Museo Regionale Archeologico Paolo Orsi, Syracuse

The Museo Regionale Archeologico Paolo Orsi in Syracuse is one of the foremost archaeological museums in Europe and the principal collection for the archaeology of ancient Sicily, set within the Villa Landolina park in the modern part of the city. It is named after Paolo Orsi, the pioneering archaeologist who in the late 19th and early 20th centuries transformed the understanding of Sicily's prehistoric and Greek past through systematic excavation. Opened in its present purpose-built premises in 1988, the museum is organised over a large, low pavilion arranged in sectors that lead the visitor chronologically and thematically through the island's history. The displays begin with geology and prehistory, including fossil remains of dwarf elephants and the tools and pottery of the island's earliest inhabitants, before moving through the protohistoric cultures, with material from sites such as Pantalica and Thapsos. The heart of the collection covers the Greek colonisation of Sicily from the 8th century BC, with finds from Syracuse, Megara Hyblaea, Gela and Camarina, including architectural fragments, vases, terracottas and the famous archaic Kouros and votive sculptures. Among its single most renowned pieces is the Venus Anadyomene, known as the Landolina Venus, a Roman marble of the Hellenistic type showing the goddess rising from the sea, admired since the 19th century. Further sections trace the Hellenistic, Roman, late antique and early Christian periods, including catacomb sculpture and inscriptions, while a coin gallery displays the celebrated silver coinage of Syracuse. The grave goods recovered from the rock-cut necropolis of Pantalica are also held here, making the museum the natural companion to a visit to that UNESCO site. With its vast and well-documented holdings, the Paolo Orsi museum offers an unrivalled overview of the civilisations that shaped southeastern Sicily across more than ten millennia.