“Il racconto della bellezza. Tesori della Basilicata antica (The tale of beauty. Treasures from ancient Basilicata) is an exhibition of archaeological finds curated by the Italian Cultural Institute of Hamburg. The collection, organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Ministry of Culture, the National Museum Network of Basilicata and the Italian Cultural Institutes of Warsaw, Budapest and Vienna, will be inaugurated on 24 November and will remain open to the public until 9 February 2024.
The exhibition’s archaeological finds narrate the lives of the Basilicata populations before the Greeks arrived. More specifically, it focuses on Enotrians, the ancient Italic people who settled in the southern area of Basilicata between the IX and the VI century B.C., before the second colonisation of the Greeks. Part of the exhibition is the funerary objects consisting of magnificent jewels in brass and amber, symbols of the aristocracy and essential elements of cultural relations and exchanges. The cult of the dead, as shown by the graves, is the most crucial feature in understanding the social life of this population. The finds selected for the exhibition – among the most stunning objects from the Iron Age found in Basilicata – were unearthed in Guardia Perticara, Chiaromonte, Incoronata, San Teodoro di Pisticci and the area surrounding Matera.
