Museo Irpino

The Irpino Museum of Avellino was born in the second half of the nineteenth century, as a result of the donation, for testamentary bequest, the antiquities collection of the lawyer Giuseppe Zigarelli to the City of Avellino. Over the years, as a result of further acquisitions of materials resulting from excavations conducted in various areas of Irpinia, the structure was expanded significantly, becoming the symbol of the historical-archaeological Irpinia plays as part of the cultural deposits in Campania. The museum is divided into several rooms, each dedicated to an area of origin, including the same collection Zigarelli, a collection of materials from the Iron Age, mostly coming from the high valley of the river Ofanto with other nuclei of materials of uncertain origin. The current arrangement is the result of a choice that combines two key elements: the chronological sequence (from Prehistoric times to the late Roman times) of the materials and their original background; this path allows a visit and an easy use of the structure and of its assets, in line with the current needs of archeology and ancient history that insist strongly on the concepts of sources documentaries and contextualization of documentary materials themselves. Together with the Provincial Library Scipione and Giulio Capone, and the Provincial Art Gallery, recently staged in Bourbon Prison, is one of the cultural centers of interest of the country and, therefore, is the focus on the needs of promotion and communication that every cultural deposit, by itself, poses. The Museum is located in a building of neo-rationalist architecture, designed by Francesco Fariello, winner of a national competition of ideas in 1951. The property is located on the site once occupied by the Botanical Garden of Bourbon, as still witnessed by rich garden attached. The Museum occupies the entire ground floor of the building, with a total area of about 2000 square meters, including the large courtyard, and is located in a multifunctional structure, within which coexist other services to the public, such as the Provincial Library, Media Library Provincial Center Network.