Casa Paoli was the birthplace of Antonio Paoli, one of the great operatic tenors of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and Puerto Rico's most celebrated classical musician. The house has been converted into the Puerto Rico Centre for Folkloric Research and houses exhibitions on Paoli's career and on the broader musical traditions of the island — from Spanish colonial song forms through the Taíno and African influences that shaped the bomba and plena genres that are distinctly Puerto Rican.
The museum is small and the displays are modest by international standards, but it occupies a significant place in the cultural life of Ponce. The city has always been conscious of its musical heritage — the municipal band, founded in the nineteenth century, still plays in the plaza on weekends — and Casa Paoli anchors that tradition to a specific time and person. It makes a natural complement to the nearby Museum of Puerto Rican Music, a short walk away.