to ignite the imagination. If we talk about childhood, the discussion becomes more complex. Not in all eras were children and childhood issues addressed equally. History, art, together with a sociological, psychological, and archaeological approach, merge the complicated topic, but at the same time a kaleidoscopic journey through the centuries, curious and stimulating. In the most ancient eras, As in Greek and Roman times,childhood was only a stage in life leading to adulthood. In the dark ages of the Middle Ages, the concept of childhood did not exist. Only in the Renaissance, the invention of movable type printing, created the first distinction between those capable of reading and writing. It was not until the eighteenth century, with the Enlightenment, that we could discuss a childhood issue. Jean Jeacques Rosseau,considered the father of modern pedagogy, in his Emile he spoke of childhood as the primary and fundamental stage in human development, a delicate moment in life on which it was necessary to intervene as little as possible, since the child, in his original goodness, must be considered as a perfect and incorrupt being, emerging from the hands of the Creator. In the nineteenth century, the century of positivism, progress, the bourgeoisie, and at the same time of romantic ideals, The toy was meant to reproduce every aspect of real life, that lived by adults, to which every child had to aspire… so the rocking horse and the sword, synonymous with power, were intended for wealthy children, while the children of artisans were granted the tools of the trade, to prepare for their father’s roles. And the little girls? They prepared for the future role of wives and mothers through dolls. Victor Hugo wrote about it: “the first child comes to replace the last doll”.Let yourself be guided on the visit, on a journey through the centuries, through the charm of toys that, due to their charm and beauty, continue to nourish the imagination of the oldest and youngest, creating suggestions that are difficult to define and describe.

MONTI MALVEZZI PALACE
The Theatre-Museum is located in the stables of Palazzo Monti Malvezzi,in the historic center of Senigallia, within the ancient walls of the Guidubaldine pentagon. The building was constructed in the first half of the 18th century by order of Matteo Monti, a wealthy merchant. Among the most important historical buildings in the city, it is surprising for the contrast between the solid and sober lines of its structure and the sumptuous frescoes that decorate the vaults on the main floors. It was in these rooms that,in 1727, Giovanni Paolo Monti, following his family’s customs and his own desire for primacy and that of the nobility of the time, inclined to shows and entertainment, that the city’s first private theatre was set up.