Luogo - Museum
Museo archeologico nazionale di Ferrara
Where
Via XX Settembre n. 122, Ferrara
Located in the building designed by Biagio Rossetti for Antonio Costabili, the museum holds the remains of the necropolis and the town of Spina, the thriving Etruscan commercial port was one of the focal points of the region between the sixth and third centuries. B.C. The exhibition also contains some of the grave furniture found in some of the four thousand tombs, the beauty of their craftsmanship is very impressive, and among this is a large collection of Attic pottery, in particular red-figured vases of the fifth century.B.C. Recently several radical restoration projects were carried out on the building. The museum has a "Sala del Tesoro" (Hall of Treasure) which boasts one of the most beautiful frescoes painted by Garofalo, as well as the "Sala delle Piroghe" the Hall of Pirogues, including boats of the late Roman (III-IV century AD) and the "Sala degli Ori" (Hall of Gold Jewelry) with its collection of gold jewelry, silver, amber and vitreous glass paste, dating from the fifth and fourth centuries BC. On the ground floor, four rooms can be found, two of which are painted by Garofalo and his school and they are dedicated "alla città dei vivi" (the city of the living) to the town of Spina, cults and myths, people and writings. At the end of the museum there is a "virtual library" which leads into the neocropolis. The "Piano Nobile" (Main floor), in consonance with the original layout of the room done in the thirties, is dedicated to the Etruscan necropolis of the city and includes masterpieces of painted Attic vases, Etruscan bronzes and precious objects imported from all over the Mediterranean.