The Vicchio Stele

On display for the first time to the public at the Art Museum is the Vicchio Stele: an epigraphic document unique for the extent of its inscriptions, one of the three longest texts in the Etruscan language so far found.

The Vicchio stele is named after the place where it was found in 2015: the sanctuary of Poggio Colla in Vicchio (FI). Made of local sandstone, the stele is 126 centimetres high, with a well-finished upper part bearing several inscriptions. The stele appears to have been inscribed four times, two on the edges and two on one face, and the longest text, perhaps the oldest, covers the bevelled edges in alternating lines. The engraving constitutes one of the three largest Etruscan religious texts found so far, along with the Liber linteus of the Zagreb mummy and the Capua tile. Of the three works, it is the Vicchio stele that is the oldest testimony and the only one from a certain archaeological context.

Given the importance of the find and the complexity of its inscriptions, a new international research project has been launched: The Virtual Stele, thanks to the collaboration between Duke University-Dig@Lab, INKAY Technology, SMU and the Luigi Rovati Foundation. The project involves the three-dimensional digitisation of the stele with two aims: to provide the public with a thematic and contextualised reading of the model and to offer, through high-definition three-dimensional data, an advanced simulation.

The exhibition, curated by Gregory Warden and Giulio Paolucci, benefits from the collaboration of the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio for the metropolitan area of Florence and the provinces of Pistoia and Prato and the Mugello Valley Archaeological Project, a consortium of American universities.


The Vicchio Stele
Curated by Gregory Warden, Mugello Valley Archaeological Project, and Giulio Paolucci, Fondazione Luigi Rovati
Fondazione Luigi Rovati | Hypogeum floor
Corso Venezia 52, Milan
18 January 2023 - 16 July 2023