“Carlo Conti” Museum of Archaeology and Palaeontology

The museum is dedicated to the sculptor and Honorary Inspector of the Superintendency, Carlo Conti, who, in 1931, with his work *Valsesia Archeologica*, had already envisaged a fully-fledged archaeological museum for the valley. However, despite the excavations and research carried out at Monte Fenera, home to the important Ciutarun and Ciota Ciara caves, it was not until 2007 that the museum was officially opened, with the aim of revitalising public outreach and information provision and resuming research activities at Monte Fenera and throughout the valley, in close collaboration with the Piedmont Superintendency and universities, particularly those in Ferrara and Geneva.

The exhibition offers an insight into the rich collection of Pleistocene fauna from the Fenera caves, as well as the exceptional skeletal remains and artefacts attesting to the presence of Neanderthals – finds that are unique in Piedmont. The Borgosesia Museum is therefore a key institution for understanding the Palaeolithic period in Piedmont. During the Early Iron Age, a population concentration emerged in what is now Borgosesia, with settlements in the Ospedale area and the first graves in the western part of the town, controlling access to the important mineral resources of the upper valley. During the Late Iron Age, eloquent female grave goods reveal the initially Insubrian and later Vallesian character of the population of ancient ‘Seso’, leading up to its gradual integration – including in legal terms – into the Roman world. The tombs on Via N. Sottile, the remains of the settlement and the inscriptions provide a good illustration of the vicus of Seso in Roman times, situated along a major road linking Ivrea to Domodossola and Locarno. The museum exhibition is rounded off by finds from what are thought to be the sacred areas of the pre-Roman and Roman centre of Borgosesia, as well as a wide range of medieval artefacts from the surrounding area.

To complement the exhibition, a permanent geological display was added in 2012, focusing on the ‘supervolcano’ which was recognised by the scientific community in 2009 following the publication of papers by its discoverers, the geologists Sinigoi and Quick from the Universities of Trieste and Dallas, who have been exploring and studying the Valsesia for over thirty years.

GEO-TOPICS: palaeontology

LINK: The Museum – Carlo Conti Museum