The collection of vintage carriages belonged to the lawyer Antonio Lauda (Foggia 1925-Codroipo 2000), a scholarly lawyer who owned family carriages from the late 19th century from the countryside estates in Puglia and the residence in Santa Lucia, Naples. The core of the heritage was further enriched in the 1970s due to Lauda’s deep passion for horses and the collection of carriages, saddles, and harnesses. He assembled 44 carriages of various 19th-century types, along with two sleds, nine life-sized horses, saddles, harnesses, travel accessories, bits, and whips.
The arrangement, curated by the curator Donatella Guarneri, took into consideration the individual valuable pieces, families of carriage types, and, of course, the physical spaces with the respective constraints determined by the columns and the three levels of galleries.
These premises have allowed for the organization of the heritage into thematic galleries: the gallery of public transport and private use vehicles, the gallery of privately used two-wheeled carriages and those for agricultural activities, and finally the mezzanine dedicated to privately used carriages for the summer season, sports, and leisure activities.
The added value of the collection is represented by the magnificent section of life-sized carriage horses adorned with period harnesses. It also allowed the creation of a museum tour like a journey back in time, enriched by whips, travel accessories, and period prints. The reconstruction of the context immerses the visitor in a nostalgic atmosphere, with a particular focus on the fashion and daily lifestyles of European bourgeois society in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with the Belle Époque as the period of greatest splendor in historical images of the leading capitals of culture and progress, such as Paris, London, and Milan.
The images
