060608


Museo di Casal de' Pazzi

Typology: Town Museum

Address

Address: Viale Egidio Galbani, 6
Zone: Quartiere Pietralata (Roma est)
All’incrocio con via Ciciliano

Contacts

Telephone booking: 060608 tutti i giorni ore 9.00 - 19.00 al costo di una telefonata urbana

Opening times

Reservations required at 060608 every day from 9.00 to 19.00

From Tuesday to Friday 9.00-14.00
Saturday and Sunday 10.00-14.00
1 January 2024 timetable to be defined
Last admission one hour before closing time

Closed
Monday, 1 May and 25 December

For updates and guidelines please check the >official website

ALWAYS CHECK the WARNINGS PAGE before planning your visit in the museum

Information

> Free admission
   with free compulsory reservation at 060608

>Terms and conditions

> MIC card
  is a 5 euro card that includes free admission in the Civic Museums for 12 months

> Disabled people Access - services available:
- partially accessible entrance, no lift 
- wheelchair path accessible
- accessible toilet
- services for hearing-impaired
- services for blind or partially sighted persons 
- services for children
 > More information

Modalità di partecipazione: Booking required

Today's events

Scheduled events

Description

The history of the Museo di Casal de' Pazzi starts with an elephant fang.
Discovered in 1981 during urban development work in the Rebibbia area, it gave rise to an archaeological
an archaeological investigation over an area of more than 1,200 square metres that brought to light the section of an ancient riverbed. More than 2,000 animal fossils were discovered in the deposit, belonging to species unthinkable today in the Roman countryside (the ancient elephant, the aurochs, the hippopotamus, the rhinoceros), but also a fragment of a skull and more than 1,500 flint artefacts testifying to the contemporary presence of humans.

The site dates back some 200,000 years and is the last vestige of an extraordinary series of Pleistocene deposits.
series of Pleistocene deposits that dotted the lower Aniene valley, destroyed by the advance of the city.

The museum is completed by installations created by the Institute for Applied Technologies for Cultural Heritage of the National Research Council: the
The Museum is completed by installations created by the Institute for Applied Technologies for Cultural Heritage of the National Research Council: 3D and interactive reconstructions allow visitors to witness the flooding of the ancient bed of the Aniene River and explore the landscape of 200,000 years ago, in the Palaeolithic environment, among the large elephants that populated the area of Rome at that time.

The itinerary includes a view of the site from the top of a footbridge. The natural lighting reveals large pinkish boulders and fossil remains: tusks up to 4 metres long, teeth, vertebrae. This is the "archaeological" landscape, what remains after excavation.

Then, a dimming system "disengages" the visitor from the objective reading of the remains. An off-screen voice and correlated lights give simple answers to the questions raised by this fossil landscape, unexpected in the dense urban fabric that surrounds it, enclosed by walls.
From this moment on, the visitor is led to imagine what is no longer there.

With the aid of computer technology (the virtual creations were developed by the Virtual Archaeology Laboratory of the ITABC-CNR) the riverbed fills with "virtual" water, making it seem almost physically as if one were inside the river. The level is now that of suggestion. A reconstruction of the Pleistocene landscape appears on the large wall opposite the walkway: it is a short film containing both animated sequences and fragments of actual footage. It is a short film, containing both animated sequences and fragments of present-day footage, showing the river, plants and animals, the highlight of which is a 3D reconstruction of an ancient elephant. In the background is the voice of a man who lived in the area two hundred thousand years ago and talks about his world.

The video "breaks through" the wall, alternating the vision of the past (Pleistocene Rome with reconstructed landscapes and the ancient elephant) with images of the present (sequences of animals that still exist today, albeit in different habitats from those of present-day Rome).

After this full immersion, there are various levels of investigation. In a covered outdoor area, a number of panels "narrate" the evolution of the landscapes and life in the Roman countryside, from when Rome had a sea (about 3 million years ago) to the present day.
In the exhibition hall, which has two large windows overlooking the deposit, some of the finds are presented.

The itinerary starts with environmental themes and ends with human activities. The showcases are accompanied by reconstructive drawings. In this space there is also a touch screen, where it is possible to confront the themes offered by the exhibition in a playful or interactive way. In this 'Pleistostation' it is possible to use questionnaires, video games, hypertexts and films.

The area outside the Museum offers a reconstruction of the flora that could have characterised the banks of the Aniene about 200,000 years ago, to be experienced by following a blue path that recalls a river route. There are three rest areas, dedicated to the creation of educational workshops, where various events can be held to promote the Museum and create close links with the citizens and the territory.

The "Reflections" Mural by Jerico Cabrera Carandang
inauguration 14 February 2019
In addition to the important Pleistocene deposit and the numerous fossil finds preserved in the Casal de' Pazzi Museum, there is also a work of street art. On the perimeter wall outside the museum, along Via Egidio Galbani, stands the large mural created by the young street artist Jerico Cabrera Carandang. The pictorial work entitled Riflessi (Reflections) reconstructs, in a visionary and enveloping way, the naturalistic setting that existed before the museum was built, represented by the image of the ancient river that once flowed right where the museum now stands.

Museum system

Culture and leisure › Cultural heritage › Museums
Last checked: 2023-12-13 13:44
©2007 - Roma Classic version