Civic Museum

The recently inaugurated Civic Museum, displays archaeological finds, mineral and fossils recovered in the territory of Montaione, as well as an interesting collection of prehistoric stone objects.

Donated to the Montaione Town Concil in 1981 by Valeria Morelli Gualterotti, they originate from various settlements in Libya, in particular from the Sahara area of Fezzan (south western Libya) and from the coasts of Cyrene and Tripoli, and include an Egyptian wooden mask datable within the fourth dynasty (3 rd millennium b.C.)

At the entrance to the Museum we find the remains of a whale, discovered in 1980 in Castelfalfi of the type donned as 'Balaena Montalionis' and dating to approximately three and half millions years ago.

Originating from the area of Santo Stefano, to the north of Montaione, are a large number of archaeological finds, including a two-raced mash in red jasper confirming the human frequentation of this are in the lower Palaeolithic period (about 100.000 year ago).

The bronze pendulum pendant of Sardinian production, dating to a period between the ninth and eighth century b.C., confirm the existence of important contact between inland Etruria and the coast, where materials of Nuraghic production are known. Hellenistic settlements in the area of Santo Stefano are confirmed by a considerable quantity of black-paint ceramics.

The section devoted to the production of glass and ceramics displays fragments of crucibles and pieces of kiln with glaze drippings, along with ceramics datable between the fourteenth and twentieth centuries, rediscovered in the vicinity of two buildings located close to the town walls which probably housed the kilns.

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