The Museo Civico Umberto Mastroianni of Marino has its headquarters in Piazza Matteotti, inside the former medieval church of Santa Lucia, locally known as the Gothic temple or Chiesone, given its enormous dimensions and for the lay use which has been made following the sconsacrazione occurred in 1645. For the construction of this important place of worship in the Middle Ages was riultilizzata and readapted a Roman cistern, still preserved in the Museum’s basement. The current Museo Civico Umberto Mastroianni collects the collection previously exposed in the Municipal Antiquarium, which had its seat inside the Palazzo Colonna and preserved, in addition to the remains dating back to the prehistoric epoch, roman and medieval, also many notarial deeds, some of which of the XVI century. In addition to exhibiting important archaeological finds, the Civic Museum organises various activities such as exhibitions, conferences, concerts, guided tours and creation of thematic itineraries. The Museum can be visited from Tuesday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The historic center of Marino hides and preserves in its underground a very large labyrinth of caves dug entirely in peperino. Under the streets of the medieval town, in fact, are the many galleries branched and communicating between them that were used in time with different objectives and which constitute almost a “city under the city”. Primarily used as a deposit for the barrels of wine, asscirandone optimal conservation, and, during the war, as a refuge and protection from aerial bombardment, underground caves of Marino have recently been the subject of care and interest on the part of the institutions. In some of them was made an exhibition route and teaching with the accommodation and understanding of the finds discovered during the restoration and the cleanliness of the galleries. The Roman cistern, then tasformata in Christian oratory, found, instead, under the deconsecrated church of Santa Lucia (today the seat of the Civic Museum), demonstrates how the subsoil marinese has always paid to the preservation of basic necessities such as water in this case, and that in the course of the centuries has been adapted several times to the needs, the uses and the customs of the Community. Can be visited all year round on reservation. Duration of the visit: 3 hours. Difficulty: low.
