History Lessons

University's school at Cortona unearths Italian history

by Richard Cairney
Students at the University of Alberta's school at Cortona, Italy, have unearthed important pieces of the area's past. Their findings are part of an exhibit  at the new Museum of the Etruscan Academy and the City of Cortona, which opened last fall. For more on the U of A's school in Cortona, visit www.ualberta.ca/foliointernational.
Students at the University of Alberta's school at
Cortona, Italy, have unearthed important pieces of the
area's past. Their findings are part of an exhibit at
the new Museum of the Etruscan Academy and the City of
Cortona, which opened last fall. For more on the
U of A's school in Cortona, visit
www.ualberta.ca/foliointernational

A new museum in Italy has received wide public acclaim for the innovative didactic diachronic display of artifacts from both the Etruscan and Roman periods – thanks in part to the work of University of Alberta researchers and students.

The Museo dell'Accademia Etrusca e della Città di Cortona (Museum of the Etruscan Academy and of the City of Cortona) opened at Cortona, Italy, last fall.

The museum consists of two parts. One portion, pertaining to the Etruscan past of the city and territory of Cortona, is made up of two collections. One consists of a pre-existing collection of the Etruscan Academy, and the other consists of material from excavations carried out more recently, but still pertaining to the Etruscans.

Material from the more recent excavations are part of a research program aimed at understanding Cortona's ancient past, from the Etruscans through the Romans. It includes four rooms and a long hallway dedicated to Roman Cortona.

"Three of those rooms and the hallway contain exclusively the material from the U of A excavations at the Roman site of Ossaia, that has been going on since 1992," said Dr. Helena Fracchia, a professor of history and classics who is also director of the Faculty of Arts' school in Cortona and director of the U of A's archaeological field school in Italy.

"Our students have unearthed all the material in those rooms. So, in terms of the whole collection, the remains and artifacts that our students have dug up documents the development of the entire Roman period in the new Cortona museum."

The time period covers the second century, B.C. to the sixth century, A.D. The artifacts were unearthed by U of A students between 1992 and 2005, shedding light on the area's transformation from the Etruscans to the Romans.

"The material from the site includes earlier Etruscan artifacts when the site was a rural Etruscan sanctuary, and then in particular, the remains document the evolution of the use of the site into a Roman villa. The site also provides the evidence for the social transformations that occurred in settlement patterns in the territory around Cortona during that time," she said.

"Not much exists of Roman Cortona because medieval and modern Cortona sit on top of the ancient city, the villa site also allows us to shed light on the history of the Roman evolution of the town as well."

At the opening ceremonies, attended by officials from the Italian Government, the Region of Tuscany, and the Town of Cortona, the Vice Ambassador of Canada, Peter McKellar, praised the Canadian contribution made by the students from the University of Alberta.