Casa Bicocchi and the Warriors Exhibition

The municipality of Pomarance is in the province of Pisa and is part of the Unione Montana Alta Valle di Cecina. A town with an important history, its foundation is attested since the time of the Etruscans, and then became a Roman center first, and then a medieval one, also of considerable importance, thanks to the period of splendor of the entire Tuscany region.

Rich in points of interest with religious architecture of exquisite workmanship, including the Hermitage of San Michele alle Formiche and the various churches scattered in the surrounding hamlets, even the civil architecture denote a very pregnant artistic vein of the small town. Among these are the two theaters of the municipality, the Teatro de Larderel and the Teatro dei Coraggiosi.

The Bicocchi House, dating back to the 19th century, is also very important. The Bicocchi family was a family of the rich Tuscan bourgeoisie, magistrates by profession, they were originally from and resided in the municipality of Pomarance, where they built their own home, to live a comfortable and luxurious life. It became the property of the municipality of Pomarance in 1980, after the purchase made by the family heirs.

Casa Bicocchi is the emblem of bourgeois life in the nineteenth century. It is perfectly preserved, as well as the rich furnishings inside, embellished by the decorated ceilings and sumptuous furnishings. The highly aristocratic furnishings, the refinement of the decorations, the use of French fabrics and wallpapers underline the enormous wealth of a family, the Bicocchi family, who held important positions and of every task throughout the municipal land of Pomarance. : from the municipal administration, to the glass industry, to huge landholdings.

Like any self-respecting noble house, moreover, if it has remained uninhabited for long periods, it brings with it a veil of mystery and ultra-land. Ethereal presences? Suggestion?
The fact is that many visitors, after completing a tour inside Casa Bicocchi, claimed to have heard complaints and noises coming from the innermost rooms of the house. According to what visitors tell, these noises come from the red room of the house, so as to quickly spread the legend of the presence of the ghost of Casa Bicocchi that populates the rooms of the majestic residence. To fuel this legend there is also the story of a guest of a hotel in Tuscany who claims to have heard, in the middle of the night, a melody played on the piano coming from Casa Bicocchi.

Legends aside, the house was used as a museum by the municipal administration, which set up the rooms on the ground floor and the first noble floor.

As previously mentioned, the municipality of Pomarance has firm roots in history. The first moments of life are attested even in the Paleolithic. This news reaches us thanks to the permanent exhibition of Casa Bicocchi, set up inside the historic and opulent halls of Palazzo Ricci. The exhibition is dedicated to the Warriors and Artisans, of which, historically, the town of Pomarance was rich. In fact, the majority of the population was divided between warriors and artisans, since ancient times. The permanent exhibition extends into the six sumptuous rooms of Palazzo Ricci and guides the visitor on a chronological path that starts from the Paleolithic age up to the Renaissance period. In this way, the visitor finds himself immersed in the incredible streak of a small town, but which has always had a fundamental value during the course of history, thanks to its strategic position and the ability to easily find raw materials for construction. of weapons.

Moving among the display cases of the Warriors and Artisans exhibition, you can see some valuable robes and refined artifacts that explain how, the citizens of Pomarance, are very attached to customs, customs and traditions that have been rooted since the dawn of time and that have been handed down over the years, remaining alive in the common imagination. Not only customs and traditions, but a large number of finds of great stylistic value are on display.

An example is the Ciottolo di Lustignano, a magnificent work dating back to prehistoric times in Tuscany, one of the first depictions made on an artifact by a man is engraved on it. On the Pebble of Lustignano, found in a necropolis in the surrounding places, stands the image of a bison, probably the work was carried out, perhaps to celebrate a rich hunting expedition: hunting a bison, guaranteed an enormous quantity of food and skins for the whole community.

Another valuable price is present in room number 2 of the museum: the Etruscan Stele of Pomarance. Dating back to the 6th century BC, the stele stands out in the room, flanked by display cases containing a large number of weapons and objects. The stele, of renowned importance in the findings of the Etruscan world, bears the engraved figure of a man armed with a long knife, the machaira. According to some scholars, given the size of the knife, the man represented is a warrior, according to another line of thought, it depicts a priest holding a sacrificial instrument, the machaira. Room number 4 contains finds of Roman origin, including a fine statuette depicting Jupiter Sylvan and a Roman epigraph, dating back to the second century after Christ, of the Roman Knight Marius Montanus. The other rooms are occupied by a video representation on the history of the Rocca Sillana and on the thermal complex of Etruscan-Roman origin found a few kilometers from Pomarance, precisely in Bagno, in the municipality of Sasso Pisano.