The Piombo di Magliano returns home after 140 years, why is the Etruscan engraving so important?

After over 140 years, the Magliano lead one of the most important and complex inscriptions of the Etruscan civilization, returns to the place of its discovery. The National Archaeological Museum of Florence, in collaboration with the Municipality of Magliano in Toscana, will inaugurate the exhibition “Il Piombo di Magliano. In the labyrinth of the Etruscan language” at the Archaeological Museum of Magliano in Toscana on Saturday 11 July at 6.30 pm, which can be visited free of charge until 11 October.

The initiative represents a moment of great symbolic value: the National Archaeological Museum of Florence it leaves its walls and strengthens its role as a local museum, temporarily bringing one of the most representative finds from its collections back to its communities of origin.

The discovery

Piombo di Magliano was discovered by chance in 1882 during some agricultural work. The Busatti brothers, owners of the land and aware of the exceptional value of the find, decided to sell it to the Royal Archaeological Museum of Florence for the sum of one thousand lire, so that it could be kept in a large museum institution for the benefit of scientific research. Since then the find has always remained in Florence.

Today, thanks to the collaboration between the National Archaeological Museum of Florence and the municipal administration of Magliano in Toscana, the local population finds one of the most significant symbols of their roots, testimony of a never forgotten Etruscan past and has now entered the collective memory of the area.

The Magliano Piombo is a metal disc engraved on both sides, with two long Etruscan inscriptions arranged in a spiral that record a series of rites dedicated to the Etruscan deities of the afterlife. Datable to the mid-5th century BCis the fifth longest Etruscan inscription known so far, after the Linen Book of the Zagreb Mummy, the Capua Tile, the Cortona Tablet and the Perugia Cippus.

The inscription represents an exceptional testimony of Etruscan culture and religion and of the central role that writing had in this civilization, contributing to the birth of the Latin alphabet still used today.

“The National Archaeological Museum of Florence – comments Daniele Maras, director of the Florentine museum and curator of the exhibition – continues to carry out its function as a cultural center of the territory. This new exhibition follows those of Vetulonia, Arezzo, Rosignano Marittimo and Bibbona, set up in the last two years in the desire to bring together today’s inhabitants of the Etruscan places around our collections, through objects with a strong identity valuewhich thus strengthens one’s relationship with people”.

The exhibition

The exhibition layout, designed by the Florentine studio De Ferrari+Modesti, permanently renews the rooms of the Archaeological Museum of Magliano in Toscana, introducing a new section dedicated to the Etruscan language and writing which, at the end of the exhibition, will continue to enrich the visit itinerary. The Magliano Piombo was also subjected to a laser scan and will continue to be present in the museum even after the original’s return to Florence, thanks to a 3D print and an elaborate video created by the CNR’s Institute of Cultural Heritage Sciences. The exhibition is also created thanks to the contribution of the Cassa Risparmio di Firenze Foundation, granted as part of the 2026 cultural activities call.