Archaeological Museum of Bologna

Rooms Xa, X and Xb contain the Etruscan antiquities excavated in Bologna and surroundings between the mid-19^th century and the early 20^th century, a period in which the combination of scientific interest and the burgeoning of the city’s renewal led to exceptional discoveries in terms of quantity and quality.

As far as the Villanova and Orientalising phases are concerned, the material on display belongs almost totally to the funerary sector; the sole exception is the extraordinary complex known as “ripostiglio di San Francesco” (“St Francis’s cupboard”), the stores of a founder comprising a large vase in which more than 14,000 bronze objects were tidily arranged.

The wing of the large room X dedicated to finds from Felsinea or “Certosa” Bologna is the part of the museum that best preserves the appearance of the original layout, both in the way the cabinets are arranged and for the way the objects are presented, and it is thus one of the rare examples still existing of 19^th-century Italian museography.

The frescos decorating the walls of room X reproduce some Etruscan tomb paintings; these were painted shortly before the opening in 1881 at the behest of Giovanni Gozzadini, for whom the murals were to “describe” visually the use of the instruments displayed in the room’s cabinets, but also provide an educational tool in the University course of Etruscan archaeology. They were painted by a local artist, Luigi Busi.