Founded in 1973, the Museum resides in the prestigious Villa Ferrajoli, an elegant neoclassical building, whose rooms are decorated with refined frescoes from the first half of the nineteenth century. The exhibition itinerary, spread out on 3 floors and 23 rooms, boasts a collection of more than two thousand findings, covering a time period that spans from the Lower Paleolithic to the Renaissance. Educational displays, also available in Braille, and a tactile itinerary, enhance the experience and make it accessible and engaging to all visitors. Particularly worthy of note is the section dedicated to the Villaggio delle Macine (Millstone Village), a pile dwelling from the Bronze Age (XVII-XV century BC) situated on the shores of lake Albano. Vases, oftentimes completely intact, bronze and grindstone weapons and tools, provide evidence of the life and organization of this important lakeshore dwelling.

The Archaic and Middle Roman Republic periods are shown through Architectural materials (like the wonderful head of a warrior with helmet from Segni and the impressive metope from Lanuvio) and ex voto (objects that reproduce parts of the human body, animals and miniature vases offered to deities as a sign of devotion) from places of worship located all around the territory.

The excavations of burial grounds, tombs and suburban villas of the ages Albanus, dating back to the Late Republican and Imperial period, offer an invaluable testimony of the different ways in which the territory, crossed by Via Appia, was occupied. The findings range from pieces of fine frescoes, elements of architectural adornments in terracotta and sculptures, among which stands out a wonderful marble head from the Julio-Claudio dynasty era, and a valuable tresoretto (small treasure) of 152 silver coins which dates back to a time between the III and I century BC. The collection is made complete by mosaics, inscriptions and sarcophagi, both in marble and tuff (including two pieces from Norchia).

The Museum personally handles visits to the main Roman monuments in town: the Amphitheater Severiano, the Cisternoni, the Tomb of the Oriazi and Curiazi and the church of Santa Maria della Rotonda.

Campagna fotografica realizzata nell’ambito del progetto “Oltre Roma” e finanziata dalla Regione Lazio, Avviso Pubblico “La cultura fa sistema 2021”