Museo "Ferrante Rittatore Vonwiller"

The Museum is located in the premises of the old municipal wheat warehouse and preserves materials that range from prehistory, to the Mediaeval and modern ages. The exhibition itinerary makes it possible to understand the various aspects of the historical-cultural evolution of the Farnese territory. There are materials dating back to the Palaeolithic, Neolithic, and Eneolithic eras, with important evidence of the cultural facies of Rinaldone from the necropolises of Palombaro, Naviglione, and Fontanile di Raim. Other materials refer to Bronze Age settlements, including that of Prato Pianacquale and the proto-Villanovan inhabited area of Farnese. Another evidence of the Bronze Age is also the presence of worship in grottos linked to water; in fact, some ceramic materials found in some grotto-sanctuaries, including Grotta Nuova, are on display. There is also the section dedicated to the inhabited area of Sorgenti della Nova, and the section dedicated to the Etruscan period, documented by materials from the tomb of Gottimo and the fortified inhabited area of Rofalco. The Mediaeval and Renaissance section comprises ceramics found in the “butto” wells of the historic centre of Farnese. Among the exhibited findings, some dishes and jugs with the coat of arms of the Farnese family and a dish of the set realised on the occasion of the wedding between Galeazzo Farnese and Isabella degli Anguillara (1514-18). Finally, it is worth noting a precious rosary of chiselled coral beads and a bone pipe cleaner from the Franciscan missions of North America, both of the 16th century.