Housed in the ex school of Pontepetri, the museum is the Information Desk of the Iron Itinerary, which also includes the Sabatini Ironworks in Pracchia, and documents the manufacture of iron in the area with the help of exhibits and educational devices. In the first years of the 19th century, of the existing nineteen state-owned ironworks in the Grand Duchy, eight were sited on Pistoia territory: three in Mammiano, two in Sestaione, one in San Felice, one in Piastrelle and one in Malconsiglio. As for the "distendini" (the distendino was a sort of hammer used to beat wrought iron thin; the word indicated the workshop where this operation was performed), of the eleven state-owned "distendini", five were located on Pistoia territory: two in Mammiano, one in San Felice, one in Candeglia, and one in Piastrelle.

The Museum collection comprises equipment for manufacturing iron, functioning models, dioramas such as the reconstruction of the Maresca Ironworks, and archive documents. The tools come from the area ironworks and document the manufacture of iron between the 19th and 20th centuries: the raw material from Elba Island reached the smelting furnaces, and then the ironworks, where the various manufacturing phases were carried out, from forging to the production of utensils and commonly used articles.

In the vicinity of the Museum lies the Learning Garden where a functioning reconstruction of a "gorile" (a system for diverting water), moves the vertical wheel of the ironworks, used to drive the hammer, and the horizontal wheel of the mill. A turbine has also been constructed, and produces clean electric energy necessary to light the area.