The Worldwide Phonecards Collectors Club is proud to welcome the Museo Telefonia Pubblica as its newest Official Cultural Partner. For collectors, this alliance brings the world of phonecards closer to the places where those cards once lived: the public telephones, booths and tokens that shaped an entire era of communication. It is a natural partnership, built on a shared mission to preserve and celebrate this heritage, and to keep telling its story to a new generation of enthusiasts.
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From the PIM to a lasting partnership
This is not where our story begins. The Museo Telefonia Pubblica was already a partner of PIM 2026, where visitors could admire some of the gems from its collection on display alongside the phonecards. What started as a presence at a single edition now grows into something lasting: a structural, ongoing partnership between the two realities.
What this partnership means for phonecard collectors
Every phonecard tells a story, and that story began at the public telephone. Before the card there was the token, and before the smartphone there was the booth on the corner. A phonecard was never just a piece of plastic: it was the key that brought a specific machine to life. The Museo Telefonia Pubblica preserves exactly this context, the physical world that gave the phonecard its purpose. For WPC members, the Museum is a living reminder of where our collections come from, and why they matter.
A museum born from passion
Located in Alberi di Vigatto, near Parma, the Museo Telefonia Pubblica is the largest museum in Italy dedicated to the history of public telephony, and one of the largest of its kind in the world. It was founded and is directed by Leonmario Moretti, a young collector who has followed this passion since childhood and has gathered hundreds of public telephones, booths and related objects from Italy and beyond.
A guardian of authenticity
Moretti works by conservative restoration: original pieces are preserved and brought back to life rather than altered, so that each object keeps its history intact. It is this same care for authenticity that connects the Museum so closely to the spirit of phonecard collecting.
Stories that connect every card to its telephone
Thanks to this partnership, WPC members will gain access to articles and videos that tell the story of public telephony, produced together with the Museum. The goal is simple but important: to place every phonecard back into its rightful context, pairing the technology of the card with the apparatus it was designed for. A card and the telephone that read it are two halves of the same history, and our shared content will finally tell that story as one.
A first for Italy is on the way
This partnership is only the beginning. Among the projects already taking shape with the Museo Telefonia Pubblica is an ambitious one: the first Italian catalogue dedicated to public telephones, the very machines that brought our cards to life. It is a reference work that has never existed before, and we will share the full details, and how WPC members can take part, in a dedicated announcement very soon.
A partnership that grows over time
As Official Cultural Partner, the Museo Telefonia Pubblica joins the WPC Club in a continuous, non-commercial collaboration. Together we will share stories and content across our channels, support each other’s visibility, and bring the Museum’s heritage to our international community of collectors. It is a relationship built to grow over time, one project at a time.
Plan your visit
The Museo Telefonia Pubblica welcomes visitors by appointment, with free entry. To discover the collection and step back into the world that the phonecard helped to build, visit museotelefoniapubblica.com or follow the Museum on its social channels.
