Museo archeologico nazionale di Mantova

About the museum

The museum occupies the site where the Gonzaga court theatre once stood, in the sixteenth century. From 1896 the building housed the city's silk cocoon market, as an inscription on the façade still recalls, and in 1978 it was donated to the State. The museum opened in 1998; the new display was completed between 2016 and 2018.

The collections bring together archaeological finds from the Mantua area, from both nineteenth-century excavations and modern scientific investigations. The route is chronological and begins on the first floor: from the Stone Age and the first farming villages, through the Bronze Age, the Etruscans, the Cenomani Celts and Romanisation, up to Lombard grave goods at the threshold of the Middle Ages.

The heart of the display is the Amanti di Valdaro, a double burial discovered in 2007, with flint grave goods, dating to about 5,500–5,100 years ago. Other notable pieces include the reconstruction of the funerary monument of the gens Caepia, the gold necklace with a cameo of Minerva from Goito and the Lombard grave goods from via Rubens in Mantua. The museum is part of the Palazzo Ducale complex.

Highlights

• Gli Amanti di Valdaro (Lovers of Valdaro), a Neolithic double burial from 2007
• Reconstruction of the funerary monument of the gens Caepia
• Etruscan alphabet inscription from Castellazzo della Garolda
• Etruscan jasper scarab from the Forcello
• Gold necklace with a cameo of Minerva from Goito
• Lombard grave goods from via Rubens

Permanent exhibitions

• Dalla Preistoria alla Protostoria – Chronological route from the Neolithic to Romanisation, with the Amanti di Valdaro at the centre of the first floor.
• Età romana e longobarda – Funerary monument of the gens Caepia, jewellery and grave goods up to the Lombard period.

Founded

1998

Operated by

Ministero della Cultura – Palazzo Ducale di Mantova

Visitors per year

approx. 24,103

Admission & discounts

The museum has no separate ticket: admission is included in the Palazzo Ducale ticket, €11 without the Camera degli Sposi (Corte Nuova and Corte Vecchia) or €18 with the Camera degli Sposi. Holders of passes or cards that include the Corte Vecchia pay a supplement of €7 for the Camera degli Sposi. Tickets are sold at the single ticket office at Piazza Sordello 40 or online; booking is optional.

Accessibility

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Kids & families

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Getting there & parking

The complex's single ticket office is at Piazza Sordello 40; the museum is in Piazza Castello.

Amenities & dining

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Events & venue rental

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