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The archaeological collection is housed in an exhibition area of about 700 square metres and consists of 300 artefacts, all from the Roman period and dating between the 2nd and 5th centuries AD, with the exception of a Greek relief from the 4th century BC.

The exhibition brings together, for the first time, the three nuclei that make up the Società delle Assicurazioni Generali's collection of antiquities: the finds from the excavations carried out during the construction of the Palazzo delle Assicurazioni Generali and those already on display in two historic Roman buildings, Palazzo Poli in Piazza di Spagna and Palazzo Merolli in Via delle Tre Cannelle.

The marbles formerly housed in Palazzo Poli were added to the collection when the Trieste company acquired the building, while those belonging to the Merolli family have recently been added to the collection after they were sold by FATA Assicurazioni, a Generali Group company which has owned Palazzo Merolli since the 1950s. In the exhibition itinerary, the belonging of the single exhibits to the original nucleus of the collection is made recognisable by a different colour numbering.

The project

The educational concept was conceived with the aim of making a direct connection with the materials on display in order to mediate between the fascinating complexity of ancient artefacts and the ability to attract the curiosity of young visitors.

The project is aimed at primary and secondary school classes four and five with a multimedia and interactive route. "Roots of the Present" offers teachers in Italian schools a path to deepen their understanding of the historical roots of local realities through classroom activities, in-depth materials, visits to archaeological sites and a didactic activity specifically developed for the project website.

specifically developed for the project website.

A team of researchers and archaeologists from Italian universities will support the teachers in the different activities proposed, and a series of online seminars will provide an opportunity for a national comparison of teaching methods. The project website will host in-depth teaching materials, documentary videos and the results of the activities carried out by the students.

The exhibition route

The scientific panels in each room provide all the information needed to find your way around the exhibition; the digital catalogue on the IPAD contains photos and captions of all the exhibits, while the room sheets provide in-depth thematic information and constitute the educational material that visitors can collect and take with them.

The different rooms that punctuate the tour allow visitors to explore, with an alternation of different display solutions, the context of the archaeological excavation (room A), the environments of daily life in ancient Rome (rooms BC), public spaces (rooms E-F) and the world of the underworld (rooms G-H-I-L-M) with its rituals and beliefs.

The presence of a series of "habitable settings" also offers the possibility of appreciating the historical stratification of the palace block, the evolution of Piazza Venezia, the cult of domestic divinities, the Trajan Column and the relationship with the world of the dead.

Particular emphasis has been placed on the archaeological finds discovered in this area of Rome during the construction of the building that now houses them. They have provided a rare opportunity to discover and recount the urban evolution of this part of the city over the centuries.

Social inclusion projects

The museum has invested a great deal in social inclusion projects and in July 2018, after approval by the Archaeological Superintendence of Rome, the first routes dedicated to groups of blind people began. In order to promote accessibility, thanks also to the collaboration with associations in the sector, the new routes created for the blind tell the story of Living in Rome - customs and traditions of the ancient Romans, the funerary epigraphies and the Trajan Column with an in-depth architectural study of the work and the relationship with spirituality and the world of the afterlife.

For each route, visitors have the opportunity to directly touch selected pieces, also accompanied by tactile drawings that faithfully reproduce other artefacts, so that participants come into direct contact with the history and subject matter of the work in a journey through Roman antiquities in the halls of the Museum.

2019 will also see the inauguration of tours for the deaf, which will be run not only by operators specialised in sign language, but also by young people with hearing disabilities who will be trained on specific routes and who will lead the various groups into the world of Radici de Presente. In recent years, the Radici del Presente Museum has confirmed and increased, with a few thousand new visitors, the interest in the entire collection, which is divided into several rooms.

The latter, which can also be viewed virtually on the website www.radicidelpresente.it, narrate different themes such as: the context of the archaeological excavation, the environments of daily life in ancient Rome, public spaces, the world of the afterlife with its rites and beliefs, the burial rites in ancient Rome, identity in the funerary world, the past as a memory of the future, the sarcophagi of the Merolli-Fata collection and funerary epigraphs.

Guided tours of the museum are for groups of a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 20 people. For schools, the exhibition can accommodate up to two classes for a maximum of 45-50 students.

For further information and to book a guided tour, please contact the project secretariat, indicating your name and telephone number.
Email: info@radicidelpresente.it
Toll-free number: 800 360 622 (Monday to Friday from 9:30 to 18.00)