THE GRANITE MUSEUM GRANUM, BAVENO

The Granite Museum GranUM is a multimedia and multisensory info point on pink granite and its historical and economic relevance for the Baveno area.

The very name GranUM originates from the combination of the word wheat/granite and the letters UM, MU when read backwards, which stands for Museum.

The Museum is organised in two sections.

The first one, the exhibition hall, is hosted in the historic Palazzo Pretorio in Baveno.
It is arranged in four thematic areas:

• the granite and stone varieties of the area;
• mineral rarities;
• the craft and techniques of working granite in the past and today;
• the history of the exploitation and utilisation of the granite in the area and abroad.

45 crystals of mineralogical significance are displayed in showcases, with quartz, fluorite and orthoclase predominating, plus some bavenite, titanite, epidote, albite and tourmaline.
Petrographic samples complete the exhibition:

• pink granite from Baveno
• white granite from Montorfano;
• green granite from Mergozzo;
• pink Candoglia marble;
• nuvolato marble, also known as rosewood marble, from Crevoladossola;
• beola;
• serizzo.

The second section is in the open air along the Picasass trail, a hiking track leading to:

• the Monte Camoscio quarrying area;
• stone blocks in different stages of workmanship and photo panels depicting work scenes;
• the Picasass climbing route, set up by the CAI (Italian Alpine Club) Baveno;
• Monte Camoscio peak, then joining the route to the summit of Mottarone.

The trail gets its name from the dialect word picasass, which means quarrymen.

The minerals of the Baveno granite have been studied in a number of major works.

The museum is networking with the Montorfano Granite Ecomuseum.

The Baveno area is included in the Sesia Valgrande Geopark UNESCO.

The Museum provides:

• educational workshops for students;
• the cultural review La pietra racconta (The Telling Stone), from April to October;
• activities during the National Day of Families at the Museum, F@Mu, second Sunday in October.

Leaflet Granite Museum GranUM (pdf 2MB)