Museo Nazionale Atestino

The National Atestino Museum was established to illustrate the characteristics of the ancient Veneti civilization, which shaped the local social and cultural development during the 1st millennium BC, in a dynamic relationship with the Etruscan, Celtic, and Roman worlds.

Since 1876, in fact, the most significant evidence of this civilization has emerged in Este, now displayed in the eleven rooms of the Museum. The exhibition spaces illustrate daily life, artistic expressions, religious practices, and funeral rituals, in order to reconstruct society and emphasize similarities and differences with the present.

There are many prestigious contexts and objects of considerable beauty: from Neolithic ceramics, represented by one of the oldest decorated vases, to the famous ‘Benvenuti situla’, defined by Giulia Fogolari as 'the epic poem of the Veneti people'. The situla, a vessel made of bronze sheet, shows in its figurative decoration scenes from the life and celebrations of the most important Atestine families of the 7th century BC. Among the later funerary goods, the tomb of Nerka Trostiaia stands out, rich in precious Etruscan jewelry and imports from southern Italy.

From the Roman era, monumental remains of the city are preserved in situ and numerous artifacts are displayed in the Este Museum, historical testimonies of its deep connection with Augustus, who founded a colony of veterans returning from the Battle of Actium.

On display inside the Atestino Museum are not only archaeological materials but also the products of Atestine ceramicists up until the 1800s (which connect to today’s manufacturing), while some works of high artistic value accompany the visitor throughout the journey: from a fresco of Giottesque school to the magnificent Madonna and Child by Cima da Conegliano dated 1504, displayed alongside a beautiful late medieval wooden Pietà.