Terracotta Painting. Myth And Image In Painted Slabs Of Cerveteri June 22nd @ 10:30 – December 22nd @ 20:30

Superintendence of Archeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the metropolitan area of ​​Rome, the province of Viterbo and southern Etruria

Santa Severa’s Castle will host, until December 22^nd, the “Painting of terracotta” exhibition. Myth and image in the painted slabs of Cerveteri”, thanks to the recovery in 2016 in Geneva, carried out by the Carabinieri Command – Protection of Cultural Heritage, of archaeological artefacts stolen in southern Etruria, in one of the most important operations of recent years.

A timely restoration of the entire complex of painted slabs, correlated by scientific analysis, by the Superintendency, has allowed to return to the community, in a very short time from the recovery, the extraordinary archaeological evidence that in the exhibition spaces of the Castle of Santa Severa find a perfect place for enjoyment, thanks to the precious collaboration with Regione Lazio, LAZIOcrea, the Municipality of Santa Marinella, the Municipality of Cerveteri and Coopculture.

The recovery is a fundamental page for the reconstruction of the history of Etruscan painting: among the exhibits we can recognize a large number of fragments of painted slabs coming from Cerveteri, unfortunately without any context data which, due to the technical characteristics and refinement of execution, until now they were known only from specimens present in some of the most important Italian and foreign museum collections. The recovery was followed by the ratification, in 2015, of an important cultural cooperation agreement signed between the MiBACT and the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek Museum in Copenhagen, which involved the return to Italy of a substantial series of fragments of painted slabs, similar to those in Geneva.

The Conference and the exhibition also want to represent the due recognition of the indefatigable and extremely qualified activity of the Carabinieri Command for Cultural Heritage Protection, in their action to combat illegal trafficking of works of art. Protection of heritage, scientific research and participation of local communities, enhancement of cultural testimonies are fundamental aspects of the activity of MiBACT which on this occasion find a particularly effective synthesis.