MAEC – Museo dell'Accademia Etrusca e della Città di Cortona
Housed inside the 13th-century Palazzo Casali in Piazza Signorelli, the MAEC is one of Italy's most important Etruscan collections outside Rome and Florence. Its star piece — a 5th-century BC bronze chandelier of extraordinary craftsmanship — alone justifies the entry fee.
The Etruscan Collection
The famous Lampadario Etrusco, a large circular bronze lamp decorated with 16 oil-burner spouts and intricate figures of satyrs, sirens and gorgons, has been the museum's centrepiece since the Accademia Etrusca acquired it in 1746. It hangs in the grand Sala dell'Orcio and is genuinely unlike anything else in Tuscany.
Beyond the chandelier, the Etruscan galleries display gold jewellery, painted funerary urns, bronze votive figures and the contents of tombs excavated from the hills around Cortona. The Tanella di Pitagora tomb finds give a vivid sense of how sophisticated Etruscan culture was centuries before Rome dominated the peninsula.
The City History Galleries
The upper floors trace Cortona's story from Roman colony through medieval commune to Renaissance art centre, with works by Luca Signorelli — the city's most famous native son — and Beato Angelico, who painted his celebrated Annunciation here (now in the Diocesan Museum next door, but MAEC provides the context).
A room dedicated to the Egyptian collection surprises most visitors: the Accademia Etrusca amassed mummies, papyri and canopic jars in the 18th century, making this one of the earliest Egyptian collections in Italy. Allow at least 90 minutes to do the whole museum justice.
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