"Antonino Salinas" Regional Archaeological Museum

Olivella square. Housed in the former Convent of PP. Filipinos.
The “Antonio Salinas” Regional Archaeological Museum is based in Palermo, Sicily, and has one of the richest collections of Punic and Greek art in Italy, as well as evidence of much of Sicilian history. The museum was dedicated to Antonio Salinas, a famous Palermo archaeologist and numismatist.
On the ground floor, a section is dedicated to the finds found during the underwater excavations: materials that were part of the cargo of the ships, stone anchors, lead logs, oil lamps, amphorae and inscriptions ranging from the culture of the Punic to that of the Romans.
Two large anthropomorphic sarcophagi from the XNUMXth century BC belong to the Phoenician-Punic section, coming from the necropolis of Pizzo Cannita (Misilmeri); there are also sculptures of Phoenician divinities and votive steles from Motya and Lilibeo, together with a splendid series of painted aedicules bearing the sign of Tanit and the caduceus. Finally, some rooms are dedicated to the archaeological area of ​​Selinunte with the recomposition of the eastern pediment with Gorgon of Temple C, numerous metopes with mythological reliefs (Temples C and E), sculptures of the archaic and classical age, the Selinuntina Table which celebrates the wealth of the city, the twin steles of the sanctuary of Zeus Meilichios.
In another room the finds from Himera are kept and, among other things, the lateral sima of the Athenaion, the temple dedicated to the goddess Athena, with the lion-headed drips has been reassembled. Other rooms collect objects and sculptures from Solunto, Megara Hyblaea, Tindari, Camarina and Agrigento. Among the works of greatest artistic importance we point out the great bronze Aries of the third century BC from Syracuse, the Heracles knocking down the doe, a Roman copy of an original by Lysippos, and finally a Roman copy in marble of the Satyr facing Praxiteles. The Roman era, on the other hand, is documented by a collection of sculptures and mosaics detached from the villas of Piazza Vittoria in Palermo, near which the forum of the Roman city was certainly located.
Even the prehistoric cultures present in the caves of the Palermo area have had space in the museum premises.
Collection of the University Museum.
This is the oldest collection and the first nucleus of the museum, it was acquired in 1814 when Giuseppe Emanuele Ventimiglia, prince of Belmonte, upon his death left his collection to the University of Palermo which in turn later sold it to the "Royal Archaeological Museum of Palermo ".
Antonio Salinas collection
The collection that gave the museum its name, the most important in size with its 6641 pieces, was given to the museum by Salinas himself on his death in 1914 by means of a will. The collection consists of books, manuscripts, prints, photographs, personal items and around 6000 coins.
"Pietro Bonci Casuccini" Collection
Finally, the Etruscan collection is of great interest. It is made up of sarcophagi, memorial stones, cinerary statues, urns, Attic pottery with red and black figures, bronzes and entire funeral objects. It is considered the most important Etruscan collection outside of Tuscany. The objects on display come from Chiusi, from the excavations carried out in the possessions of Count Pietro Bonci Casuccini, who had given life to a collection of over ten thousand pieces, kept in a public museum.

(Text source: wikipedia)

Card insertion: Ignazio Caloggero