“La Scoperta di Ercolano” special exhibition at MAEC Museum

Cortona’s archaeological museum, MAEC, and the national archaeological museum of Naples, MANN, worked together to offer a special exhibition, celebrating the key figure of Marcello Venuti.

Two-hundred and eighty years ago, Marcello Venuti from Cortona was entrusted by the King of Naples (1738) with the curatorship of the Farnese collections and the supervision of the excavations at Herculaneum. This is the ancient name of Ercolano, the town destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in the year 79 AD.

In his native Cortona, Venuti was one of the founding members of the “Accademia Etrusca” (now responsible for the MAEC museum and the historic library of Cortona) and heir to one of the most prominent noble families of the town. With such an important discovery, he became a key figure of the town’s cultural scene and contributed the international standing and recognition of the Cortonese institution.

If you visit MAEC museum From March 2nd to June 2nd, next to the regular collection you will find some spectacular special pieces coming from Naples. The exhibition is a journey back to the first three years of the Herculaneaum excavations, celebrating the hands-on experience of the Cortonese archaeologist – the first to realize that the recovered ruins could be those of the town buried in the Plinian eruption.