Museo Archeologico di Aidone

The Museo Archeologico di Aidone occupies a former Capuchin convent in the town's historic centre and preserves finds from ancient Morgantina. Its eleven rooms include objects returned from American museums, among them the celebrated goddess statue and the silver service known as the Argenti di Morgantina.

Why it matters

The museum connects Aidone with the archaeological site of Morgantina, whose greatest flowering came in the Hellenistic period. Its collections also tell the history of archaeological looting and the return of significant works to Sicily: the statue acquired by the Getty and the silver service purchased by the Metropolitan Museum were both repatriated.

What to notice

The room sequence follows the history of Morgantina, from early settlements and necropoleis to the Hellenistic city. Sala 5 displays the acroliths of Demeter and Kore, with marble heads, hands and feet. Sala 6 presents the returned goddess statue, made of Parian marble and local limestone. Sala 9 contains sixteen silver and gilded-silver objects with Greek inscriptions, including the name Eupolemos. The museum also displays a late-fourth-century-BC terracotta head of Hades.

Context and history

The museum opened in 1984 in the former Convento dei Padri Cappuccini, built between 1611 and 1613. Its entrance passes through the annexed church of San Francesco. The collections grew from decades of excavation at Morgantina by teams from Princeton and the University of Virginia, alongside Italian archaeological authorities. The silver returned after investigations by the Carabinieri art squad and was celebrated in Aidone in December 2010. The statue, acquired by the Getty in 1988, returned in March 2011 under an agreement between Italy and the Getty Trust. It is displayed as a goddess, Demeter or Kore, dated to about 420 BC.