Luigi Rovati Foundation: Etruscan ceramics, bronzes and gold

Corso Venezia 52, Milano

A few minutes' walking from the Best Western Hotel City, in a sumptuous nineteenth-century building in Corso Venezia, there is the Luigi Rovati Foundation, an art museum which houses a permanent collection of Etruscan finds and periodically hosts exhibitions.

On the underground level, recently renovated for exhibitions, we find a space of notable scenographic impact, with circular rooms decorated in horizontal lines. In a semi-darkness atmosphere you will find illuminated display cases with ancient ceramics, bronzes and Etruscan gold. The effect is that of being in a place out of time, where the thousand-year-old civilization of our Italic ancestors leaves traces of itself, through some of its wonderful treasures.

Amphorae, vases, ampoules, jugs, cups of various types and functions, decorated with mythological and naturalistic motifs give an idea of the refined Etruscan aesthetic taste, which is expressed in sinuous shapes. Among the ceramic, bucchero and alabaster artefacts there are also small ointment jars, containers intended to contain precious aromas for the care of the female body, an aspect held in high esteem in the Etruscan world which attributed to the aristocratic woman a role of active participation in public life.

And then, stone sculptures mostly for funerary purposes testify that the art of this people was not only linked to worldly life, but also destined for the world of the afterlife. Some cinerary urns, preserved in the museum, have a reproduction of the deceased on the lid, intended to honor his life and keep him intact for his journey after death. Another work, a late Etruscan column stone, represents the departure of a warrior who bids farewell to his family.

On the upper floors, where the halls overlooking the park retain their nineteenth-century style, the Etruscan artefacts meet some works of contemporary art, offering the visitor a pleasant leap in time that allows them to rediscover the symbolic affinities between the man of yesterday and that of today.

Entrance to the museum is free on the first Sunday of the month, with a fee every other day (open from Wednesday to Sunday). Included in the ticket price is an application from the Foundation, that can be downloaded, which allows you to have some information on the works along the exhibition route.

If you are a lover of antiquities, don't miss this visit: in just over an hour you will be able to immerse yourself in the Etruscan world and savor the atmosphere of a luxurious Milanese palace.
For further information do not hesitate to ask our receptionists.

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