The Museum is located on the shores of the sea in the town of Civitavecchia near Forte Michelangelo. The museum occupies the monumental site of the former papal customs commissioned by Clement XIII, as evidenced by the inscription above the entrance to the structure. In the 1970s it was definitively set up to house the archaeological materials from the old Civic Museum and pertinent discoveries from the area of Civitavecchia and the opposite coast, as well as from the neighboring areas (S. Marinella, Allumiere, Tolfa, etc.).
The Archaeological Museum of Civitavecchia presents an itinerary on three floors, with testimonies starting from the dawn of civilization, throughout the ancient age, up to the Middle Ages.
On the ground floor, among the most interesting finds, you can admire a statue of the god Apollo (1st century AD), found during excavations in Villa Simonetti of Santa Marinella, the ancient summer residence of the Roman jurist Eneo Domizio Ulpiano. Most likely it is a reproduction of the Colossus of Rhodes.
Of particular importance is also a reproduction of Phidias’ Athena Parthenos dating back to the mid-2nd century. d. C. and some marble heads, including one depicting the emperor Marcus Aurelius as a young man.
A new Epigraphic Room was also recently inaugurated on the ground floor, which houses not only the magnificent Roman epigraphs of the Imperial Fleet, but also two new and very precious finds: a head of a nymph from the Hadrian age found near the Terme Taurine and a figurehead with a female bust in solid bronze from the Roman age, found in the mid-1800s in the port, donated by the then prince D’Ardia to the National Museum.
The museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 8:30 to 19:30. Entry to the museum is €3.00 full price, while concessions €2.00. Address: Largo Camillo Benso Conte di Cavour, 1, 00053 Civitavecchia RM.
A new director has been in charge for some years, a formidable woman who has been able to give the museum back the light it deserved in the panorama of small museums, Lara Anniboletti, archaeologist.