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Here we go! We are entering a small museum that with its real and virtual collections ties together the threads of history and archaeology of an extraordinary territory, broken and spread in museums around the world. An ancient Faliscan city, Narce, with a mysterious name, perhaps Thevnalthia, and the medieval villages with their evocative ruins immersed in the magical landscape of the Treja Valley are the protagonists of this brief but intense museum tour.
Entrance hall of the MAVNA
Museum Tactile Map
The Mission of the MAVNA Museum
It was the pioneers of 19th-century archaeology who discovered Narce on the southern edge of the Falisci’s territory, allies of the Etruscans and often at war with the Romans. Nature has conditioned its development: three settlements, perched and isolated by waterways, and extensive necropolises testify to the existence of a culturally advanced society open to external contacts and stimuli. It's a long history, which has its origins as far back as the 15th century BC, until it was lost and then reborn! And this room tells it.
The Dawn of Narce room
Interactive table with activities for children
Rocks tell the story of humanity to both adults and children.
The memory of the origins is lost in the mists of time, but ancient and recent excavations in the settlements still give us fragments of life.
This Final Bronze Age vase (10th century BC) testifies to the existence of cremation tombs near the settlements.
Modern reconstruction of a vertical loom. Spinning and weaving were activities performed by women of rank as ladies of the house.
The podded pots of dough, which came out of a local workshop, imitate fine metal pottery from the East. They are often found in high-class female burials.
The life of a people is reflected in domestic customs and death rites, but also in forms of devotion to the gods. In Narce, a sanctuary on the Treja River has yielded unique evidence of a complex religious system: female deities with multiple identities accompany girls through the different stages of their lives; Hercules oversees the growth of boys. Thus, thanks to human fertility, the survival of the community was ensured until the 1st century BC. Then silence falls on Narce!
The city and its sanctuaries room
Evocative rites mark the time of the Rote sanctuary.
The terracotta figurine was part of the foundation rite of the main building of the sanctuary: placed in the centre of the load-bearing wall, it was perhaps wrapped in a cloak held in place by a bronze fibula.
Symbolizing the opening of the maternal womb, iron keys lie deliberately placed in a sacrificial pit, the last ceremonial act marking the abandonment of the sacred area.
A final banquet in the final resting place: the vase collection reflected in the glass display case evokes the journey to the afterlife.
One inside the other, the red-painted cups are deliberately of different sizes, intended to be units of measurement for ritual offerings in the tomb as in the sanctuary.
The small museum overlooks the world and virtually "returns" Narce’s objects and grave goods discovered in the late 1800s from the great American and European museums. Short videos recall their history not only with a sequence of images, but also by telling the story of what those objects represented in ancient times and what they still have to say. Navigating freely, visitors will be transported through space and time by the evocative images on the screen and the accompanying music.
Immersive Room
History didn't stop with the Falisci and the Romans. Around Narce, the Middle Ages opened its doors: towers, castles, and cave dwellings populated the area. With a light touch on a screen, the visitor sails to discover traces on the ground, ready to grasp the beauty of the landscape in which the ruins are immersed. Mazzano also participates in this journey, sharing the history of its origins and claims, with the latest showcase, to have contributed to the birth of a new civic conscience with its small, but large museum.
From Narce to Mazzano room
Close to each other, false vessels and vessels without provenance underline the many faces of the drama of clandestine activity and the wounds inflicted on this extraordinary territory.
