The Ceselli collection, housed in the premises of the “ex cantinone” of the Monastery, consists of archaeological and anthropological material gathered starting in 1837 by Luigi Ceselli, Captain of the Engineering Corps of the Papal States and a leading figure in the emerging Paleontology field in the second half of the 19th century; he also dedicated himself to archaeology as a self-taught expert, with numerous contributions in the field of prehistory and protohistory. After 1882, the collection was passed to his son, engineer Marco, who donated it to the Monastery of Santa Scolastica in honor of the memory of his uncle Mariano, a Benedictine monk. During World War II, the materials suffered damages due to the bombing of the building where they were kept.
The museum’s entrance hall is dedicated to Ceselli, featuring memorabilia and his original publications; this is followed by the paleontological, prehistoric, and protohistoric sections, and then the pre-Roman and Roman sections.
Later, the museum was enriched by a section with materials from the excavations of Nero’s villa.
Information about Luigi Ceselli Museum of the Monastery of Santa Scolastica
Piazzale Santa Scolastica,
00028 Subiaco (Rome)
0774824250
monastero@benedettini-subiaco.it
https://www.benedettinisubiaco.it
Source: MIBACT
