Museum Network: Ecomuseo del Lago d’Orta e del Mottarone
Our memories and those of our ancestors
Armeno's is a unique collection in which hoteliers, simple cooks, great chefs, unknown servers, and famous maîtres d'hôtel, hotel porters, and commis have brought with them, almost sacredly, memories and snippets of life gathered in their travels around the world.
Armeno is known on every continent as the home of hoteliers. Thousands have left this strip of land for kitchens, hotels, and restaurants worldwide for at least four centuries.
Why precisely this profession spread from Armeno is something of a mystery. It is said that the Armenians discovered the hotel trade in the 17th century when they went to work for the Milanese nobility, who came to live between Lake Maggiore and Lake Orta to escape the plague.
The small museum houses working objects, photographs, written testimonies such as menus of famous reunions, rare cookery books, and many pictures and collections of old newspapers that form a rich kaleidoscope of life among the powerful of the earth and the simple people.
Accessibility: with lift
Schools: One class visiting the exhibition + (possibly) one class in a workshop activity
Credit: Archivio Fotografico Distretto dei Laghi - Lorenzo Pipi
