Municipal Museum ‘Mons. Domenico Mambrini’

This museum is the result of the collecting activity of Monsignor Domenico Mambrini (1879-1944). Over the years it has been enriched with finds collected during excavations in the archaeological sites of the Galeata area (Mevaniola, Villa di Teoderico) and in the Abbey of S. Ellero. It houses (rooms and storerooms) materials with a chronological excursus from prehistory to the present. The museum has been moved from the Praetorian Palace of Galeata to the Convent of the Minor Friars of Pianetto (see “Archaeology in the Forlì area”).

It was founded thanks to the passion for history and local memories of Monsignor Domenico Mambrini, archpriest of Galeata from 1907 to 1944. Since the first decades of the 20th century, Mambrini has been collecting archaeological finds of local and foreign origin, works of art, books, documents, etc. in a parish museum located in some rooms adjacent to the parish church of S. Pietro in Bosco. In 1951 the Mambrini family decided to donate the collection to the Municipality of Galeata, as the Archpriest had always wanted.

The first location of the civic museum was the Praetorian Palace in Galeata, which soon proved insufficient to hold all the objects that increased over the years (new archaeological research, objects from religious buildings, occasional finds, etc.). Due to this lack of space, it was decided in 2001 to relocate the museum to the Minor Fathers’ Convent in Pianetto, which was opened in the spring of 2004.

In the new venue, two sections divide the collection: one historical-artistic and the other archaeological. The historical-artistic section displays frescoes from the Pantano Church, some paintings that were part of the Mambrini collection, and paintings from the Uffizi Gallery.

The archaeological section is divided into several rooms.

One room specially dedicated to the collection of Mons. Domenico Mambrini (Room 1), in which heterogeneous material is arranged in terms of type and chronology (to be mentioned an Egyptian idol depicting Isis enthroned holding Horus).

Room 2 displaying pre-protohistoric material and material on peopling in the Roman period; room 3 containing artifacts from the Roman city site of Mevaniola (such as a mosaic of Caesio, I cent. B.C., a stele of Rubria Tertulla, III cent. A.D, honorary key of Mevaniola 1st century A.D., etc.).

Room 5 is dedicated to archaeological finds from the Theodoric villa site; rooms 4 and 6, featuring early Christian, early medieval and Romanesque pieces, including the well-known relief depicting the meeting between St. Ellero and Theodoric (room 6).

A bookshop at the museum ticket office and a lecture hall are located on the ground floor. On the same floor is arranged a laboratory for the study and restoration of archaeological materials.