The Pallavicini Archaeological Collection, taking its name from the economist Giancarlo Pallavicini who donated the collection to the town of Trequanda in 2011, is located on the upper storey of the building that houses the multi-purpose Dino Galluzzi Room.
Comprising more than 200 pieces, the exhibit allows visitors to put distance aside and embrace with their eyes the wonder of the artifacts. The central core of the collection, gathered together in the 1800s, is partly made up of materials unearthed from family-owned properties, plus the later addition of various pieces purchased on the antique market in the 1970s.
The original collection includes objects in bronze as well as ceramics from the Villanovan Period (9th-8th century B.C.), Italo-geometric (late 8th-mid 7th century B.C.) and Etrusco-Corinthian (7th-6th century B.C.) earthenware vessels, numerous pieces in bucchero (7th-6th century B.C.), Etruscan vases with black figures (late 6th-early 5th century): articles ascribable to production in southern Etruria, probably within the inland area around Vulci and perhaps the area around Visentium.
The collection further includes ceramics from Greece, which would therefore count among the goods that circulated within the Etruscan world (5th century B.C.), and various examples of ceramics from southern Italy, many of which are artifacts produced in the northern portion of Puglia.
The collection of later materials is made up of a few Roman Period articles, such as ointment containers in glass, some coins and several oil lamps.
This exhibition is organized into sections based on the geographic and cultural context of the various artifacts. Complete with explanatory museum labels, the displays provide an in-depth look at many aspects of life in ancient Italy, highlighting customs that arose from local traditions as well as changes brought about by the influence of the Greek world.
Plates for fish, produced in the region of Campania, with black glaze (4th century B.C.): the food for which these plates were intended is evident in the painted fish darting around the inner surfaces… according to tradition, the concave receptacle in the centre functioned as a container for the sauce with which the fish was served!
Cinerary Urn in the shape of a Villanovan Dwelling (first half of the 9th century B.C.): urns of this sort contained the cremated remains of the deceased, ritually and symbolically placed in a “house” in order to recall the essence of the person as well as his or her position in the social group to which he or she belonged.
Pallavicini Archaeological Collection
Via Taverne, 46
53020 Trequanda
OPENING HOURS
- Friday and Saturday: 4 – 7 PM
- Sunday: 10 AM – 1 PM
**
TICKETS
- Full price: €3
- Student discount: €2
- Combined ticket (Terracotta Museum/Pallavicini Collection): €5
- Reduced combined ticket (Terracotta Museum/Pallavicini Collection): €4
Free admission:
Under 6, disabled visitors with an accompanying person
Visitors enter the town through one of the two old gates in the defensive walls which still remain, the Porta al Sole and the Porta al Leccio. Dominating the town is the majestic castle of the Cacciaconti family, with its high tower in white stone and its castellated walls which enclose a giardino all’italiana (Italian garden) and a spacious courtyard. The Romanesque Church of Sts. Peter and Andrew houses a 16th-century decorated urn from the Sienese School containing the remains of Bonizzella Cacciaconti the Blessed. Not far from the centre is the Torre del Molino a Vento (Windmill Tower), an 18th-century dovecot containing some five-hundred terracotta nests, positioned in a checkerboard pattern to accommodate doves. Nearby places not to be missed are the small towns of Castelmuzio and Petroio, surrounded by rich olive groves that make Trequanda one of the most important oil-producing towns in Tuscany.