Il Museo della civiltà contadina
di Moio della Civitella

di Giuseppe Stifano

Moio della Civitella

(translation by C. Cilento - USA)

Moio della (of) Civitella is a Municipality of the Salerno Province made up of two inhabited centers: MOIO and PELLARE.
Its population is almost two thousand and its livelihood is entirely supported by agriculture, based, as always, on the production of wine, olive oil and chestnuts.
Most of all, its wines, famous since the middle ages, are sought after even outside Italy.
The two towns claim their origins way back to the firmly inhabited fortification (frurion) of Civitella which was the forefront of Velia's line of defense. Coming to light are its ruins, anxious to become a priceless witness of the Velian Civilization that permeated this area since the beginning of 5th century B.C. and continued with the establishment of the Romans in the 2nd century B.C.
The ruins of Civitella and other evidences together with antique legends bear testimony to the liveliness of this civilization which afterwards, in the middle ages, blossomed into a dignified "rural civilization", of which the Museum houses the surviving remains of its material culture.


The Museum of the Rural Civilization of the Cilento

The Museum of the Rural Civilization of the Cilento achieved under the patronage and with the financial help of the Municipality of Moio, is the result of a very interesting didactic enterprise by the elementary schools of Moio-Pellare.
Teachers and pupils have cooperated to it carrying out, during school hours, researches locally and throughout the whole Cilento.
They have often brought to light and probably saved from destruction very rare objects, genuine relics of the past, extremely valuable for the local peasant culture.
The museum offers a large, nearly complete, and also spectacular exhibition of all that pertains the life and culture of that rural world.
The Museums is partitioned in numerous sections of which the richest and most interesting are:
1) Household life
2) Weaving
3) Olive oil production
4) Grain production
5) Wine production
6) Religion and History


Household life section

The reconstruction of the farmer's house makes up a very important portion of the museological exhibition. An old fireplace is shown, its pots suspended with chains and nearby a "treppete" (tripod), the artistic product of Gypsy metalworkers.
There is everything for the kitchen: the spit, the grill, the barley toaster, and "sartanie" (frying pans) of all sizes. These also the work of wandering Gypsies.
Complete too is the equipment for manufacturing home made bread: a kneading trough, sieves, fine and less fine, wooden baker's shovels to put the bread into the oven, and even a "munnolo", some kind of broom tied to a long pole and made of branches of aromatic plants, used, after being repeatedly wetted, to clean the inside of the oven of all the ambers that had resisted the action of the rake (itself there also) and some ashes. But the least known piece of this collection, even for the older folks, is the stone home mill which, in ancient times, allowed the peasants to avoid paying the onerous tributes that the barons exacted for the use of the water mill. In a corner of the large room one can see, simple and monastic, the peasant's bed made of two wooden boards and supported by two iron pedestals. In the "colonnetta" (night stand) located near the bed, a curious person will also discover an earthenware chamber pot. Next to the bed are shown three primitive old cribs, two of wood and one of wrought iron, walkers and cages to help children with their first steps. In addition, among the numerous furnishings, there is a whole series of charcoal irons, a splendid set of oil and petroleum lamps, a typical mannequin in local costumes of the 1800's, a rough table with stone mortars, all that is necessary to make "sorbetto" (sherbet) and many other objects used locally.


Weaving section

The weaving section, completely unknown to the young generations, gathers a very rich collection of tools, which readily shows the importance in the past of the textile activity for the local economy.
In fact the towns of Cilento lived, up to not too long ago, in a true autartic economy, meaning that the row materials, linen, hemp and wool, were produced locally and worked into fabrics often of extreme value.
In nice order are exhibited "lo scavezzatoio o mangano" (mangle) used to break up the stalks, "lo stigliatoio o spatolatoio" (hackler) needed to separate the fibers from the wooden part, the card, the distaff, the spindle, the wool winder, the spooler, the loom, etc.
The section is very showy and not at all lacking of historic and folklore interest.


Section for the olive oil production

This section houses various tools for the extraction of the precious oil. In it we admire a beautiful grinder with two majestic millstones turned by a gigantic wheel driven by the energy of a "catoia" (water wheel), a wooden press of the 1600's and the whole series of measuring containers for the valuable aliment.


Section for grain production

In this section we are able to admire a wealth of tools, by now old fashioned. A surprising rare implement is the stud plough, which together with the hoe has been used for centuries by the Cilento's farmers. Many tools used for wheat threshing remind us of a very remote past, first among them the "tribbio" a large trapezoidal stone, with a rough underbelly, that was being dragged by an oxen, or a donkey or a horse over the wheat, strewn in bundles on the "aia" (a large circular earth pad, whose surface had been rendered smooth by the application of a mixture of caw dung and water and the drying effect of the sun's heat.
We find here also the famous "correggiato" (the belted), in dialect called "vette" (the clubs), very primitive tool to beat the grains out of the ears of wheat, composed of two large clubs tied together by a leather belt (correggia) or a very strong cotton string.
In this section we also find various kinds of ploughs with their yokes, tools for wood cutting and carpentry, traps to catch foxes and an antique machine to extract juice from tomatoes.


Wine production section

Of the highest interest is the wine production section being the area in the past, as in the present, deeply involved in the cultivation of grapevine.
We most assume that the Enotri, vine growers, who lived in this area at the dawn of history, did instil into the local inhabitants love and dedication for grapevine.
In a document of the 1500's ( a copy of it is exhibited in the Museum) one can read that Moio and Pellare were already at that time wine exporters and that they even supplied the Neapolitan Court.
In the Museum an antique wine cellar is faithfully reproduced, where an enormous vat and a gigantic barrel dominate, not to mention presses of various types including one very antique and modeled after the greco-roman types.
Particularly important is a little glass showcase containing precious objects: a must saccharimeter, an ebulliometer, knives for bud grafts, scales to dose the Bordeaux mixture, oil lamps, carafes and cask bungs.


Historical section

The historical section is housed in showcases with photographs, painting, posters reproducing personalities and local events related to peasants and political revolts of this past century.
Well represented are a "Carbonara" flag, red, black and sky blue, and a Bourbon one, with three lilies in a white back ground. In a little armoire are preserved relics of the Cilento's heavy participation in Garibaldi's exploits the years 1860-61: muskets, sabres, pistols, bandoleers. To be greatly appreciated is the religious section that reveals through the exposition of numerous objects the country folks attachment to transcendental values.
It is well documented the rural people's contribution to the sacred rites of the Holy Week.
Superbly illustrated are the religious, social and political activities carried out by Confraternities during the dark centuries of the Middle Ages. Well shown are wax trophies in their three shapes (phallus, ship and castle).
These trophies were implements of archaic rites since they can be found sculptured in marbles of past civilizations (see a metope of Eva Argira's temple in the Museum of Paestum).

Direttore responsabile: Dino Baldi - Caporedattore: Amedeo La Greca - Grafica di base: Roberto Lavini