MAEC - Museo dell'Accademia Etrusca

MAEC - Museo dell'Accademia Etrusca

MAEC - Museo dell'Accademia Etrusca
4.5
10:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Monday
10:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Tuesday
10:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Wednesday
10:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Thursday
10:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Friday
10:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Saturday
10:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Sunday
10:00 AM - 7:00 PM
About
The MAEC houses an extraordinary collection bringing together all the material discovered in and around Cortona since the 1700s.The museum collection can be visited in two sections: one dedicated to the Etruscan Academy, and the other centered on the most recent findings from the Cortona necropolis. The collection of the Accademai Etrusca boasts exceptional pieces from various historical periods, like the celebrated Etruscan Chandelier, ancient Egyptian burial goods and works by futurist master Gino Severini. The section dedicated to the City of Cortona offers a journey that begins in the paleoenvironment of the Chiana Valley and arrives in the Cortona of Roman times, passing through the ancient period (580-480 B.C.E.) with the princely Etruscan tombs of the Sodo and Camucia and significant findings such as the Tabula Cortonensis, the third longest Etruscan text in the world.The layout of the museum was specifically designed to communicate with visitors in an innovative way, using both reconstructions and multimedia equipment. All texts are fully rendered in both English and Braill.
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Popular mentions

4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles528 reviews
Excellent
267
Very good
179
Average
50
Poor
23
Terrible
9

nora_anders_norge
Stavanger Municipality, Norway44 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jun 2023
An extremely good and detailed museum that covers an imposing range of periods in the towns history. It also has a good collection of Egyptians artifacts - mummies etc.
We spent over 2 hrs - well worth it.
Written June 26, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Lytchett
Hampshire12 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Sep 2012 • Couples
Nothing was interactive. Very old fashioned type of museum. My husband required the lift to return to reception and waited what seemed to be forever. It transpired that you are required to inform the receptionist if you need the lift so that she can press the button. Trouble is you have to walk to reception to ask! Receptionist was rude when it was suggested they may like to place a notice in the reception for disabled guests.
Written October 12, 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

kira_gartzou
Athens, Greece15 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2018
The museum has findings that are absolutely worthwhile, but they are (dis)organised in such a way that one thinks the aim is to make visitors crazy! The museum is huge. When you buy your ticket, the staff won't give you a museum plan. You will start your visit from the basement, which is devoted to findings that range from the Prehistoric to the Roman period, and is the best-organised part of the museum. But when you finish this part, you may find out - kind of by chance - that actually the most important findings of the museum (e.g. the Etruscan chandelier) are at the other floors. This is where the real problem begins. The museum has the "philosophy" that all findings from all eras should be displayed together, to create some kind of appreciation for art in the abstract, de-rooted from its context. So the Etruscan stuff is displayed together with Roman, Renaissance, and modern artwork. But that way, it is incredibly difficult for visitors to understand what they are seeing - something compounded by the fact that there are NO EXPLANATIONS for a large number of exhibits, in any language!!! So you're looking at a statue, and you have no clue when it was made! Is it ancient? Is it medieval? Unless you're an expert already, you will not learn. I left the museum impressed by the findings, but very angry that I didn't learn more due to the (for me) maddening way most of the findings are displayed. Tickets are 10 euros.
Written September 4, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Gaya
San Francisco, CA120 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
May 2018 • Friends
We were absolutely blown away by this museum. Presented here is an outstanding array of artifacts with historical notations in Italian, most of them translated into English. We spent nearly three hours roaming this old historical building that was once a palace. You’ll see amazing artifacts here from the 5th century BC, onward. Be prepared to soak up culture, history, and vast information as well as be inspired in the artistic visual curiosity that the place invokes.
Written May 24, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

edo_calia
Turin, Italy99 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2016
If you spend some time in Cortona (which you should, anyway ;) ) and you are a little into history, you can't miss to check out MAEC. Its recent renovation added a lot to the visitors' experience in terms of multimedia tools and other exhibition informative support services. Try to visit it all the first time, and then come back to spend some more time in the sections you like best. Enjoy!
Written June 29, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Gothnak
Guildford106 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Sep 2012 • Couples
Yes as many have said the Etruscan artifacts are very interesting but the museum looks a lot bigger than it is. That is also backed up by the price which was quite high for not a lot to see. We both came out of this museum quite disappointed.
Written September 30, 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Geraldine F
Rye, NY14 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2019
We were really looking forward to our visit. We were practically the only two people in the museum. We found the exhibits very disappointing. They were mostly chards from local excavations, floor of the Roman was uninspiring. In fact everything about the museum was uninspiring. Don’t waste your time or your money.
Written October 20, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Luiz C
Cascais, Portugal348 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2019
Although in a main square the entrance is a bit hidden. Be sure to visit.
The Etruscan art collection is amazing. The exposed Roman, Medieval and Renaissance art is first rate. However the interior architecture is a bit confusing being difficult to choose the best direction for the visit
Written September 13, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

MrNycticorax
Fribourg, Switzerland4 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2018 • Solo
Most people planning to visit the museum will probably be interested in the Etruscean collection, so I am going to comment exclusively on that.

The collection is great -- along with Arezzo's it might be one of the finest collection of Etruscean art and vestiges I know of. However, the visitor will probably regret that the approach favoured my the curators is very centered on archaeological details. This has too consequences which I find regrettable:
- at times it feels as if the archeological descriptions were not used in the service of cultural anthropology, i.e. the science of what ancient peoples believed, how they behaved, and what what important for them at a cultural level.
- a list is no narrative: even though I was impressed by the details and number of the descriptions about the archeological findings, I often struggled to connect those with a narrative allowing me get a sense of their accomplishment, or meaning, relative to the bigger picture (i.e. concerning the point above).

Don't get me wrong, the museum is fine and has ample *descriptions*, but these would need to become *explanations* embroided in a narrative to really shed light on the big questions: Who the Etrusque really were, how they appeared and why they disappeared, what mattered to them and what were they good at?
Written July 28, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

ManiagoRina
maniago139 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
May 2018 • Solo
This is a must-see for historians and for those who want to know this area which was an Etruscan Empire before Christ and the Romans, beautiful artifacts many vases, jewelry. These people knew how to have a good time, and were at one time very prosperous.
Written May 11, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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MAEC - Museo dell'Accademia Etrusca - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

Frequently Asked Questions about MAEC - Museo dell'Accademia Etrusca

MAEC - Museo dell'Accademia Etrusca is open:
  • Sun - Sat 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM