Vatican Museums

With the exception of two segments of water pipe (fistulae) – found at Anzio in 1726 and Tivoli in 1756, respectively – the materials exhibited in this area come from the excavations carried out in the Papal States at the time of Pope Pius VI Braschi (1775-1799). Cases I-IV display the findings of the excavations of Rome (Piazza San Carlo al Corso; Conservatory of Mendicants; Garden of the Sancta Sanctorum), while cases V-VIII contain those from the remaining territories of the Papal States (Otricoli; Pontine Marshes; Vulci; Perugia, near Lake Trasimeno; and Valle Fuino at Cascia).
The abundance and importance of the materials effectively illustrate not only the intense and fortuitous archaeological activity of the period, but also the Pope’s interest in the Profane Museum, the content of which also changed, since it had until then been composed almost exclusively of pre-existing groups of antiquarian collections.