MNEMA – National Etruscan Museum “Pompeo Aria” and Kainua Archaeological Park

The MNEMA – National Etruscan Museum “Pompeo Aria” and the Archaeological Park of Kainua in Marzabotto today form a unique complex within the Italian museum and archaeological landscape.

Kainua was the name of an Etruscan caravan city located at the heart of the trade network connecting the port of Spina, the capital of Etruria Padana (Bologna), and Tyrrhenian Etruria. The Etruscan city of Marzabotto is an exceptional example of urban planning. The archaeological area allows visitors to relive the atmosphere of an ancient urban environment made up of houses, streets, temples, and workshops.

The Museum houses the most significant finds unearthed from the city, its necropolises, and its sacred sites. Among the most outstanding pieces are the Greek marble Kouros Head and the bronze votive statuettes. The museum collection, currently undergoing a major renewal, is centred around the concept of its new display project, encapsulated in the motto "Kainua. User Manual", conceived almost as a manifesto for the new museum. The project restores readability to the only Etruscan city that can still be explored according to its original urban layout.

The exhibition is arranged across four galleries, illustrating the general characteristics of the site and displaying its remarkable artefacts: Attic pottery, bronzes, stone and marble funerary markers, glass-paste and alabaster unguent containers; numerous bronze votive statuettes depicting worshippers in acts of offering and prayer; and architectural terracottas from the Acropolis and residential buildings, which make it possible to reconstruct the original appearance and elevation of these structures.