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## Tour
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### Title
tour.name = Russo farming museum
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HTMLText_B17AB6B0_BE98_4061_41CB_C8CCD6CE2C0A.html = Michele Russo
Farming Museum
Michele Russo
Farming Museum
The "Michele Russo" Museum of Farming, Arts, Crafts and Popular Traditions owns a collection of around 3000 objects, tools, equipment and finds from the province of Naples and, in particular, from the area around Vesuvius, which document the farming culture in the period before the introduction of agricultural machinery. The museum is located in the vegetable garden and ancient canteens of the Santa Maria del Pozzo convent complex that dates back to the 16th century.
In one corner of the museum there are the tools needed in the wool-making process, carding above all: the fibres of the washed wool had to be untangled and finished to facilitate the spinning process.
In this room there is a collection of the objects most commonly used in a farm kitchen; in particular, ceramic containers and plates, metal pots, cutlery, lever scales, used since ancient times. There are also some "conciapiatti", tools used to repair broken dishes, above all the most valuable ones, such as soup bowls and large serving dishes.
Some musical instruments used to perform the traditional tammurriate (popular local dance) during country festivals are displayed in one area of the museum. Among them there is a "triccheballacche", an instrument made of three wooden hammers enclosed in a single frame. The support at the bottom jins the three hammers together while the guide placed higher up allows the two external hammers to slide, beating against the central one and creating a unique rhythmic sound, accompanied by the sound of rattles, fixed on the top of the rods.
The Museum aims to preserve the memory of rural society, conserving and making available to the public the "tangible" and "intangible" testimonies of the world of farming. In one section, there are several installations dedicated to practices and tools of some of the old crafts: some objects recall moments of everyday life, while others were used by the craftsmen during the production of shoes and hooves, a cradle and a rocking horse.
The typical tools of washerwomen, such as, for example, some ancient irons, are displayed in this part of the museum.
Under a portico there is a collection of ancient farm tools used to process grain, along with equipment used for the cultivation and transportation of agricultural products. There are tools used in fields, drawn by either men or animals. Also on display there are packsaddles and single and double yokes for cattle and horses..
The objects on display in this large room document the vine cultivation and wine production cycle. Among them you can see the ancient bellows pumps for sulphur, used in agriculture as a pesticide. Instead, the large vats and barrels were used in the phases following the harvest.
Seasonal vegetables and plants are grown in the garden of the former convent. Plants traditionally grown in Campania include the tomato, in truth, the tomato arrived from the Americas where it was cultivated by the Aztecs. In 1548, the Viceroy of the Kingdom of Naples gave Eleonora di Toledo some tomato seeds, a product that, transformed into sauce, would become a basic ingredient of the famous Campania dishes, such as pasta and pizza.