Città di Torino

Museo della Frutta “Francesco Garnier Valletti”

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• Address: via Pietro Giuria, 15 - Torino
• Telephone: 011 6708195
• Email: info@museodellafrutta.it
• Web site: www.museodellafrutta.it

The Museum presents a collection of over a thousand "artificial plastic fruits" modeled at the end of the 19th century by Francesco Garnier Valletti, and now property of the Operative Division of the Experimental Institute for Plant Nutrition of Turin, once located in Via Ormea 47.

Through the reconstruction, complete with original furnishings, of the laboratory of analysis, of the halls of the pomological collection, of the library and of the director’s office of the Agrarian Chemistry Station, the Fruit Museum enhances and promotes its historical and scientific patrimony. The museum also covers its eventful history, from the constitution of the Agrarian Chemistry Station in 1871 to present day, an essential part of a rather unknown aspect of the history of the city: Turin’s development of applied research in agriculture between the 19th and 20th century.

Heart and centre of the Museum is its extraordinary pomological collection, which includes hundreds of varieties of apples, pears, peaches, apricots, plums, grapes… Acquired between 1927 and 1935, the collection was accurately restored and studied and is now finally on display for the public, offering a chance to learn about the life and work of Francesco Garnier Valletti. Born in Giaveno in 1808, Francesco Garnier Valletti was a brilliant and eccentric individual, at once artisan, artist and scientist. He died in Turin in 1889.

The museum is a plunge into the past as well as a chance to ponder on the truly contemporary issue of biodiversity.

Museo della Frutta “Francesco Garnier Valletti” is part of “Art and cultural routes”:
Blue route
Along the Po river: nature, science and technology

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