Project for our centre

Making music together has always been the raison d'etre behind the idea of the Musicatoio, even before having a "home" for the project.

In the first year (2005/6), in addition to the orchestral group that worked in the Jack & Joe Theater in Cerbaia and where, at the end of the school year we produced Ludwig Van, we found a refuge for the basic courses and the first instrument classes at the Waldorf School at Romola.

But the exponential growth in the number of members participating (growing from 30 to 125) made Romola's spaces insufficient already in the 1st year. A building was necessary, to be able to support the development of the project together with the need to house the musical instruments.
Thanks to the intervention of some PM members living in Montespertoli, and with support from the local administration and schools, in September 2006 it became possible to use some spaces in the elementary school in San Quirico after-school hours.

So the basic courses and instrumental lessons took place from 16:30 onwards, in the gym (now used for orchestral groups), in the entrance hall, in the ante-camera of the bathroom, in the closet and in the school canteen. We could only keep an upright piano, and very few instruments and music stands, which had to 'disappear' at the end of the days work. The orchestral groups continued in the Jack & Joe Theater, until its sad closure in 2008; again with help from the Montespertoli council these groups then moved to the Teatro Sotto Le Mura in the centre of Montespertoli.

The participants grew year by year. A PM 'Housing Group', established as early as 2006, together with the Board of Directors, followed every possible path; from the purchase of land on which to build, to the purchase and restoration of a warehouse in Baccaiano, to free loan contracts, as a non-profit association for social promotion. A lot of funds would be needed, so many fundraising initiatives started - PM wine, mint and rosemary soaps, the Campocorto violin - and many sponsorships from artists such as the Euphoria Quartet.

In 2010 the Montespertoli council confirmed its determination to find a solution for the PM building, asking us to draw up a renovation project for a building near the "I Lecci" Wine Museum. PM searched for an architect willing to undertake the project, and Franco Pisani, who has been following us since then accepted (thanks Franco!).
The following year, the primary school at San Quirico moved to the new Montagnana school area and with this closure, the council offered us this "home", firstly with a three-year contract, and then in 2015, after winning an invitation to tender, with the granting of a twenty-year contract, which will take us to 2035.

We have transformed the south wing of the building into a corridor with 6 small study-classrooms and we have created a soundproofed room to allow a peaceful coexistence with our rock groups, not only inside the building, but above all with our "neighbours” in the village. In this way we also fulfilled the contractual obligation to restructure the space.

But we would like to go further: we want to complete three other renovation projects in the building, to make it more suitable and welcoming for a permanent artistic-training project in the area, for music but also together with other forms of artistic expression.