The monumental complex that houses the museum is built on the structures of the Roman theatre and partly reuses its materials and masonry. The exhibition documents the process through which the urban centre of Spoleto took shape, up to the municipium phase, and its relations with the surrounding territory.
Through finds that also include material from the most recent research, the museum documents the earliest evidence of human presence in the area of the Rocca and the historic centre, dating back to the Bronze Age, and the development of the settlement in the Umbrian phase, attested above all by the rich 7th-6th century BC grave goods from the necropolis of Piazza d’Armi. The city’s history continues with finds from the period of the Latin colony, founded in 241 BC: dedicatory inscriptions to the gods, votive offerings and architectural terracottas from the sanctuaries, and evidence of pottery workshops. The organisation of the colony across its territory is documented above all by the two cippi bearing the “lex luci spoletina”, in archaic Latin, which lays down penalties for any desecration of the grove sacred to Jupiter. Monumental inscriptions, fragments of large honorific statues, painted plaster and mosaic fragments illustrate the municipal and imperial phases of the city, perhaps the most important in Roman Umbria.
The second floor of the Museum displays finds from the Valnerina, an area that always had close ties with Spoleto. Of particular note are the Final Bronze Age cinerary urns from the necropolis of Monteleone di Spoleto, the finds from the sanctuaries of Monteleone di Spoleto and Montefranco, and the grave goods from the Hellenistic and Roman necropolis of Norcia. Many of the finds in the Canzio Sapori collection, recently donated to the State, also come from the same area. Among them are an impasto cinerary urn with geometric decoration from Ponte di Cerreto and a remarkable late-Republican male portrait from Ferentillo.
Also recently installed is a section with the extraordinary 7th-century BC finds from the necropolis of Piazza d’Armi, discovered between 2008 and 2011.
The section devoted to the Roman theatre displays the decorative sculptures found in the monument during the excavations of the 1950s, including a remarkable portrait of Augustus and Julius Caesar.
The theatre, which is an integral part of the museum visit, dates to the 1st century BC; it was partly incorporated into later buildings and partially dismantled in the Middle Ages. Systematic restoration work, begun in the 1950s, has made it possible to recover the entire complex, restoring the tiers of seating. The lower level is in any case well preserved, with the ambulatory still accessible. During the events connected with the Festival dei Due Mondi, the theatre is used for performances.