Archaeological Museum

The Archaeological Museum, which has been entirely renovated in its new location and set-up and whose contents have increased significantly, is now housed in the Valeriani-Guarini-Antonelli building, a historical and prestigious home which faces the town’s beautiful main square, directly in front of the Medieval frame which architecturally encompasses the Cathedral and Municipality building. The Museum is dedicated to Privernum , a town which first belonged to the Volsci Italic tribe and then to the Romans. The Museum accompanies the visitor in discovering the most ancient phases of life in the territory, from prehistorical times to the time of Roman colonization, founded in the late 2nd century BC in the heart of the Amaseno plain. Over one thousand objects, which include mosaics, statues, portraits, inscriptions, terracotta pottery, kitchen and dining ceramics, architectural ornaments and much more, accompanied by well-efficient learning equipment. The objects are “put on show” in order to tell bits and pieces of stories and reconstruct the image of ancient Privernum, comprised of varied and multiple aspects of that which was the life of a small town from the 2nd century BC until the end of the Roman era. The high standard of public building construction is evident mostly in the lavish marble adornment found in the courthouse and theatre, with statues and portraits of the Imperial Family - of Claudio, of Livia, of Tiberio, of Germanico, of Agrippina, of young Nerone, of Domiziano – that amount to precious architectural elements in fine marble. Sophisticated multi-coloured mosaics dating back to the Hellenistic period are instead influential evidence of the wealth of the ancient aristocratic domus : among these stands out a long doorway which twists and turns for almost five metres and depicts a landscape set in Egypt, along the Nile river.