Museo Claudio Faina, Orvieto

The Museo Claudio Faina is one of the finest archaeological museums in Umbria, occupying a palazzo directly facing the cathedral on Orvieto's Piazza Duomo. It grew from the private collection assembled by the Faina family from 1864, later given to the city, and brings together two strands: the family's own antiquities and the civic archaeological collection of Orvieto. The holdings are especially rich in Etruscan material, fitting for a town that was the important Etruscan centre of Velzna, the Roman Volsinii: displays include a celebrated array of Greek and Etruscan painted vases, among them black-figure and red-figure pottery of high quality, along with Etruscan bronzes, terracottas and sculpture, and architectural fragments from the necropolises and sanctuaries around the cliff. A particular treasure is the collection of around three thousand ancient coins, one of the most important numismatic holdings in the region. The museum is well arranged over several floors, and the upper rooms have the bonus of windows that frame a memorable head-on view of the cathedral's mosaic facade across the square. A visit usually takes an hour to ninety minutes, and the museum makes an excellent complement to the cathedral opposite and the town's underground and Etruscan sites. It charges a modest admission, sometimes available as a combined ticket with the cathedral chapel, and keeps seasonal hours. Quiet and rarely crowded, it is a rewarding stop for anyone interested in the Etruscan past of Orvieto, in southern Umbria, and a good refuge on a hot or wet day.