The Museum, an exhibition and coordination center of the Agno-Chiampo Museum System, presents a significant selection of archaeological and naturalistic finds from the territory of the System.
The archaeological section is divided into five rooms. In Room A, dedicated to prehistory, the oldest materials found so far in the Museum System territory are exhibited: flint artifacts from the Neolithic and Bronze Age, a copper dagger blade from an Early Bronze Age tomb in Montecchio Maggiore, and settlement materials from the Late and Final Bronze Age from Montecchio Maggiore and Castelgomberto.
Room B is dedicated to the hilltop settlements of the Iron Age. From Trissino come pottery and tools that testify to the vibrant economic life of the village; the archaeological documentation relating to Montecchio Maggiore includes, besides settlement materials, ritual deposits with rich offerings and a votive plaque featuring a stamped warrior figure.
Room C hosts burial goods from Celtic tombs of Montebello Vicentino, with pierced belt hooks, weapons, and finds from the Romanization period from Montebello Vicentino and Montecchio Maggiore, both locations related to the ancient Via Postumia.
Room D houses Roman age testimonies: materials from rural settlements that document daily life and domestic and productive activities, two epigraphic monuments from Montecchio Maggiore and from Costo di Arzignano, and funerary goods from the late Roman necropolis of Carpane in Montecchio Maggiore. Finally, a 5th-century AD tomb from Cava Poscola belonging to an East Germanic cavalryman in the service of the Roman Empire, buried with his weapons and part of his horse.
Room E houses Lombard age finds: male and female burial goods from Montecchio Maggiore, S. Urbano, Arzignano, and Castelgomberto, with fine examples of weapons, belt elements decorated with inlay, combs, and bracelets.
The naturalistic section is structured as follows:
Room 1: gems of Vicenza. Exhibition of many specimens from the territory and illustration of the various stages of the processing that transforms raw mineral into gemstone.
Room 2: minerals of Vicenza. The most significant specimens of the collection are displayed based on the types of rocks where they are usually found: magmatic, sedimentary, metamorphic.
Room 3: international fossil crustaceans. With samples from the famous German Solnhofen deposit, from the American continent and Oceania, from Lebanon, and various European locations.
Corridor room: Italian fossil crustaceans. Samples from various Italian regions: Friuli, Sardinia, Tuscany, etc.
Room 4: fossil crustaceans of Veneto. About 100 pieces collected and prepared by the Museum’s collaborators. They often preserve the original three-dimensional structure. Sculpture on the stratigraphy of the middle Chiampo valley highlighting levels with crabs.
Room 5: geology of the Agno and Chiampo valleys. The geological history of the territory is traced, showing its most significant fossils. At the center of the room is displayed the oligocene ‘fossil forest’ found at Castelgomberto during excavations conducted by the Museum in 2004.
Corridor room: showcase dedicated to Giovanni Meneguzzo, an extraordinary geological guide of Montecchio.
Room 6: Monte Nero. Various aspects of this relief are exhibited here: geology, botany, and zoology. A model helps visualize the peculiarities of the place, known since the 1700s for the presence of zeolites.
Information about the Museum of Archaeology and Natural Sciences
Piazza Marconi, 15
36075 Montecchio Maggiore (Vicenza)
0444492565
museo@comune.montecchio-maggiore.vi.it
Source: MIBACT
