Museo internazionale della calzatura

The Pietro Bertolini International Footwear Museum is located inside the Castello Sforzesco in Vigevano. The museum was established in the 1950s on the initiative of Vigevano historian Luigi Barni and was dedicated to Pietro Bertolini, the first donor of a remarkable collection of footwear from all over the world.

The museum preserves footwear from all over the world and representative of the evolution in different historical eras. The exhibition itinerary is divided into four rooms and a gallery, in which collections are also displayed from donations and loans from companies and designers in the industry, such as Salvatore Ferragamo, Emilio Pucci, Andrea Pfister, Vigevanese Armando Pollini, who is also the scientific curator of the museum, Christian Dior, Karl Lagerfeld, Giorgio Armani, Louis Vuitton, Givenchy and many others.

There are also shoes that belonged to historical figures, such as a pianella dating back to the late 15th century and attributed to Duchess Beatrice d'Este, as well as models with special features, such as a futurist sandal with a sole of wooden spools and a silver slipper, only one centimeter long.

The museum, in 2005, presented an exhibition on Italian footwear from the second half of the 1930s to World War II.