The oldest and most important Museum in Sicily, founded in 1814, is dedicated to the distinguished archaeologist Antonino Salinas and is located in the heart of the historic center of Palermo.

The building, housed in the seventeenth-century convent of the Filippini Fathers, is a monumental complex of about 7,000 square meters that collects and exhibits one of the richest archaeological collections in Italy, which testify to the history of ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean, particularly in Sicily, from Prehistory to the Middle Ages.

On the ground floor, it is possible to admire the most significant part of the permanent collection, which revolves around the hall of the sculptures from the Temples of Selinunte, the most splendid manifestation of Western Greek art.

Here is also housed a work of immense historical value, the so-called Stone of Palermo, a slab with hieroglyphic inscriptions containing the oldest royal document of Egypt [circa 2,500-2,350 B.C.], fundamental for the reconstruction of the early Pharaonic dynasties.

The exhibition path winds through two magnificent porticoed cloisters adorned with historical fountains, the main one of which is enriched by a lush garden, and concludes in the ‘Agorà’, a large and bright multipurpose space that houses the complex of stone lion heads from the Temple of Victory in Himera and the large mask of the Gorgon from Temple C of Selinunte and serves as a true meeting place.

The first and second floors, under refurbishment, will offer visitors the entirety of the historical collections: Bourbon donations from Pompeii, the Etruscan Collection Casuccini from Chiusi, the University Museum of Palermo, Benedictine Abbey Museum of San Martino delle Scale (Monreale), Salnitriano Museum of the Jesuit Fathers of Palermo, Baron Astuto Museum of Noto, Coin Collection; the private collection of Antonino Salinas, mainly consisting of coins, is the largest with about 6,660 artifacts.

The findings from excavations conducted in various other Sicilian archaeological sites will also be exhibited. In a large room with a skylight, the grandiose mosaics discovered in the patrician houses of Roman age in Piazza della Vittoria in Palermo will be displayed, among others.

The Salinas Museum provides scholars with the prestigious Library, specialized in archaeology and equipped with a significant ancient collection, and the valuable Historical and Photographic Archives.

The facility is equipped with additional services, such as a bookshop, cafeteria, cloakroom, and visitor support.