Museo Irpino, Archaeological and history museum in Avellino, Italy

The Museo Irpino occupies the ground floor of the Palazzo della Cultura on Corso Europa, a neo-rationalist building inaugurated in 1966. Its archaeological section covers about 2,000 m², including an internal courtyard, and is arranged in nine rooms, each devoted to a specific area of provenance. The exhibits trace settlement in Irpinia from prehistory to the late Roman age, with a focus on the Italic goddess Mefitis and the wooden Xoanon found near the Ansanto valley.

The archaeological collection dates to the second half of the 19th century, when the lawyer Giuseppe Zigarelli donated it to the municipality of Avellino, later enlarged by finds from excavations by the archaeological superintendency. The Palazzo della Cultura, designed by Francesco Fariello, opened in December 1966 after winning a national ideas competition in 1955. In 2011, for the 150th anniversary of Italian unification, the Risorgimento section's 330 items moved into the former Bourbon prison.

The museum's name refers to Irpinia, the inland district around Avellino. Its archaeology rooms are organised by area of origin, and one is devoted to the Italic goddess Mefite, worshipped from the 6th century BC in the Valle d'Ansanto: the wooden Xoanon, the cult statue's body, was recovered from the stream by the lake, and Samnite votive figurines and terracotta tablets with votive scenes are displayed.

The museum sits on Corso Europa in the center of Avellino and is easily reached by foot. Plan time to move slowly through the rooms, as understanding the artifacts and their periods takes patience and attention.

The Salomone Collection arrived in 1935 as a gift from Giuseppe Salomone, a naval medical colonel who gathered Chinese and Japanese porcelain from the 18th century. It includes teaware and vessels from the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), some made for the imperial palaces of Beijing.