“Bandinelli” Archeological Museum in Colle Val d'Elsa

The “Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli” Archeological Museum in Colle Val d’Elsa, named in honour of the great Sienese scholar, is housed in the historic Palazzo Pretorio (or “della Podestà”) and contains 15 rooms of artefacts that illustrate the history of those who settled in the Valdelsa in ancient times, particularly during the Etruscan period.

From the Paleolithic era, the museum holds two cave tombs from the Copper Age that were discovered around the town of Le Lellere, but most of the discoveries date to the Etruscan period in the strictest sense of the term, that is, from the Archaic period to the end of the Hellenistic period, when the territory around Colle Val d'Elsa, under the rule of Volterra, became an important crossroads to and from central-northern Etruria, which is attested to by the immensely important artefacts, especially those found around the two large necropolises of Le Ville and Dometaia.

The museum also conserves the superb grave goods coming from the tomb of the noble Calisna Sepu family, considered the richest discovery from the Hellenistic era in northern Etruria, with large vases painted black, the only example of a Volterra-made kelebe with overpainting, splendid bronze mirrors and a vast array of tableware used by the Etruscan aristocracy.

The museum is temporarily closed for maintenance.