Le fiabe sono vere...Storia popolare italiana

Twelve thematic chapters explore spaces such as the forest, the sea, the countryside, and the village. Over 500 objects – from toys and tools to masks and amulets – tell the story of a rapidly disappearing world, while prompting reflection on transformations in our own time.

The exhibition design challenges conventional display logic by transforming the showcase from a purely protective structure into a flexible, open archive. Objects are not elevated as artworks, but presented as carriers of collective memory, encouraging direct engagement through layered storytelling, drawers, and sliding surfaces that reveal a multiplicity of media.

The modular structure – composed of standard metal profiles filled with wood and fabric panels – is intentionally adaptable, reflecting a museum in constant transformation.

Rejecting symmetry, the layout counters the authoritarian language of the Fascist-era architecture that houses it, reinstating a sense of fluidity and lived culture.

Traditional materials – wood, glass, and fabric – are reinterpreted through the use of color, which becomes a key curatorial tool. Rather than a neutral background, color defines a clear thematic path through the exhibition, guiding the visitor’s experience and structuring the narrative without imposing hierarchy.

The printed catalogue, designed by Omnigroup and edited by Treccani, translates the exhibition’s structure into twelve standalone chapters, encouraging a non-linear reading within a unified narrative. Each booklet offers an in-depth analysis of the topics presented in the corresponding section of the exhibition, exploring Italy’s ethnographic heritage through cultural spaces such as the forest, the sea, the countryside and the village. Colours serve as means of identification within the catalogue, echoing the thematic sequence used in the exhibition to guide the visitor’s experience avoiding hierarchical order.