The Antiquarium di Numana, which has recently been rearranged over two floors, presents a synthesis of the historical and cultural evolution of the ancient Numana area and the Conero Riviera, from prehistory to the Roman age. The new exhibition has preserved some essential collections of artifacts, crucial for understanding the long history of the territory, with a particular focus on the trade of the Numana emporium, documenting its strong mercantile vocation and contacts within the Mediterranean. The path, enriched and integrated with some previously unexposed contexts, unfolds starting from the second floor, where the first section follows a chronological criterion, from prehistory to the Roman age. On the first floor, the second section also offers an inevitable focus on the sumptuous funerary equipment of the Queen of Sirolo, rich in Attic and Picene pottery, bronze artifacts, ivory, bronze, and amber jewelry, along with the remains of a carriage and a war chariot. Next to this extraordinary context, the rich equipment of a Picene warrior serves as a suitable contrast to the female deposition. A final room is dedicated to some of the most interesting relics from the nineteenth-century Collection of Girolamo Rilli, a passionate lover of antiquity, who collected numerous artifacts from the territory. Some insights on specific themes, such as the symposium, the spread of amber, the production of high-Adriatic vases, the anthropological study conducted on the skeletal remains found in the burials, aim to offer points of reflection to the visitor and, in some cases, new information resulting from the most recent scientific research. There are also some original nuggets, such as the Roman age tile used to cover a tomb, with a crude scratched representation of a ship on fresh clay: a sketch that we imagine was executed live by a very creative craftsman, author of a vivid piece of daily life.
