The Ecomuseum started its research and rescue activity in 1985, with the primary goal of salvaging and documenting a valuable heritage of expertise relating to life between dry land and marshland. Particular attention is given to the processing of marshland weeds, developed by the small community of Villanova di Bagnacavallo, from the 14th century until the 1970s.
The research work, carried on by the Associazione Culturale Civiltà delle Erbe Palustri, highlights the need not to waste a variety of processing techniques of immense value – a generational legacy whose extinction erases the unique form of art of weaving marshland plants, using one's bare hands or rudimentary tools.
The center restores joints, weavings, wickerwork, wefts, twistings and spun fibers, all manufactured using the spontaneous plants of the wetlands, that is weeds and wood growing in the surrounding region.
This museum, unique in its kind, was set up in a former school building from the late 19th century. It is organized in six rooms, with the addition of a small pond and a teaching room. The center specializes in guided tours, and does not stand as a deposit of relics, but has developed a dynamic project, using anthropology as a live subject, as opposed to a mere exercise of memory.
The itinerary includes:
Last bulwark in Europe for what concerns the manual art of marshland-plant processing, the center is used as a teaching complement to environmental-education projects and itineraries related to national internal waters, and particularly to excursions in the Parco del Delta del Po.
The museum consists of four sections and a working laboratory. The sections are distinguished by materials and production cycles: