Museo Archeologico di Cesena

The Archaeological Museum of Cesena occupies the ground floor of the former Franciscan convent that also houses the Biblioteca Malatestiana. Its collections range from prehistory to the Humanist era, with Roman finds from Cesena and its territory, including silver plates discovered on Colle Garampo in 1948.

Why it matters

The museum presents material evidence of Cesena’s history, from early settlement to the Roman period and later centuries. Its Roman collection includes objects associated with daily life, civic identity and burial practices in the area.

What to notice

Among the Roman objects are fragments of late-imperial armour, an embossed bronze plaque, a bronze belt and a brick stamped by the Figulos Boni, dated to the second and first centuries BCE. The collection also includes a second-century stele of C. Salvius Secundus, a sarcophagus and lid from a fourth- or fifth-century necropolis, and an architrave fragment. The fourth-century silver plates and ceramics found on Colle Garampo in 1948 connect the collection to the hill above Cesena.

Context and history

The museum’s holdings come from the Cesena area and its surroundings. Its position in the former convent of San Francesco places the archaeological collection within the same monumental complex as the Biblioteca Malatestiana, linking the city’s ancient material heritage with its later civic and cultural history.