Museo dell'orologio da torre Giovanni Battista Bergallo, Clock and technology museum in Bardino Nuovo, Italy
The Museo dell'orologio da torre Giovanni Battista Bergallo is a clock and technology museum in Bardino Nuovo, a village in the Savona province of Liguria. Housed in a former town hall, it displays 32 tower clocks along with their gears, mechanisms, tools, historical photographs, and documents related to the Bergallo clockmaking family.
The Bergallo family worked as tower clockmakers in the Val Maremola area from around 1860 to 1980, building and repairing clocks that served communities across the region. The museum opened in 1997 in the old town hall and later reopened with a renewed display after renovation.
Tower clocks once marked the rhythm of daily life in small towns, signaling work hours and market openings for everyone in earshot. The museum shows the actual hand tools and pedal-powered machines the Bergallo family used to build and repair these clocks over generations.
Guided tours last about 45 minutes, but the museum can also be explored on your own with the help of signs throughout the space. Groups and school visits can be arranged by appointment, which allows for more flexible timing.
A short walk from the main building leads to the Bergallo family's original workshop, where personal belongings and tools have been left in place. Inside the museum, a video shows the last Bergallo clockmaker speaking about his work in his own words.
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