Museo civico archeologico di Villa Mirabello, Archaeological museum in Varese, Italy.
The Museo civico archeologico di Villa Mirabello is an archaeological museum housed in an 18th-century villa in Varese. Its collection spans prehistoric artifacts, Roman objects, and regional medieval finds organized across the building's rooms.
The museum was founded in 1871 and received a major donation in 1924 from Marquis Andrea Ponti, whose support also funded archaeological excavations at Isolino Virginia. This partnership shaped the core of the collection visitors see today.
The museum's name comes from the Villa Mirabello, which has housed it since 1949. Among the finds are flint strike-a-lights from Isolino Virginia, dated 3900–3400 BCE, made of flint set in an antler handle with mastic. A globular pot from Lagozza di Besnate has pierced lugs for suspension by plant-fibre cords.
The museum has occupied Villa Mirabello since 1949, on the hill of the same name above Varese. The prehistoric section is arranged chronologically, from Mesolithic flints to the Bronze Age, so following the rooms in order traces the sequence of finds. The Isolino Virginia and Lagozza di Besnate material is grouped in the later Neolithic rooms.
Among the finds are flint strike-a-lights from Isolino Virginia, dated to about 3900–3400 BC. One survives almost complete: a flint set into a groove in an antler handle and fixed with mastic, the prehistoric equivalent of a lighter used to light fires for cooking meat and for warmth.
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