The Pietro Bertolini International Footwear Museum originates from the passion that already from 1930 led Cavalier Bertolini to collect historical footwear, documents, relics, objects of various kinds related to the world of footwear. Since its precious bequest to the city of Vigevano, the collection has continued to grow and today boasts a vast and precious heritage, enriched over time by donations and acquisitions. In September 1972, fourteen years late, the Museum had actually been placed in the building, in a room on the ground floor, in specially furnished, albeit small, rooms. The exhibition, set according to antiquated and hardly usable criteria, was limited to 200 mainly ethnic and historical pieces. Condemned to invisibility for over thirty years by successive administrations that ignored its potential, the Museum finally came back to life in 2003, thanks to the interest and tenacity of "Progetto Agenda", an association between entrepreneurs and private citizens chaired by Eng . Crespi and aimed at enhancing the Museum and Castle. A prestigious space inside the Sforzesco Castle, consisting of eleven rooms located on the first floor of the first stable, was made available by the Municipality to the Civic Art Gallery and the Footwear Museum, entrusted for a short period to the direction of Matteo Mainardi, who he oversaw the first installation. In 2009 the two entities were separated more clearly and the Museum was moved to the rooms located above the second stable, where it currently resides.