Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Rocca Albornoz

The National Etruscan Museum of Rocca Albornoz opened in 1986. The building that houses it was built in 1354 by Cardinal de Albornoz, Vicar General at the time, to watch over the surrounding church possessions. In the early 1500s, working from a project by Bramante, Pope Julius II della Rovere renovated the fortress. From a purely military structure it was transformed into a Renaissance palace. Pope Paul III, who completed Bramante's project, added a large external loggia that gave on to the square. The fortress went on to be used as a papal residence, orphanage and finally as a barrack block, before being heavily damaged during World War II.

Rocca Albornoz’s museum displays items from the most representative settlements of inner southern Etruria. These include exceptional life size reconstructions of buildings from the Etruscan centre of Acquarossa, a mosaic from Musarna, a small town near Viterbo, with an Etruscan inscription (very rare and emblematic evidence of the Romanisation of Etruria) and a prestigious Etruscan bronze chariot found in the town centre of Ischia di Castro.