by InTrieste
The 2026 edition of Archeologia di Sera (“Archaeology by Night”) will begin on Tuesday, July 14, at the Civic Museum of Antiquities “J.J. Winckelmann,” offering a month-long series of public talks and musical performances exploring archaeology, history and cultural heritage.
Part of the city’s Trieste Estate summer program, the annual event will feature five Tuesday evening appointments, running through Aug. 11 in the museum’s Garden of the Captain. Admission is free, with each event beginning at 8:30 p.m.
The format pairs an archaeological lecture with a themed concert by the Lumen Harmonicum Instrumental Group, featuring pianist Corrado Gulin, violinist Marco Favento and cellist Massimo Favento, alongside narrator Paolo Venier. The performances draw on works preserved in the collections of the Carlo Schmidl Civic Theatre Museum, complemented by newly composed pieces created specifically for each evening.
Before every event, the museum will remain open from 7 to 8:30 p.m., with a complimentary guided tour available from 7:30 to 8 p.m.
The series opens on July 14 alongside the exhibition Cranio C – World Paleoanthropological Heritage, currently on display at the museum. The exhibition, presented outside Croatia for the first time, focuses on the internationally significant Krapina Neanderthal discoveries. Marija Bošniak and Iva Mihoci of the Croatian Natural History Museum in Zagreb will discuss the Krapina Neanderthal collection in a bilingual presentation, with simultaneous interpretation in Croatian and Italian. The accompanying concert will be inspired by the theme “N for Neanderthal.”
Subsequent evenings will examine a range of archaeological topics. On July 21, archaeologist Alessandro Duiz will present a lecture on counterfeit coins and forgeries found in the museum’s collections. On July 28, Egyptologist Susanna Moser, author and director Maria Bruna Raimondi, and journalist and musician Giorgio Coslovich will explore the enduring fascination with ancient Egypt and its connections to Trieste.
The Aug. 4 program, organized in collaboration with the association Un Mare di Archeologia, will feature University of Udine professor Massimo Capulli, who will present recent underwater archaeological research conducted between Ispica and Kamarina in Sicily.
The series concludes on Aug. 11 with a lecture by museum curator Costanza Brancolini dedicated to archaeologist Carlo Marchesetti, marking the centenary of his death. The closing concert will include an original composition by Nicola Samale based on texts by Massimo Favento, paying tribute to Marchesetti’s scientific legacy.
All events will take place at the Winckelmann Museum, with access from Piazza della Cattedrale and an accessible entrance available from Via San Giusto. Admission is free.
