The Museum, exhibition and coordination center of the Agno-Chiampo Museum System, presents a significant selection of archaeological and naturalistic finds from the System territory.
The archaeological section is divided into five rooms. In room A, dedicated to prehistory, the oldest materials found so far in the territory of the Museum System are displayed: 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 lively economic life of the village; the archaeological documentation related to Montecchio Maggiore includes, in addition to settlement materials, ritual deposits with rich offerings and a votive plate with a stamped figure of a warrior.
Room C houses grave goods from Celtic tombs in Montebello Vicentino, with pierced belt hooks and weapons and finds from the Romanization period from Montebello Vicentino and Montecchio Maggiore, both locations affected by the passage of the Via Postumia.
Room D hosts evidence from the Roman age: materials from rural settlements documenting daily life and domestic and productive activities, two epigraphic monuments from Montecchio Maggiore and Costo di Arzignano, and the funerary furnishings of the late Roman necropolis of Carpane in Montecchio Maggiore. Finally, a 5th-century AD tomb from Cava Poscola, belonging to an East Germanic knight in the service of the Roman Empire, buried with weapons and part of his horse.
Room E houses Longobard period finds: male and female grave goods from Montecchio Maggiore, S. Urbano, Arzignano, and Castelgomberto, with fine examples of weapons, belt elements decorated with damascening, combs, and armlets.
The naturalistic section is organized as follows:
Room 1: gems of Vicenza. Exhibition of many specimens from the territory and illustration of the various stages of the processing that leads from raw mineral to gemstone.
Room 2: minerals of Vicenza. The most significant specimens of the collection are exhibited based on the rocks in which 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 crab levels.
Room 5: geology of the Agno and Chiampo valleys. The geological history of the territory is recounted, showing its most significant fossils. At the center of the room the Oligocene ‘fossil forest’ found at Castelgomberto during excavations carried out by the Museum in 2004 is displayed.
Corridor room: showcase dedicated to Giovanni Meneguzzo, extraordinary Montecchio geological guide.
Room 6: Monte Nero. Various aspects of this relief are displayed 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
