Housed inside the Palazzo Priorale and inaugurated in 2000, the Municipal Antiquarium of Otricoli is a must-see for those wishing to discover the origins of this town, founded on the hill overlooking the Tiber Valley.

The museum's exhibition path is designed to illustrate, through original finds and high-quality replicas, the settlement phases of the city:

• The pre-Roman city: The first settlement of Ocriculum, whose name means "small hill," arose in an elevated area. Having become an ally of Rome in 306 BC, the city was destroyed during the Social War in 91–90 BC.
• The Roman city: Rebuilt further down the hill near the Tiber River, Ocriculum was granted the status of municipium. It flourished thanks to trade by land - along the Via Flaminia -and by water, from the Porto dell’Olio on the Tiber. In the Imperial age, its golden era, it became a Roman colony.
• The medieval centre: After the destruction of the Roman city during the Lombard invasions, the inhabitants returned to live on the hill, on the site of the original settlement. In the medieval historic centre, one can still see numerous ancient Roman materials reused in palaces and churches.

Treasures from Ocriculum

At the heart of the Municipal Antiquarium are archaeological materials from Roman archaeological area of Ocriculum.

The most significant discoveries were made during the papal excavation campaigns of the 18th century. In some cases, the original artefacts are now housed in the Vatican Museums, while Otricoli displays faithful and valuable reproductions.

Among the most notable pieces:

• Reproduction of a polychrome mosaic: A replica of the splendid floor mosaic discovered in 1780 in the octagonal hall of the Ocriculum baths, now preserved in the Round Hall of the Vatican Museums. The work features sixteen battle scenes between centaurs and Greeks arranged around a grand Medusa head.
• Statue of Augustus: This statue comes from the basilica in the forum area of Ocriculum—a public building that yielded many statues of Emperors from the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. It depicts the Emperor as a young man in heroic nudity.
• Funerary inscriptions: Many come from monumental mausoleums built along the Via Flaminia between the 1st century BC and the 2nd century AD. The epitaphs often list not only the names of the deceased but also their public offices and honours, revealing the identity and prestige attained by some of Ocriculum’s citizens.
• Table support: This refined furnishing element, dating to the 2nd century AD, served as the central support for a luxurious table. Finely carved, it features a winged figure—probably the goddess Victory—on one side, and a cornucopia, symbol of abundance, on the other.
• Altar table: Dating back to the 6th century, this is one of the oldest signs of the Christianization of Otricoli. It consists of a cylindrical base supporting a tabletop with a central hollow for collecting offerings, decorated with vegetal motifs on three sides and a Christian cross in the centre. The back was intentionally left undecorated, as the altar was placed against a wall.

Faces to Venerate: The Jupiter of Otricoli

Among the most important finds from Ocriculum is a marble head discovered in the late 1700s. Its solemn, proud features led to the identification of the subject as the father of the gods: the sculpture is in fact known as the “Jupiter of Otricoli”.

The head, over 58 cm tall, is believed to be an acrolith, and must have belonged to a statue with only some parts made of marble (head, hands, and feet) while the rest of the body, meant to be covered with drapery, was made from less valuable materials such as wood.

The statue was probably housed in the Capitolium of Roman Ocriculum and is considered a copy of the one worshipped in Rome’s Capitoline Temple, created in 83 BC by the Greek sculptor Apollonius, who in turn had drawn inspiration from Phidias’s famous Zeus of Olympia.

The Antiquarium preserves the only cast of the colossal head of Jupiter. The original is currently held in the Vatican Museums.

For more information, please visit the website of the Municipal Antiquarium of Otricoli.