Museo Civico Archeologico 'Francesco Savini'

History

The building that houses the museum has changed its use several times over the centuries. It stands on an area built in the 13th century. In 1613, the first transformations occurred when internal works began for the construction of the church dedicated to St. Charles, to which a convent was added, which in 1742 was transformed into an orphanage. Once, as recalled by Niccola Palma, the place of worship was also known as the "Chapel of the Conservatory of the Orphans of St. Charles." Later, in 1833, the building underwent a series of restorations, and in 1842, it was expanded. In 1878, the orphanage was relocated, and the building was destined to become the Palazzo del Tribunale.

Description

Owned by the local municipal administration and established in 1997, it houses the most extensive local exhibition of ancient artifacts, with items cataloged from prehistory to the classical age, and also includes works and artifacts dating up to the end of the 18th century and beyond.

Within the Sistema Museale Città di Teramo (also known by the acronym CMT, i.e., Civici Musei Teramo), it is the central hub of the organization that groups together archaeological sites and other museums in the center of Abruzzo. These include the Pinacoteca civica and the sites of the Roman theater, the Roman amphitheater, the domus of Torre Bruciata, the domus of Largo Madonna delle Grazie, and the Necropoli di Ponte Messato.

The dedication to Francesco Savini honors the figure of the Teramo historian, archaeologist, and paleographer who concentrated his research interests in the geographic area of Teramo in Abruzzo.

The exhibition space of the Teramo museum offers an overview of the local territory from prehistory to the Middle Ages, up to the Renaissance.

It is divided into two sections:

On the ground floor are the rooms that house artifacts dated from the origins of the Roman settlement to the development of the city in the Early Middle Ages, tracing the period from the 12th century BC to the 7th century AD. This section gathers archaeological evidence from the habitation, necropolises of Teramo, public buildings like the theater, amphitheater, and Roman domus such as the Mosaic of the Lion. Additionally, there are some Roman marble sculptures and a bust of Septimius Severus.

On the first floor are displays from prehistory to the medieval period, reconstructing the history of the territory of the Praetutii and the Piceni. Many materials come from caves in the area (Sant'Angelo cave in Civitella del Tronto) and the protohistoric necropolises of Ripoli, Tortoreto, and Campovalano, from Roman villas in the sites of Basciano, Giulianova, Pagliaroli, and Tortoreto. This space also addresses medieval ceramic production and Teramo's Romanesque architecture. One room contains the terracotta statues from the Nymphaeum of Tortoreto, discovered in 1956, and a fragment of a sculptural group depicting the blinding of Polyphemus. Other sculptures include the muses: Calliope, Euterpe, and Erato. …