Dallapè Accordion Museum

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You fell asleep as soon as you got in after the dance on Sunday evening, it's always like this, and I have to take you all the way home. The kilometers are longer because the road is gray and the light is gray, and Broni, Casteggio, Voghera, they're gray too. There's only a red traffic light up here in the heart, in the heart of Stradella, which is that city where all the harmonicas of this plain are. So sang Paolo Conte in his famous song "La fisarmonica di Stradella."

The "Mariano Dallapè" Accordion Museum is not only a place of exhibition but is above all a testimony to an art and a production that has brought the name of Stradella to the whole world. Located inside Palazzo Garibaldi, the museum is divided into two sections: the documentary and photographic section and the exhibition section, complemented by a suggestive reconstruction of an old artisan workshop. The first accordion by Dallapè, from 1876, proudly stands in the photographic-documentary area, along with various awards it received and evocative photographs. In the exhibition area, besides the first models produced by Dallapè, Maga, Rogledi, and others, you can admire the so-called "liturgical" accordion, particularly suited for classical music and having a sound very similar to that of an organ. Once crowned with important awards, it is the true gem of Dallapè's production.

The splendid artisan workshop, meticulously reconstructed, welcomes visitors and recreates, with original equipment from the time and a workbench from the last century, the atmosphere of the ancient workshops. It is also possible to admire the tools used by the engraver and tuner, along with the precious decorations that adorned the instruments.