Marzabotto's National Etruscan Museum reopens completely renovated

The MNEMA - Museo Nazionale Etrusco “Pompeo Aria” National Etruscan Museum in Marzabotto (Bologna) reopened its doors to the public today after a major rearrangement and reflection on the role a museum is called to play in contemporary society. The result is a new exhibition model, completely renewed, that relates archaeological evidence to the sensibility of the present. The intervention was made possible thanks to funding of 800 thousand euros provided as part of the programming of Law 190/2014. The project involved a comprehensive overhaul of the interior museum spaces and will also continue in thesurrounding archaeological area, which covers an area of about 25 hectares. Thanks to the contribution of a multidisciplinary team, museum and park have been rethought as active tools for the enhancement and communication of cultural heritage.

In the new exhibition itinerary, designed by architect Fabio Fornasari, artifacts and finds are placed within a narrative that reconstructs their context and evolution over time, from the moment of discovery to their historical and social value. The museum is presented as a dynamic space in continuous dialogue with research. The layout also accommodates numerous artifacts that have emerged from excavation campaigns conducted under concession by theUniversity of Bologna - Department of History Cultures and Civilizations, which have further deepened our knowledge of the Etruscan city of Kainua.

The new museum layout has been designed to host thematic in-depth studies and loans from other institutions over time, fostering new opportunities for comparison and reflection on the preserved heritage and ongoing studies. A significant example is the temporary exhibition, which can be visited until September 29, 2026, dedicated to votive terracottas from the Sanctuary of Veio and housed at the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia. Architecturally, the physical separation between inside and outside, previously represented by the old staircase, has also been eliminated, thus improving accessibility, reception and use of the spaces, also thanks to the construction of a new ticket office.

The essence of the renovation project is expressed in the concept Kainua. User’s Manual, developed in collaboration with Professor Roberto Zancan of HEAD in Geneva and designed as a manifesto of the museum’s new identity. The project takes its cue from a reflection on the meaning of cities, which are considered meeting places between architecture, the natural environment and social relations. Cities are not immutable entities: they are born, they transform, they go through phases of growth and decline, yet they retain a deep memory. In this perspective, the traditional distinction between museum and archaeological park, conceived instead as a single narrative system, is overcome. The objective is to restore full legibility to Kainua, the only Etruscan city still passable according to its original layout, offering visitors a shared experience that stimulates a reflection on the way we live and inhabit spaces.

The dialogue with the present finds further expression through the inclusion ofcontemporary art within the site, considered a tool capable of broadening perspectives and sensibilities. Under the Same Sky, a project by Bologna-based artist Eva Marisaldi, developed as part of Kainua. User’s Manual. The artist interprets archaeology as a bridge between different eras, capable of uniting past and present in a single experience. The project includes three never-before-seen interventions, conceived as mediating devices between the public and the archaeological heritage. Through her creative vision, Marisaldi invites visitors to engage with lesser-known aspects of Etruscan civilization, proposing new keys to understanding daily life in ancient Kainua. This represents the first in a series of interventions entrusted to contemporary artists that will continue over the years, with the intention of enriching and renewing the narrative of the archaeological site.

Following the reopening, the museum will promote a calendar of initiatives and events that will accompany the public throughout the summer season, further expanding MNEMA’s cultural offerings.

“The reopening of MNEMA marks an important step in the journey of enhancing the value of Kainua and the national Etruscan heritage,” said Luigi Gallo, director of the National Museums of Bologna-Regional Directorate National Museums Emilia-Romagna. “With the new exhibit Living Kainua, MNEMA aims to be a place, accessible and constantly evolving, that makes openness and inclusiveness some of its guiding principles: a museum capable of welcoming different audiences and offering new tools to understand the past through the eyes of the present.”

“The project to refurbish and reinterpret the archaeological area stems from a deep reflection on the role a museum must play today: not just a place of preservation, but a space capable of creating connections between research, landscape, community and visitors,” said Denise Tamborrino, director of the National Etruscan Museum. “One of the main objectives was precisely to stitch together the relationship between the museum and the archaeological park, conceiving them as parts of a single narrative: on the one hand the objects and material evidence, on the other the landscape and urban layout of ancient Kainua. The new layout focuses on accessibility as a working method. New readings have led to rethinking the finds as well, no longer mere typological specimens but objects bearing their own specific biography, thus capable of telling the story also through tactile reproductions and ”sonographies“ that reconstruct soundscapes of the Etruscan period.”

Marzabotto's National Etruscan Museum reopens completely renovated

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