Heritage&Tourism: Guided tours and workshops for a special experience of Cesenatico
25/11/2024
The picturesque canal designed by Leonardo da Vinci serves as a stunning backdrop for a special outdoor exhibition that attracts many visitors to Cesenatico. In the Maritime Museum of Cesenatico, guests can explore a magnificent arsenal, admire ancient boats in all their glory. Visitors can also witness the vessels in action through the Floating Part, which consists of ten boats. Additionally, guests have the opportunity to embark on an unusual journey into the life of a sailor: they can try lowering a sail with their own hands, discover the knots used on ships, or learn the secrets of maneuvering and navigating toward the horizon.
The guided tour is designed to take visitors through the museum's expansive pavilions, which are modeled after ancient arsenals, offering an introduction to the captivating world of traditional seafaring. From the central rooms, which feature the impressively large cargo boat (trabaccolo) and the fishing boat (bragozzo), a complex journey begins. This journey reconstructs the entire life cycle of the vessel, from its construction and use at sea to the transition to motorization.
The tour of the museum building is perfectly complemented by a walk along the quays of the port of the Leonardesco channel, from which it is possible to observe the Floating part, to end in Piazza delle Conserve, the heart of the historic center and ancient place of fish conservation. During the Christmas period, the famous Maritime Nativity scenes related to the sea and the world of navigation are set up on traditional boats, while in the summer the characteristic and colorful sails can be admired during the day and in the evening.
Numerous workshops for children organized by the Maritime Museum offer the opportunity learn about the fishing and maritime past of Cesenatico in a fun and educational way. Children can thus instantly become marine biologists, learn to read nautical charts, explore the surprising biodiversity contained in a single drop of seawater,
learn to reconstruct the traditional toys from the beginning of the 20th century and make a painted and decorated rectangular tent supported by poles, which people of Cesenatico used before the invention of the parasol.The Cidia lugger/trabaccolo is one of the boats that welcomes visitors to the museum and stands out for its large, characteristic bow eyes in which sailors saw protection on their voyages. Therefore one of the workshops is dedicated to making a clay boat with beautiful colored eyes.The museum hides many captivating stories that can be ideal subjects for creating sea theater from tempera, molds of various shapes, and colored paper.
The vibrant and striking colors of the Cidia trabaccolo and the Vigo bragozzo, two boats prominently displayed in the large exhibition pavilion, serve also as the inspiration for a wonderful workshop. This workshop explores how the sails of these historical boats were painted, the reasons behind their unique shapes, and the symbols used for their decoration. A visit to Cesenatico would not be complete without exploring the contributions of two historical figures who significantly impacted the town: Leonardo da Vinci, who designed its canal, and Giuseppe Garibaldi, who sought boats in Cesenatico to aid his escape from French and Bourbon forces.
More information can be found and reservations can be made on the official Cesenatico Maritime Museum website: https://museomarineria.it/
