Museo di Antichità

Inside the Manica Corta of the Royal Palace, the Museum of Antiquities keeps the archaeological memory of Piedmont and the dynastic collection the Savoy court built around it. Its route runs from prehistory through the Roman town of Augusta Taurinorum to the early medieval period, with a theatre-like display of statues and reliefs in the palace's undercroft.

Why it matters

This is the state archaeological museum for Piedmont, heir to collections assembled from the 18th century onward as antiquarian interest in the region's Roman and pre-Roman past grew under the Savoy monarchy. Its identity is double: a regional museum of archaeology, documenting settlement from the Paleolithic to the early Middle Ages, and a court collection whose formation reflects the tastes and ambitions of the dynasty that surrounded it. Within the Musei Reali complex, the museum forms part of the ensemble of royal collections and archaeological institutions.

What to notice

The lower floor holds the showcase theatre: a semicircular display of statues, reliefs and inscriptions arranged against the vaulted brick structure of the palace, where classical sculpture and architectural fragments read almost as stage scenery. The vaulted undercroft theatre remains one of Turin's most atmospheric exhibition spaces. The route then moves through the prehistoric and protohistoric material of the region, the epigraphy and sculpture of Roman Turin — including finds from the theatre and gates of Augusta Taurinorum — and the Lombard and early medieval rooms, so a single visit spans several thousand years of human presence in the Po valley. The display distinguishes the royal collections from scientific excavation finds, reflecting both court taste and the development of archaeological research in Piedmont.

Context and history

The collections descend from the antiquarian holdings of the Savoy state, consolidated in the 19th century and installed in purpose-built quarters beside the Royal Palace; the museum's historic seat in the Palazzo dell'Università, across the centre, also served it for decades. Under the 2014 reorganisation of Turin's royal museums the Museum of Antiquities was incorporated into the Musei Reali complex, and its displays were reinstalled in the Manica Corta, the palace's short wing, where the antiquities theatre reopened as the centrepiece. The museum continues to function as the regional archaeological reference point, with research, conservation and educational programmes extending its work well beyond the exhibition floor.