Missionary Museum of Ethnology in Fiesole

Inside the Convent of San Francesco in Fiesole, visitors can find the Franciscan Missionary Museum, accessed from the church. In addition to liturgical objects and pieces attesting to the everyday life of the priests, what characterizes this collection is the abundance of objects coming from all corners of the earth.

In the early 1900s, some Etruscan artefacts were discovered near the church, and it was decided that they should be displayed alongside all the other pieces from Antiquity found in this area. What really expanded the collection, however, were the objects that, thanks to Father Ambrogio Ridolfi, were collected during missions abroad.

To introduce visitors of the church to faraway communities whose suffering was alleviated by missionaries, two sections dedicated to Chine and Egypt were set up. The museum displays clothing, musical instruments, statues, ceramics and ivories. In the Egyptian section, there is even a mummy from the ancient civilization.