Villa Sorra Collection

Villa Sorra is one of the most remarkable historical mansions in the area of Modena.

The Sorra complex (villa, rustic outbuildings, greenhouse, romantic ruins, waterways, garden, countryside) constitutes a unique sample of preindustrial agrarian landscape of inestimable historical, cultural and environmental value. The estate, which to this day bears the name Sorra (the noble family who built the complex and owned it for more than two centuries), has been the property of the Municipalities of Castelfranco Emilia, Modena, Nonantola and San Cesario sul Panaro since 1972.

Villa Sorra is home to the collection Raccolta della vita Contadina, which was created in 1973 when the painter and antiquarian Celestino Simonini decided to donate to the Municipality of Modena a significant heritage of “material culture” gathered over the course of years of research.

Since 1991 the collection has been managed by the Civic Museum of Modena.

It is comprised of tools and handmade objects that represent various sectors of domestic life and rural and urban labor, collected mainly in the Modena area, which bear witness to the past and provide an invaluable documentary contribution to the study of Modenese history.

Expanded over time through further donations, the collection with its more than 9,000 objects is now one of the most outstanding in the region. Pending the restoration of the villa’s exhibition halls, the collection is currently closed to the public.

Recent projects: Pane a Villa Sorra (Bread at Villa Sorra). Interactive tour from sowing time to the table.

For information or to request a tour for study purposes, e-mail:

giorgio.cervetti@comune.modena.it