the Museum

Maso di San Leonardo, as our estate has been known since the 13th century, includes a chapel dedicated to St Leonard and a monastery, the latter built in 1215 by the bishop of Trento, Federico Vanga, and granted in fief to the Fratres Cruciferi, known in England as the Crutched Friars. Our love of the estate's ancient farming and winemaking traditions, and our desire to reconstruct more than five centuries of history at Tenuta San Leonardo, prompted us to assemble the comprehensive collection of objects and records that has been officially recognised by the Trento provincial authority as an "ethnographic museum of rural culture".

Inside the museum, housed in an ancient barn, is an exhibition of objects of all kinds that have been used on the estate at various times. Now fully restored, the collection is organised into several sections by end use. There are sections for viticulture, other crops, silkworm farming, transport and livestock breeding and management.

The museum, which boasts a number of rare exhibits, enables visitors to acquire an overview of several centuries of rural culture in the lower Vallagarina and Campi Sarni area. It includes a rich agricultural archive "from 1500 to 1960", embracing the estate and the family history of the Marchesi Guerrieri Gonzaga, who have owned and made wine at San Leonardo since the 18th century. Special attention is focused on Marchesa Gemma Guerrieri Gonzaga, née de Gresti di San Leonardo, who in 1916 made strenuous efforts to repatriate from Russia and Siberia 12,000 prisoners of war. Originally from Trento, Trieste and Istria, the men had fought in the Austro-Hungarian army and were held in more than 100 Siberian concentration camps.

The museum is open to visitors. Please book in advance by telephone.