Archeological Museum “G. C. Mecenate”

The Museum is housed in the ex-monastery of the Olivetan order of St Bernard. The elliptical building was constructed above the ruins of the ancient Roman amphitheatre and the Museum was dedicated to Gaius Cilnius Maecenas, the very urbane artistic patron from Arezzo who was of noble Etruscan lineage and who was adviser to the Emperor Augustus. His bust can be seen at the museum entrance to the amphitheatre gardens. This is a National Museum and on display there are some very interesting finds from a variety of periods discovered by archeologists. In addition to a splendid Attic vase attributed to the Greek painter Euphronios, there is the largest collection in existence of coralline vases, a typical style manufactured in Roman Arezzo. There is also a rare and wonderful chrysography, an engraved sheet of gold enclosed under glass and depicting the portrait of a male, in all probability the great Bishop of Milan, St Ambrose.