Antique Musical Instruments Museum

One of the more unusual museums in Puglia is the Casa Spada collection of antique musical instruments, a "house museum" in a Lecce palazzo. In the center of the city, this surprising museum has a vast collection that includes more than 850 instruments, in what was a palace and then a shoe factory. There is also a library with hundreds of manuscripts relating to music and instruments, with a section dedicated to Pugliese bands and composers, history and forms of the Salento's funeral marches, Holy Week rites and the Tarantella.

The personal aspect of a "house museum" allows you to touch and play some of the instruments, and discuss them (or musical forms) with the owner over a cup of caffe'. You can also wander alone with your own thoughts, too. They also host special musical evenings and events.

The collection holds everything: Orchestral instruments; woods; horns; marching band accompaniments; pianos; liturgical instruments; children's instruments; mechanical players; strings; country/folk instruments; and those from ethnic world traditions, including a pre-Columbian Peruvian flute.

The museum is open on Saturdays and Sundays, or other days by appointment. Send an email to the owner to request a time: [email protected]