The Museo del Sannio is the main museum complex of the province of Benevento and one of the most important in Campania. Housed in the extraordinary architectural setting of the Church of Santa Sofia – which in 2011 became a UNESCO World Heritage site, with its beautiful cloister dating back to the twelfth century -, the museum allows a fascinating journey from prehistory to the contemporary age.
The first nucleus of the collection dates back to 1873 and had a first arrangement inside the Rocca dei Rettori, current home of the Historical Section. In 1928 the provincial administration acquired the church of Santa Sofia, transforming it into a provincial museum, reorganizing and expanding the exhibition in the following decades. At the end of the nineties of the last century, the renovation of part of the rooms of the north wing of the museum, and subsequently the collections, were also housed in a wing of the historic Palazzo Casiello. In 2014 an InfoPoint and Bookshop with the attached section “Sculptures and sarcophagi” were opened to the public. You can find them located in Piazza Matteotti.
The museum collection is one of the most varied and represents a shining example of the traditional territorial musealization. The collection has been formed over time, through a series of donations, purchases and entrustments coming from all over the territory. The museum collects historical evidence starting from the Samnite and Roman period, passing through the Lombard age, ranging from 400 to 800, up to the works of the most important national artists of the 20th century. The more than 50,000 exhibits cover a wide chronological span from prehistory to the present day, thanks to which it is possible to experience the development of taste and awareness defining the cultural heritage over the centuries.
The tour of the museum develops on the two floors of the monumental complex of Santa Sofia and in some rooms of the historic Palazzo Casiello, according to a chronological sequence. The Romanesque cloister, dating back to the twelfth century, belongs to the museum which, together with the church of Santa Sofia, in 2011 became part of the UNESCO serial site “Longobardi in Italia: I luoghi del potere“. The exhibition also includes the section “Sculptures and sarcophagi” of Roman age, housed inside the InfoPoint/Bookshop in Piazza Matteotti. The facility also has a rich library with a study room, and a conference room dedicated to the scholar Giovanni Vergineo. The heritage of the Museo del Sannio is completed by the “Egyptian section”, detached at the Arcos museum, and the complex of Sant’Ilario in Port’Aurea. Both can be visited with a single integrated ticket.
SINGLE – valid for two days, it allows access to the museum, the cloister of the church of Santa Sofia, Palazzo Casiello, the Egyptian section and to the Museo dell’Arco di Traiano
