II municipal and diocesan museum ”La Castellina” occupies the entire western side of Piazza San Benedetto, the hub of the historic center of Norcia.
The building, constructed in 1554 based on a project by Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola at the behest of Pope Julius III, was originally built as a fortified residence for apostolic governors and was used from the outset to control the peripheral territories of the Papal States. When the Mountain Prefecture was established in 1569, La Castellina became its natural seat. Restored in the 18th century following frequent earthquakes, from 1860 it housed the municipal offices until 1967, when it became a museum.
In addition to the interesting museum it hosts, La Castellina is important from an architectural point of view. Visiting the museum also means admiring its container, a strong and compact fortress with a quadrilateral shape.
Today it is home to the Civic and Diocesan Museum, the Massenzi collection, and the permanent archaeological exhibition “Journey to the Afterlife.” The first brings together works of art of local origin (sacred furnishings, frescoes, paintings on canvas or panel, polychrome wooden or stone sculptures, glazed terracottas), owned by the Church or the municipality, dating from the 12th to the 18th century, including the 13th-century wooden cross by Petrus Pictor, from the Campi hamlet, or the large altarpiece by Antonio da Faenza depicting the Madonna and Child with Franciscan saints (1519), originally in the church of the Most Holy Annunciation. The stone sculptures (Madonna and Child with Saints John the Baptist and Evangelist, 1469) from the church of San Giovanni are attributed to Giovanni Dalmata, while the refined glazed terracotta group of the Annunciation, from the early 16th century, is attributed to Luca Della Robbia. Donated in 2002, the Massenzi collection, one of the largest private Umbrian collections, mainly comprises bronze artifacts and Etruscan, Greek, and to a lesser extent Magna Graecian vases, dating from the 9th century BC to the Roman period. The donation also includes a polychrome terracotta statue attributed to Jacopo della Quercia.
Since 2003, the permanent archaeological exhibition “Journey to the Afterlife” has been on display, featuring recent discoveries of rich burial goods dating between the late 4th and 1st centuries BC from the Hellenistic necropolises of Colle dell’Annunziata, Popoli, and the Santa Scolastica plain.
Information about the Civic and Diocesan Museum of Norcia
Piazza San Benedetto,
06046 Norcia (Perugia)
0743817030
servizisociali@comune.norcia.pg.it
https://www.artenorcia.net
Source: MIBACT
