Built in 2009 within the Rocca and Sasso Nature Reserve and located at the foot of the Rocca di Manerba, the Valtenesi Civic Archaeological Museum offers a comprehensive overview of the area and its history.
The exhibition is spread over two levels, and highlights the history and archaeology of Manerba and the Valtenesi area, as well as the landscape and nature of the Reserve.
Ground floor
The archaeological section on the ground floor presents various historical contexts, from prehistory to the Roman period and the early Middle Ages.
First floor
The first floor focuses on the Rocca and the numerous medieval and 16th-century artifacts found in and around its site. This level also hosts the naturalistic section, which illustrates the richness and unique features of the Rocca and Sasso di Manerba del Garda Nature Reserve and its lake fauna. This area can also accommodate temporary exhibitions.
Second floor
The second and top floor of the building houses a specialized library, recently enriched thanks to a large private donation, along with a study and consultation area currently being set up.
The display cases of the permanent exhibition give an overview of artefacts found in the Copper Age necropolis of Riparo Valtenesi, below the Sasso di Manerba (3300-2300 BC); everyday objects from the Bronze Age pile dwelling site of San Sivino (2100-1450 BC), part of the Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps UNESCO site since 2011; funeral items from the Roman necropolis of Campo Olivello (1st to 5th century AD); household goods and architectural fragments from the Roman villas identified at the foot of the Rocca and near the church of Santa Maria (1st to 4th century AD); finds from early medieval buildings identified in near the same church (6th to 7th century AD); and pottery and weapons found during excavations on the Rocca (11th to 16th century AD).
The museum contains a faithful reconstruction of one of the tombs found in the Riparo Valtenesi.
This is a site at the foot of Mount Sasso which was inhabited between the Mesolithic, the Neolithic and the Copper Ages.
Excavated between 1976 and 1994 by Lawrence H. Barfield (University of Birmingham), the site proved to be a place of worship and later a burial site with collective tombs; which yielded numerous finds of considerable interest, now displayed in the dedicated section of the museumx.
San Sivino in the municipality of Manerba is home to one of the pile-dwelling sites, dating from the Early Bronze Age (2100 BC) to the Middle Bronze Age (1400 BC), which have been listed in the UNESCO site Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps since 2011.
Materials recovered and displayed in the museum include ceramics, bronze and stone tools, which testify the life in the ancient village: hunting and fishing are evidenced by numerous flint arrowheads, bronze fishing hooks and harpoons. The various display cases in the museum contextualise such items to illustrate their use.
The items preserved in the museum come from the main Roman sites of great interest located in the immediate surroundings.
Two fairly prestigious villas have been found in the area: one built on the terraced slopes of the Rocca hill, in the locality of Borgo, and another near the Pieve, whose likely owner is known thanks to a dedicatory inscription.
The Museum displays everyday objects from these villas such as balsamaria (small perfume containers), oil lamps, bracelets, rings, and work tools—as well as architectural elements, polychrome mosaics, and fragments of painted plaster.
The necropolis of Campo Olivello, undoubtedly linked to the Borgo villa, yielded several funerary items that are exhibited in the museum; there is also a reconstruction of one of the tombs.
A special section features items collected by G.B. Marchesini in the late 19th century and donated to the museum by his heirs, the Cirilli family; these are displayed alongside the cabinet that originally housed them.
On the site of the present-day church of Santa Maria stood a single-room church dating back to the seventh century. Fragments of liturgical objects found here can be seen in the museum. Nearby there was also an oratory dedicated to San Siro and an underground structure used for processing metals; a small section in the museum explores this activity.
A section of the museum is dedicated to the Rocca di Manerba, located halfway between Salò and Desenzano and overlooking Lake Garda, which presents complex rock layering and a long history; indeed, prior to the medieval fortifications, whose construction began no later than the eleventh century, the area had already been home to a prehistoric settlement since the Neolithic era, and underwent numerous changes from the mid to late Neolithic (square-mouthed vase and Lagozza cultures), to the early Bronze Age (Polada culture), middle Bronze Age, late Bronze Age and finally the Roman era, when the promontory was home to a temple dedicated to Minerva.
The museum preserves numerous artefacts related to the long history of this extraordinary site, including weapons and everyday objects from the final stage of the Rocca’s history, prior to its definitive destruction in 1574 by the Republic of Venice.
