In the spaces of the Civic Museums of Reggio Emilia it is possible to admire Roman finds in stone coming from Brescello and from the city of Reggio Emilia.
In 1862, thanks to the work of the priest Gaetano Chierici, one of the fathers of modern Palethnology, the Gabinetto di Storia Patria was founded and in 1870 became the Museo di Storia Patria.
Precious testimonies of science and museology of the late nineteenth century, the materials of local prehistory and protohistory are compared with objects of the same period, but of different geographical origin, especially Italian.
The collection was then renamed the Gaetano Chierici Museum of Palethnology, with headquarters at the Palazzo dei Musei.
The exhibitions then expanded to the Portico dei Marmi with stone finds, Roman epigraphs and sculptures from the Middle Ages to the 18th century; to the Atrio dei Musei with mosaics from the Roman era and floor decorations from the 12th and 13th centuries.
In 2021, with the inauguration of the second floor of Palazzo dei Musei, designed by Italo Rota and the curators of the Civic Museums, a long process of rethinking the collections and the significance that the museum has acquired within the community comes to an end.
In the four galleries arranged in a quadrilateral, the exhibition design proceeds in two directions: vertical, that is, an episodic narrative, and horizontal, a 'serial narrative' developed over several episodes and centered on museum materials, some of which come from the deposits, others from city institutions.
The exhibition proposes a narration from the prehistory of the Reggio Emilia territory, to the Etruscan presence and the Roman conquest, to the early Middle Ages - enriched with quotations of exceptional finds preserved in the historical collections.
