The house where St Pius X was born - Giuseppe Sarto, born in Riese (Treviso) in 1835 and Pope from 1903 to 1914 - is now open to the public to commemorate the memory of the Holy Father. The house was donated by Maria Sarto (1846-1930), sister of the Saint, to the Municipality of Riese in 1926.
In 1935 the current Saint's Museum was built on the south side of the original building. It houses personal objects that belonged to Pius X, and hosts an exhibition illustrating the life of the pontiff, who is venerated all over the world.
The 'little house', as it is popularly called, has remained standing over time. The last interventions were those carried out by the then Card. Giuseppe Sarto, a few years before becoming Pope. The furnishings and furniture are original, arranged in such a way as to recreate the small rural village world in which the future holy pontiff lived the first years of his intense life. In 1985, on the occasion of Pope John Paul II's visit to Riese, restoration work was carried out on both the Birthplace and the Museum.
The complex of the Birthplace and Museum of St Pius X is managed by the Giuseppe Sarto Foundation, which was established in 1985 and aims to be a centre for study and historical research into the figure and work of Pope Sarto.
