Museo Claudio Faina Foundation

The Faina collection was started in 1864, by to two important members of the family: the counts Mauro and Eugenio. It is believed that the initial collection was made up of 34 vases donated to the count Mauro by princess Maria Bonaparte Valentini, Napoleon’s niece and daughter of Luciano Bonaparte, who discovered Vulci necropolis. Mauro Faina was responsible for the collection until 1868, when, after his death it was inherited by his brother Claudio and subsequently given to his nephew Eugenio. The collection was initially kept in the family residence in Perugia and then transferred to its current home in Orvieto.

Eugenio started to become interested in antiquities that at that time were being found during the excavations in orvietan necropolises. Inherited by Claudio junior, the collection, at that point complete, was then made open to the public in 1954.

Palazzo Faina, located in piazza del Duomo, opposite the Cathedral, was purchased by count Claudio Faina senior in the middle of the Nineteenth century. In 1954 his nephew, Claudio junior, left in his will all of his estate to Orvieto in order to finance the Museo Claudio Faina Foundation. From that moment the building became a museum.

On the first floor, the exhibition starts with a collection of antiques coins, followed by some typical objects from Chiusi and several black and red figured attic vases. Of these vases, three are important amphorae, decorated by Exekias, the famous Greek vase-painter. On the second floor, the antiquities are organized by type and date. The prehistoric and protohistoric objects come before bucchero vases, Attic ceramics and Etruscan bronzes; three rooms are also dedicated to the Etruscan ceramics. The exhibition concludes with a marble sculpture.

The Civic Museum can be found on the ground floor, where in three large rooms you can see some antiquities collected during the Nineteenth century by the Orvieto municipality. Among these, the Venus of Cannicella, the Etruscan cippus warrior head and the terracottas of Belvedere Temple.

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Ritratti Faina