Top of the World
On December 20, 2016 was inaugurated in Teramo, in the medieval Casa Urbani in vico del Pensiero, the Cat Museum "Paolo Gambacurta", born from the passion of the collector from Teramo, from the memory of sisters Rita and Bianca Maria who donated the collection to the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e del Molise "G. Caporale", from the support of the City of Teramo that has made available the historical residence and the economic support of the Abruzzo Region. The collection, photographed and catalogued by the Institute in 2004 and then sold to the Municipality of Teramo with a recent agreement, is articulated in a curious museum itinerary curated by Dr. Paola Di Felice and the architect Antonietta Adorante, which collects around the feline sculptures, knick-knacks, paintings, prints, engravings, postcards, stamps, masks, playing cards, posters, books and other material, wide and heterogeneous, chosen all over the world.
Among the most precious Egyptian cats' pieces are lapis lazuli, alabaster, obsidian, terracotta, porcelain and Chinese enamels, French postcards from the early twentieth century, two paintings by Novella Parisians, nineteenth century oils and etchings by Cecov and H. Ronner Knip. Among the rarest objects is a Chinese opium-smoking headrest cat of the early twentieth century in white porcelain with blue chroming and golden base. The collection, protected in showcases, consists mainly of hand-painted polychrome ceramics, wood, marble, enamelled plaster, Murano glass, alabaster, tin, papier-mâché, aluminium, terracotta from Italy, all over Europe, North and South America, Africa, India, China, Japan, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Korea. There are also local signatures such as the acrylic "Gatto con due mele" by the Teramo artist Marco Chiarini. The Cat Museum in Teramo includes spaces for the IZSAM, used as a library and educational and music workshops aimed mainly at children.
