If you had a lazy €15 million lying in your bank account, what would you buy? A Tuscan villa? A Bulgari jewel ? A yacht to sail around the Mediterranean? Well the Italian government has purchased the François Tomb from Vulci for that price.
The tomb, which dates back to the Etruscan civilization that preceded the Roman Empire, was discovered in 1857 by Alessandro François and Adolphe Noël des Vergers.
It seems to have belonged to the Etruscan family of the Saties (or Seties) and one of its chief occupants is Vel Saties, who appears with his dwarf, Arnza, in the images. Its outstanding frescoes are significant both iconographically and also in what they reveal about Etruscan history and identity.
Culture minister Alessandro Giuli descibed the François Tomb as "one of the most important masterpieces of Etruscan and ancient painting".
The tomb will be placed on permanent display at the National Etruscan Museum in Villa Giulia in Rome from 25 June.
The acquisition was made possible through collaboration with the heirs of the Torlonia, Sforza Cesarini and Gaetani families, the monument's previous owners, and was overseen jointly by the Directorate General of Museums, led by Massimo Osanna, and Villa Giulia's director, Luana Toniolo.
Giuli said the purchase ended a process that began over a century ago. The Italian state apparently first expressed an interest in acquiring the François Tomb as long ago as 1921.
Cut into tufa rock and composed of 37 painted panels and two stone cippi found in its entrance corridor, the tomb dates to between 340 and 320 BC and ranks among one of the best preserved examples of ancient painting.
Its colorful images weave together Greek mythology, Etruscan historical memory and the construction of aristocratic identity in Vulci.
Through painted inscriptions beside the figures, the scenes allow viewers to identify names, faces and episodes that intertwine legend and representations of power.
On one large panel the sacrifice of Trojan prisoners is depicted with Achilles at the centre.
The opposite wall shows the liberation of Caele Vibenna by his brother Aulus and by Macstarna, identified as the future king of Rome, Servius Tullius . The images are remarkable.
The Louvre, the British Museum, the Royal Museum of Art and History in Brussels, the Cantonal Museum of Archaeology and History in Lausanne, the Vatican Museums and the German Archaeological Institute in Rome have all loaned artefacts, documents, historic copies and works connected to the tomb or its collecting history for the upcoming show.
The National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia, located near the Villa Borghese park in Rome, is Italy's principal institution devoted to Etruscan civilization.
Since 1946, the tomb had been stored at the privately owned Villa Albani in Rome as part of the Torlonia collection. Some pottery from the tomb is now in the British Museum.
