The exhibition Etruscan Masterpieces from the Hermitage, held in Cortona and organised by the State Hermitage Museum in collaboration with the MAEC – Museo dell’Accademia Etrusca e della Città di Cortona, marked the first step in a network of international relationships developed by the museum with major Italian and foreign cultural institutions.
Having completed the project of creating a major civic museum of excellence, the MAEC sought to continue its development through collaborations of international significance, capable of enhancing Cortona’s cultural heritage while attracting the attention of both the public and the scholarly community.

The State Hermitage Museum, renowned for its prestige, the richness of its collections and its contribution to the construction of a shared European cultural heritage, proved to be an exceptional partner, whose presence in Cortona represented a source of great honour for the city.

The exhibition presented a selection of Etruscan masterpieces from the Hermitage collections: a fundamental body of material for the study of Etruscan civilisation and, at the same time, a testimony to the cultural and humanistic connections that have united Europe since the eighteenth century, when the rediscovery of the Etruscan world fostered intellectual exchange and scholarly networks among the countries of the continent.