The National Archaeological Museum of Marche
Il Museo Archeologico Nazionale delle Marche

City of Ancona
Le Marche
Italy

Ancona, a spur of rock overlooking the sea, enchants visitors not only with its coastline and its beaches but because it takes those most curious by the hand and accompanies them on a journey back in time, where, through archaeological excavations and finds, it is possible to trace the roots of the region’s culture.
The National Archaeological Museum of Marche, situated close to Piazza del Senato and the Cathedral of St. Cyriacus at the heart of the original civic settlement, is housed in the elegant and the majestic Ferretti Palace, supposedly constructed between 1540 and 1543, to which Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, Pellegrino Tibaldi and even the architect Luigi Vanvitelli contributed.
In this splendid architectural setting the most precious finds from the Palaeolithic to the Early Middle Ages are kept.
It is a synthesis of historical¬–archaeological knowledge of the Marchigian region – from the most ancient prehistory to the threshold of the Romanisation –documented through finds that come exclusively from excavations.
Moving through the exhibition rooms you will discover numerous curiosities, and thanks to the modern and straightforward arrangement, you will be able to follow the user friendly approach to the finds, understanding their functions, appreciating their characteristics and even imagining the life of the peoples that inhabited these lands during the Palaeolithic, Neolithic, Picentine and Roman eras.
It will certainly amaze you to learn that the Picenti used to cook meat and fish on the ‘grill’ and that they had a type of feeding bottle for babies.
In addition to objects of everyday use, in the National Archaeological Museum’s display cabinets you will find marvellous artefacts like the pebble with the head of a bovid and a feminine body from Tolentino in the Paeleolithic section or the 25 daggers in the Ripatransone room dating back to the Bronze Age.
There are some 23 rooms dedicated to the Picentine and Gallic Civilisations, with numerous funerary dowries at time of great wealth, including objects from a goldsmith, Attic vases and a limestone bust of the Warrior of Numana.
The museum’s route continues outside where, directly in front of the museum on via Ferretti, you have the chance to visit structures that have recently been brought back into the limelight and the evocative ruins of the Roman amphitheatre on the dominating hill (on Via Birarelli, towards the Cathedral of St. Cyriacus)
From on high, sun-kissed by the sunset’s scorching rays, the Gilt Bronzes from Cartoceto di Pergola (Province of Pesaro and Urbino [a perfect pair of the famous sculptural group recently returned its region of origin]) watch over the bay of Ancona’s port, giving golden reflections to the city’s outline.




Special thanks to:

Municipality of Ancona




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