The Museum
The Museum is home mainly to articles from the Pergola area.
The Pergola Museum of Gilt Bronzes
The hall containing the gilt bronzes was equipped with a multimedia system in 2019.
The Pergola Museum of Gilt Bronzes is located in the 14th-century former convent of Saint James and houses works of great historical and artistic interest from the municipality. Inaugurated on the 9th of October 1999, the museum is home to the Gilt Bronzes, the only surviving group of Roman gilt bronze statues and one of the most important archaeological finds of the 20th century.
The four sections that make up the museum complex (history and art, numismatics, archaeology, and contemporary art) are arranged around the cloister in an almost circular itinerary.
HISTORY AND ART SECTION: This collection of works (paintings, sculptures, wooden furniture, prints and drawings) dating from the 14th to the 18th centuries is mainly the product of artists and craftsmen from central Italy. Among the most important works on display are the Saint Carlo Borromeo (1626) by Claudio Ridolfi of Verona and the Polyptych of Saint James (late 15th or early 16th century) attributed to an anonymous artist from the Marche region.
NUMISMATICS SECTION: This consists of a collection of 238 coins accumulated by Pergolese priest Don Giovanni Carboni, issued mainly by papal mints toward the end of the 18th century.
ARCHAEOLOGY SECTION: In addition to the Gilt Bronzes of Cartoceto di Pergola, this section preserves two polychromatic mosaics dating from the 14th-5th century AD, which formed part of the courtyard of a rustic villa discovered in Montesecco (a hamlet of Pergola), various ceramic articles, a funerary stele (50 AD) and three funerary offerings (2nd century BC to 2nd century AD).
CONTEMPORARY ART SECTION: These three rooms are dedicated to the Pergolese artist Walter Valentini (1928-2022), a leading exponent of Italian and European lyrical abstractionism. The collection consists of a series of etchings made on the occasion of the bicentenary (1798-1998) of the birth of
Giacomo Leopardi and published in highly prestigious books produced by
Valentini in collaboration with publishers Unaluna. The original plates are also on display in the exhibition rooms.
These were engraved by the artist himself and greatly enhance the educational value of the collection. The contemporary
art section is completed by Valentini’s etchings dedicated to Galileo Galilei.
The Gilt Bronzes were discovered by accident in 1946 in Cartoceto, a hamlet of Pergola, by two farm workers while digging. The statues were found in fragments but have been reassembled by three restoration projects. They represent a family group formed by two standing female figures and two riders in military garb on richly ornamented horses. According to the latest thinking, the group dates back to the late Republican period (50-30 BC) and represents a high-ranking family probably associated with the Marche region.
Since 2019, visits to the Bronzes have been enhanced by an immersive multimedia system created by physicist and scientific populariser Paco Lanciano, who also works with TV science presenter Piero Angela as consultant. Narration, sound, lighting and projected images guide the visitor through an interesting and stimulating adventure, forming a new and original way to experience and enjoy art.
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