Provincial Archaeological Museum of Salerno

The Route of the Provincial Archaeological Museum of Salerno

The route of the Provincial Archaeological Museum of Salerno begins at the Lapidary, which occupies the outdoor spaces in front of the Museum entrance and the attached viridarium, where statues, figurative reliefs, and honorary bases are exhibited, mostly from Roman Salerno and uncovered since the Seventeenth century.

Lower Floor of the Provincial Archaeological Museum of Salerno

The journey continues inside the lower floor, with a chronological and topographical exhibition of the entire Salerno territory, integrated with new sites and finds recovered from deposits from old excavations and donations since 1928.

The prehistoric section includes materials from both the Paleolithic and Neolithic coming from the caves of Polla, Pertosa, Palinuro, Molpa, and Caprioli, as well as the Eneolithic, coming from the area of Fratte, the oldest settlement in the municipality of Salerno. The Iron Age is documented by Villanovan artifacts (9th-8th century BC), coming from Pontecagnano and Sala Consilina.

The culture of inhumation, such as that of Oliveto-Cairano in Salerno, is testified by burial goods from the 8th-6th century BC, while the so-called “Orientalizing,” characterized by ceramics with geometric decoration, is evidenced by finds from Arenòsola at the mouth of the Sele.

This is followed by the exhibition of the Greek period, which documents the culture and exchanges among the Magna Graecia centers of the Tyrrhenian and the Ionian. Enriching the typical male and female costumes from various sites in Salerno is a collection of amber necklaces and other jewelry, accompanied by ivory and glass paste, with amulets shaped like female heads or satyrs, from the 5th and 4th centuries BC, along with numerous Samnite belts and beautiful bronze helmets from various periods.

The upper floor houses materials from the city of Salerno, ideally reconnecting with the Lapidary section, from the development in the 6th century BC of the ancient center of Fratte, a suburb northeast of Salerno, to the 5th-6th centuries AD, the late antique phase of Roman Salernum founded as a colony in 194 BC. Funeral goods from the marine belt are exhibited: lamps, vases, and tomb slabs relating to a period extending to the 4th century AD, as well as a beautiful bronze head of Apollo, found in the waters of the Gulf of Salerno in 1930, which has become a symbol of the Provincial Museums of Salerno. The exhibition is completed by a very rich numismatic collection.

The San Benedetto Complex

The Provincial Archaeological Museum of Salerno is located inside the San Benedetto complex, built between the 7th and 9th centuries, on the plateau called “Hortus magnus,” on the eastern walls of the defensive system commissioned by Arechi II. In 930 the monastery was elevated to the status of an abbey. Important historical figures were hosted within its walls, such as Abbot Desiderius, future Pope Victor III, and Gregory VII, who died here. The monastery, which over the years passed from the Benedictines to the Olivetans due to Napoleonic laws, was suppressed in 1807 and transformed into a military district, while the church was converted into a Royal Theater and returned to the Curia only a century later. Several parts of the Romanesque quadriportico and the Renaissance loggia of the “Castelnuovo Reale,” belonging to the palace of Queen Margherita of Durazzo, have been preserved.

Information about the Provincial Archaeological Museum of Salerno

Via San Benedetto, 28
84122 Salerno (Salerno)
Phone: 089.231135
Email: info@museoarcheologicosalerno.it
Internet: https://www.museoarcheologicosalerno.it

Opening Hours

The Museum is open every day, except Monday, from 9:00 AM to 7:30 PM.