The Museum of Antiquities in Turin is located next to the Roman Theater. The collection consists of archaeological finds in the city itself and in the greater Piedmont area.
Museum of Antiquities Turin
Useful information
Address Museo di Antichità: Via XX Settembre, 88 – Torino. Phone: +39 011 5211106 or 011 5212251. Opening times: From 09:00 till 19:00. Ticket price: 12 Euros.
History and description
In the beginning was the Royal Museum of Greco-Roman and Egyptian Antiquities, founded by the Savoy family in the 16th century. In 1940, the Egyptian collection and the Greek-Roman collections of this museum were split up. The Egyptian collection was moved to the Museo Egizio and the Greek-Roman collection to the Museum of Antiquities.
The collection gradually expanded, partly through new finds and partly through the acquisition of private collections.
The museum consists of three sections.
The historical section is housed in what used to be the greenhouses of the Royal Palace.
The archaeological section is located in an underground space next to the Roman Theater. This part is dedicated to local archaeology.
The last section highlight archaeological finds in the rest of the Piedmont region.
The oldest items in the collections are of prehistoric origin, while the most recent ones date back to the Lombard period.
What to see
Highlights from the Roman period are the Industria bronzes and the silver treasure discovered in Marengo.
Industria was an ancient Roman colony in what is now the city of Monteu da Po. The colony was probably founded in the 2nd century BC, as an outpost of the military campaigns against the Gauls. Located next to a river, it was famous for its metal working.
The “Treasure of Marengo” was a wooden box, by accident found by a group of farmers. Upon opening, it was found to contain 28 kilos of gilt silver objects, all crushed and bent out of shape to better fit into their container.
From the Lombard period, there are grave goods from the Lingotto and Testona necropolises.
In 1910, in the Via Nizza a funerary trousseau now known as the Lingotto was found. The items consist of a complete set of female jewely dating back to the Lombard period (6th-7th century AD).
The necropolis found in a suburb of Moncalieri called Testona was found in 1878 and consists of over 350 tombs, also dating back to the Lombard period.