Il Museo della Città is divided into three exhibition venues, all located along the road axis that coincides with the urban crossing of the Via Francigena, which still remains the backbone of the historic center’s urban layout. At the southern entrance of the city is the detached venue of the Torre Julia de Jacopo or Porta del Santo Sepolcro, which houses a considerable collection of archaic maiolica, found in the former convent of Sant’Agostino. At the far north of the town, near the Porta della Ripa which leads towards Siena, is the second detached venue inside the former convent of the Conventual Franciscan Friars, where numerous paintings that are part of the Franciscan convent’s picture gallery are exhibited. The main venue, inside the city, is located in the rooms of the former Bishop’s Palace built following the establishment of the new diocese of Acquapendente in 1649. In this venue, it is possible to admire works from the sacred art collection – paintings on canvas and wood, liturgical vestments, sacred furnishings – among which stand out the marble bust of Innocenzo X by the seventeenth-century sculptor Alessandro Algardi and the lunette with Christ dead among angels (circa 1505), a work by Girolamo di Benvenuto. The main venue also houses a valuable collection of ceramic artifacts resulting from intense excavation activity focused on the Aquesian territory. The finds are chronologically placed in a time span from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century, testimony to an uninterrupted productive activity for centuries. On the second floor, it is possible to visit a new museum section dedicated to the theme of the Francigena, which unfolds along an exhibition route accompanied by a large model, which, over a path of more than twenty-six meters, depicts the Via Francigena from Canterbury to Rome. The general topics addressed along the route, aided by videos and displays of artifacts, explore concepts and aspects of past civilizations to which the road has served as a conduit over the centuries, such as themes of faith and pilgrimage, commerce, borders and communications, sieges and war, hospitality, and folklore. MUSEO DELLA CITTÀ – Palazzo Vescovile – via Roma n. 85 Acquapendente (VT) website: www.museoacquapendente.it e-mail: museo.civ.dioc@comuneacquapendente.it phone: 0763 7309205 Culture Office, municipality of Acquapendente
Information about the Museum of the City of Acquapendente
Via Roma, 85
01021 Acquapendente (Viterbo)
0763730065 – 0763730246
museo.civ.dioc@comuneacquapendente.it
https://www.museoacquapendente.it
Source: MIBACT
