Museo dell’Accademia Etrusca - for Etruscan Cortona

Set in the 13th-century Palazzo Casali, which incorporates Etruscan walls, the Etruscan Academy is the place to get to grips with the city’s ancient origins. The museum, set just behind the Palazzo Comunale, is a reminder that Cortona, enclosed by stone walls dating to Etruscan and Roman times, was the most important Etruscan city in the north of Tuscany. The highlight is a -genuine Etruscan chandelier dating from the 5th-century BC, with the lamps representing dolphins, gorgons and stylised waves. There is also a recreation of the interior of an Etruscan tumulus, the Secondo Melone di Sodo. These and other finds come from Etruscan tombs in Sodo, just outside town. Equally lovely is the fresco of Polymnia, considered to be a fine Roman painting of the Muse of Song until recent research suggested it was an 18th-century forgery. This eclectic and underrated museum covers more than Etruscan and Roman finds and strays into Egyptology, 18th-century decorative arts and even Futurism. Gino Severini, a leading Futurist artist, was born in Cortona and his works are on display here.

Address: Piazza Signorelli 9, 52044 Cortona
Web: www.cortonamaec.org