Museum of Man and the Environment

The Museum of Man and the Environment, founded in 1972, occupies 25 rooms of the Palazzo Pretorio and is divided into visiting routes: the historical-architectural and the ethno-anthropological one.

The historical-architectural itinerary illustrates the origin and development of the fortress-city of Terra del Sole, with particular attention to the political and administrative functions of Palazzo Pretorio, as exemplified in the hall of the criminal court, richly frescoed with the arms of the Grand Ducal Commissioners who ruled over the Tuscan-Romagna province for over two centuries. The historical excursus reconstructs the movements, settlements and lifestyle of the ancient people who inhabited these hills from the Paleolithic to the fall of the Roman Empire.

The tour ends with a virtual tour of the criminal and public prisons, which cannot be visited physically in order to preserve the microclimate that has allowed the preservation of the frescoes, drawings, writings and graffiti of the condemned prisoners inside..

The ethno-anthropological one, on the other hand, illustrates life and work of the inhabitants of the hills of Castrocaro up to the 1940s.