The Museum originated from research activity carried out by the "Manfredo Giuliani" Cultural Association, active in Villafranca from the middle of the 1960s. Open to the public since 1977, it proposes to document the farming and herding life as well as the crafts and popular culture of the Lunigiana territory.

The ethnographic collections, housed in a building complex restored in the years 1988 - 1993, contains implements for work, objects of domestic use, craftsmen's products and household furnishings coming from the Lunigiana territory, dating from the 18th and 19th centuries. The materials, arranged according to work cycles, are displayed in three large thematic sections: farm work, craftsmanship, activities of making or processing products related to the home.