Museum of Man and Plaster

The Museum illustrates the millennial relationship between Man and the rugged landscape of the Chalk Vein, which is distinguished by its unique geological features.

The museum tour traverses the long history of man’s relationship with this territory and the mineral that characterizes it. The access staircase to the Manfrediana Tower of the Rocca is a walk through history that, starting from the frequentation of the Chalk Vein caves in the Protohistoric age for funerary and cult reasons, goes through the Roman age -with the development of the mining activity of the precious lapis specularis, the stone glass- to the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, with the phenomenon of encastellation that sees the chalky ridges as protagonists in the construction of fortresses and castles.
The upper room of the Manfrediana Tower displays archaeological artifacts found in the Chalk Vein and dating back to these three different phases of frequentation.
The Venetian Tower (on the left) is all about the Middle Ages and Renaissance and explains the function and use of the rooms visited in the exhibition tour. Finally, at the end of the inner courtyard, you can
visit the gunboat and learn more about the defensive function of fortified works. The Museum of Man and Chalk, which constitutes a “station” of a larger widespread museum
on the territory, is a chronological journey illustrating the presence of man in this area through archaeological evidence. One showcase is dedicated to human settlement
In the Chalk area. Special attention is paid to Bandit Cave, probably among the most frequently visited from the Protohistoric age to the height of the Middle Ages; other findings, including a
stamped brick from the Roman period and coins of different provenance testify to the continuity of human presence in the area.

A second showcase is dedicated to the Lucerna cave, the first lapis specularis quarry found in Italy. This mineral (a secondary gypsum characterized by great transparency) was used in Roman times to make window panels and more. Exploration of the Lucerna quarry has returned numerous artifacts dating from the 1st to 5th centuries AD, including the oil lamp from which the cave was named.
The third showcase has as its theme the discovery of the Roman building of the Cà Carnè refuge. It is a dwelling made of unfired earth and wood built at the end of l BC, later collapsed and rebuilt, only to be finally abandoned around the middle of II AD. Its construction characteristics -it is one of the few examples of construction in perishable materials in the Apennine area-, the materials found inside it and the nearby presence of lapis specularis quarries make it recognized as the place where those who in some capacity supervised the work of extracting this mineral might have resided seasonally.
The fourth showcase collects artifacts from the excavation of the medieval castle of Rontana, located a few hundred meters from Cà Carnè, including mugs made in Faenza and a silver bird call.

Address: Rocca di Brisighella
Via Rontana 64, Brisighella (RA)