Museum of the Etruscan Academy and the City of Cortona

Precious treasures of a lost people, their works of art and daily customs:

This and much more is on display at the Etruscan Academy Museum in the center of Cortona, which houses one of the largest and most important archaeological collections dedicated to Etruscan culture, which flourished in central Italy between 800 and 350 B.C.

The museum is located in the 14th-century Palazzo Casali, one of Cortona’s historic buildings. In addition to Etruscan artifacts, the exhibition also features Roman and Egyptian finds. In conjunction with the museum, a visit to the archaeological park on the outskirts of the city is highly recommended. There, visitors can admire the lavish tombs of Etruscan noble families, which have made a valuable contribution to the museum’s collection.

Historic sales contract

One of the princely tombs yielded the so-called Tabula Cortensis, a bronze tablet dating back more than 2,000 years with inscriptions in Etruscan. This ancient written document, unique in its kind, demonstrates that the Etruscans were not only highly civilized but also entrepreneurial: the tablet documents the sale of a plot of land near Cortona, where vines were cultivated at the time. Many other everyday objects, ceramics, jewelry, grave goods, and masterpieces of Etruscan art captivate visitors as they tour the exhibition halls. In this way, a complete picture of the ancient people’s way of life gradually emerges.