Crespi Bonsai Museum | |||
 Opened in 1991, this museum is fruit of the passion and thirty-year commitment of Luigi Crespi.A permanent museum unique in the world, it originated from the willingness to offer to all those with an interest in bonsai the opportunity to admire a precious collection that includes centuries-old plants, antique pots and books and manuscripts from the Far East. The masterpiece of the collection is the millennial Ficus retusa linn, placed at the centre of a pagoda between two nineteenth-century wooden Chinese temple dogs. On a table of solid slate are displayed numerous other authentic specimens, many well over a hundred years old and trained by famous Japanese masters, among which are the works of Kato, Kawamoto, Kawahara and Ogasawara. The collection of bonsai containers includes antique Chinese containers from the Ming and Ching dynasties. Of extreme value also is the library that houses both antique and modern volumes, precious incunabula and rare texts from all over the world. A place of importance is occupied by a reconstruction of the "tokonoma" the corner, which in every Japanese house is, set-aside for the displaying of objects of spiritual significance. This beautiful collection is tastefully complemented with authentic furnishings among which are antique Japanese lamps.
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