Overview
It was previously simply called the Archaeological Museum, with a name that clarified the substance of the exhibits on display. It is located in the same square where one side of the cathedral faces, directly opposite the church, and has occupied a series of spaces in Palazzo Varisano since the 1980s, a building of 18th-century appearance, although of earlier origin, with 16th-century architectural details amidst Baroque elements. After all, the theme of antiquity in the Enna area is also represented by the archaeological museum of Aidone with the famous Venus of Morgantina and above all by the Roman villa of Casale in Piazza Armerina. Here, the collections start from prehistory through artefacts from the area around the Lake Pergusa, to continue with evidence of Greek colonisation during the 6th century BC and even beyond the classical Roman phase to the early Middle Ages. There are grave goods that have come to light in necropolises in the area, and a particularly splendid Attic crater with red figures depicting gymnasium scenes and the departure of a warrior: it has been dated to the fourth century BC. A non-archaeological but Risorgimento curiosity concerns the Palace itself: It seems that here, and not in Marsala, on 13 August 1862 Giuseppe Garibaldi is said to have uttered for the first time in front of his Red Shirts the fateful phrase "O Roma o morte". Back then Enna was still called Castrogiovanni. The city would only return to its current name, of Greek and Roman origin, in 1927.
