Archaeological Museum of Conversano
The Archaeological Museum of Conversano, housed in the former monastery of San Benedetto, documents the pre-Latin and Roman origins of the territory. The oldest artefacts (8th–6th century BC) come from Castiglione, while the majority date back to the 4th–2nd century BC and originate from the necropolises of Norba, the settlement that preceded present-day Conversano. The funerary assemblages — ceramics, metal objects, working tools and precious items such as gold rings and coins — bear witness to a composite society, comprising ordinary people, wealthy classes and an urban aristocracy.
Pinacoteca Finoglio
In the noble floor of the Castle of Conversano, there is a cycle of ten large paintings dedicated to Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered, created around 1640 by the Neapolitan painter Paolo Domenico Finoglio. The artist, who arrived in Puglia as court painter to the Acquaviva d'Aragona family, depicts with Baroque vigour the heroes and female figures of Tasso's poem in scenes of war and love, commissioned by the powerful Count Giangirolamo II. The cycle is considered one of the most significant examples of secular art in seventeenth-century Italy.
Museum of the Territory and the Netti Picture Gallery
The Museum of the Territory is divided into two main thematic sections. The first, dedicated to Fashion and Costume, presents a rich collection of traditional garments dating from the mid-eighteenth century to the first decades of the twentieth century. Of particular interest are the bedroom and the bridal trousseau belonging to the bourgeois Capochiani-Pascale family, significant testimonies of daily life and social customs of the era. The second section is dedicated to the Apulian painter Francesco Netti (1832-1894), one of the most prominent exponents of southern Italian painting in the nineteenth century. The works on display come from the family collection assembled by Nicola Accolti Gil Vitale and donated to the community with the intention of making art accessible to all. The collection also includes paintings by other contemporary artists, among them Alfio Tomaselli, Beniamino Bianco, and Carpanini, offering an interesting overview of the figurative culture of the time.
