The Archaeology Museum of Sarteano

Created 1998 by CTnet

The Archaelogy Museum of Sarteano is on the ground floor of the 15th century Palazzo Gabrielli, just a short distance from the central Piazza XXIV giugno.
It contains a collection of finds which illustrate the history and culture of the territory from the Bronze Age to the late Roman Era.
These finds are from excavations of Etruscan necropolises (some of which may be visited) to be found in large numbers in the hills around Sarteano: Some are from excavations done in the 1800's and 1950's and 60's, while others have been discovered by the local archaeology group as recently as 1996 and 1997.

THE ARCHAEOLOGY MUSEUM OF SARTEANO

The entrance hall contains objects from the Bronze Age discovered in the cave known as Buca del Rospo. The first room contains finds from various Etruscan necropolises of the 8th and 7th centuries B.C., doubleconed ossuaries and bronze objects found in the tomb at Sferracavalli, "pozzetto" and "ziro" tombs at Poggio Rotondo, a canopic cinerary vase in human form found inside a "ziro" tomb at Solaia-Macchiapiana, and the sepulchres at Madonna La Tea.
In the second room, of particular interest is the reconstruction of a chambered tomb from the Macchiapiana locality containing two canopic vases, the only find of it's kind known to date. The room also contains more objects from the tomb together with objects from three tombs of the 6th century B.C..

The third room contains a fine memorial stone carved in "pietra fetida" (a type of stone so called because of the unpleasant smell it emits when scratched) from the St. Angelo locality. There are also many particularly important objects from tombs of the 5th century B.C.: the painted ceramics and the bone casket from tomb 30 della Palazzina, the tomb containing the remains of wall paintings, examples of attic ceramics and the splendid Etruscan stamnos with red figures, and lastly the monumental tomb of the Pianacce containing the two fine cups with red figures of the 4th century B.C..

The lower floor contains objects from several tombs of the Hellenistic period, the terracotta slabs of the Augustan period discovered at the thermal spring of Colombaio and other objects of the Roman period found at the imposing ruins in the Peschiera Giannini locality. An incomplete travertine statue of the late republican period and two interesting urns with bilingual inscriptions testify the passage from the Etruscan to the Roman culture. The last of the exhibits is a collection donated to the municipality by the Bologni family and made up of objects found in the territory around Sarteano.

	The Archeology Museum of Sarteano Via Roma 24 53047 - Sarteano (SI) Tel. +39 (0) 578 269261
	Visits to the Museum: from 10.30 to 12.30 a.m. and from 4.00 to 07.00 p.m. Close on monday Didactic cultural tours for school groups with reservations.