Museo storico ed interattivo "Oro dell'Orba"

via Ovada, 42 - 15072 Casal Cermelli (AL)
Tel. +39 0131 279.392
Tel. +39 335 806.5449
E-mail: cascinamerlanetta@live.it
https://www.cascinamerlanetta.it/it/
Website: www.cascinamerlanetta.it/it/

The Museum “Oro dell’Orba” tells the long history of gold panning in Northern Piedmont, practiced for thousands of years. The first evidence dates to the pre-Roman Celtic-Ligurian populations, as far as the Roman era. At that time, two towns were built in which to bring the slaves and search for gold including the town of Rodinella a few hundred meters from the museum.

The museum at Cascina Merlanetta is home to numerous finds, including archaeological, which are evidence of the techniques and activities of gold panning in ancient times. This practice continued in the Middle Ages, under the control of the local lords while the local rural population continued to integrate farming activity with gold panning, sometimes carried out illegally, until the late 18th century.


In the 19th century, gold panning entered a new phase of development thanks to large plants, primarily belonging to the Swiss and Dutch, dedicated to the processing of alluvial sediments. A further impulse occurred in the twentieth century, during the Fascist period, with new gold mining activities.

The visit to the museum is accompanied by a practical demonstration in "vasca a cascata", during which the visitors can learn the use of traditional manual equipment for gold panning. Gold and other minerals found during the demonstration will remain the property of the visitor.

Cascina Merlanetta also showcases rare machinery on a scale of 1:10 which reproduces the necessary mechanisms for gold panning in the Countries in which this activity is allowed. These tools are often used for educational purposes, particularly by students and graduates in environmental engineering and geology.