International museum of ceramic design

The International Museum of Ceramic Design (MIDeC), or Civic Collection of Pottery, is a fitting tribute to Laveno Mombello and its pottery tradition.

From 1856 onwards, the town has hosted thousands of potters, including some of international fame, who have created beautiful objects intended for everyday use and refined artistic products of high quality.

The International Museum of Ceramic Design is housed in Palazzo Perabò, a prestigious 16th-century building located in Cerro, on the shores of Lake Maggiore on the tip of the promontory that juts out into the lake south of Laveno.

With a recently renovated beautiful double cloister walk, the palazzo has endured a complex, curious and highly eventful history . Palazzo Perabò was built on the wishes of counts Guilizzoni from Cerro at the end of 1500s, when the leadership of the county was handed over to this local family.  Over the centuries, the ownership of Palazzo Perabò was transferred several times until it was put up for auction and purchased by Don Leopoldo Perabò who transformed the building into a non-profit organisation. After Perabò's death the building was used for a variety of purposes: a home for the elderly , school , clinic and agricultural college. That was until 1968, when the municipal administration of Laveno decided to purchase the building in order to display the valuable collection of local pottery. On 9 May 1971 the museum was inaugurated under the name Civica Raccolta di Terraglie (Civic Collection of Pottery).

The collection documents the production of earthenware from the mid-1800s to the present day in the Lombard area.

On the main floor of the Palazzo, numerous rooms are set up that display pieces  (mostly from the collection of artistic pieces by Richard Ginori) such as finely decorated large vases, umbrella stands, dishes and tableware created between the late 19th and early 20th century by the craftsmen of Italian Ceramic Society (SCI) of Laveno Mombello. Other works on display include Art Nouveau-style objects and rare specimens of sanitary fittings made by Italian and foreign companies. Sculptures and ceramic panels by A. Biancini, A. Campi, G. Andlovitz, P. Melandri and G. Gariboldi adorn the walls and halls of the Palazzo, attesting to the highly artistic works produced in Laveno's ceramic workshops.

In the last decade, the collection has been enriched with works by contemporary artists who believe that the world of ceramics is deserving of further investigation.

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