Museo Civico Archeologico di Fermo

Fermo's Civic Archaeological Museum presents the history of archaeological collecting in the Marche through collections assembled by antiquarians and local scholars.

Why it matters

The museum interprets not only ancient objects but also the scholarship and collecting that brought them into public collections. Its holdings connect the Picene past of Fermo and Falerio with the history of archaeology in the region.

What to notice

Displays include material from the De Minicis brothers' collection, including inscriptions, sculptures and small finds, alongside documents and correspondence related to nineteenth-century antiquarians. The rooms also interpret the unauthorised excavations at the Roman theatre of Falerio Picenus and the transition from private collecting to a civic museum.

Context and history

Gaetano and Raffaele De Minicis assembled an important private collection in the first half of the nineteenth century. Their work followed earlier antiquarian scholarship by Giuseppe Colucci. The collections later passed to the city and formed part of Fermo's civic archaeological museum. A new exhibition devoted to the history of collecting opened in the restored Fontevecchia complex in 2023, near the Roman cisterns.