Museum of Knives and Cutting Tools

For centuries, knives and Scarperia have been an inseparable pair. As a matter of fact, the “Statute of knife makers” was established in the 15th century, making up a new recognized profession. Knife making has been practiced in Scarperia for long and, most of all, it has been the town’s main economic activity, making the Mugello area population renowned all around the world.

 

Assembled in the Palazzo dei Vicari, the Knives and Cutting Tools Museum in Scarperia e San Piero is a place where the ‘knife’ becomes a practical and vital object, while its aesthetic aspect plays a secondary role: visitors are guided throughout the museum, where they are given the rare opportunity to handle a knife, learn to dismantle it and put it back together.

 

The exhibition space is also a place where memories abound and objects testify to how crucial knives are in the history and daily life of Scarperia. Particular attention is payed to the typical local production as well as the reconstructed spaces of workshop activities and everyday life routine.