Among the inventory of cultural goods of the municipality of Brusio
(a village in the lower Puschlaver Valley at the frontier to the Veltlin
region) an important aristocratic house plays a decisive role: the
Casa Besta.
The house dates from the 18th century, the respective restoration
efforts were concluded in 2000. The rooms of the building include:
an ethnographical museum with photographs of the local tobacco cultivations
and the respective smuggle activities as well as exhibition objects,
a wine museum and a room dedicated to ancient music instruments. Furthermore
a documentation centre of the historical society of Poschiavo and
the village library are housed.
Within the framework of the EU-Programme Interreg III as well as a
coordinated collaboration between Switzerland and Italy the Museum
works with the Palazzo Salis in Tirano. In the neighbourhood of the
Casa Besta the visitor can admire an unusual construction: the "Crot".
Built with dry walls, the Crot is unique, maybe one of the first expressions
of architecture, a building type of unknown origins.
