In the old centre of Ghilarza, a town in the province of Oristano, is the museum house of the philosopher, politician and founding member of the Italian Communist Party, Antonio Gramsci.
In 1965, the PCI (Italian Communist Party) decided to purchase the house on the wishes of Umberto Cardia, whose idea was not only to turn it into a museum in memory of Gramsci, but to also make it somewhere to discuss and debate Gramsci’s philosophy. Precisely in those years the “Documentation and research centre” was founded which published different volumes of the philosopher’s work as well as books on politics, modern history, literature and much more.
Towards the end of the Seventies work on setting up the museum began; in this job of assessing and preserving Gramsci’s legacy, members of Gramsci’s family still living in Italy, especially his beloved sister Teresina, played an active role.
In 1971, the “Amici di Casa Gramsci di Ghilarza” (Friends of Gramsci House in Ghilarza) Association was established in Milan for the purpose of running the house. The association ceased operations at the start of 2000, establishing itself as the “Fondazione Casa Museo Antonio Gramsci” (Antonio Gramsci Museum House Foundation) non-profit organisation, which nowadays runs the museum house.
The museum preserves numerous items belonging to Gramsci, including a lot of original letters written to his mother while imprisoned.
