As the epigraph shows at the entrance, the National Archaeological Museum of Civitavecchia is located inside a building built in 1764 under the pontificate of Pope Clement XIII, structured as a fortress and used to house the command of the papal garrison. After the heavy bombings of World War II it was rebuilt and destined to house the Museum. Here are exposed the main historical and archaeological evidence of the city founded by the emperor Trajan, as well as finds from the territory.
Do not miss the statue of the god Apollo (I sec. d.c.), considered the model that most closely reproduces the Colossus of Rhodes, found during the excavations in the Villa Simonetti of Santa Marinella, ancient summer residence of the Roman jurist Eneo Domizio Ulpiano, and the reproduction of the Athena Parthenos of Phidias, dating from the middle of the 2nd cent. d. c.. In the Epigraphic Room there are two precious finds: a head of nymph of Hadrian age, found near Terme Taurine,and a figurehead with a massive bronze bust of the Roman age, found in the port in the mid-nineteenth century. The numerous ceramics, bronzes and some examples of buccheri in the windows come from the main settlements of the district: the Etruscan necropolis of Castellina del Marangone, the Etruscan necropolis of Pisciarelli in Aquae Tauri, the Roman villas of Frasca. Pay particular attention to finds from the flourishing village Luni sul Mignone, dating back to the Bronze Age, and the mysterious laminetta from the Etruscan sanctuary of Punta della Vipera.
