The Benvenuti Situla is a bronze
situla that dates to 600 BC and was discovered in
Este,
Veneto
Veneto, officially the Region of Veneto, is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the Northeast Italy, north-east of the country. It is the fourth most populous region in Italy, with a population of 4,851,851 as of 2025. Venice is t ...
, Italy. It is a product of the
situla art that spread north from the
Etruscans
The Etruscan civilization ( ) was an ancient civilization created by the Etruscans, a people who inhabited Etruria in List of ancient peoples of Italy, ancient Italy, with a common language and culture, and formed a federation of city-states. Af ...
in this period, in this case to the
Este culture
The Este culture or Atestine culture was an archaeological culture existing from the late Italian Bronze Age (10th–9th century BC, proto-venetic phase) to the Iron Age and Roman period (1st century BC). It was located in the modern area of Ve ...
that flourished in Este during the 7th century BC. The vessel is now conserved in the local
National Museum Atestino.
Description
The
relief
Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...
work on the vessel depicts scenes of
aristocratic
Aristocracy (; ) is a form of government that places power in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats.
Across Europe, the aristocracy exercised immense economic, political, and social influence. In Western Christian co ...
life.
These include
banqueting
A banquet (; ) is a formal large meal where a number of people consume food together. Banquets are traditionally held to enhance the prestige of a host, or reinforce social bonds among joint contributors. Modern examples of these purposes inc ...
as well as scenes of military victory. The
iconography
Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...
of the relief scenes of the situla may indicate
Etruscan __NOTOC__
Etruscan may refer to:
Ancient civilization
*Etruscan civilization (1st millennium BC) and related things:
**Etruscan language
** Etruscan architecture
**Etruscan art
**Etruscan cities
**Etruscan coins
**Etruscan history
**Etruscan myt ...
influence.
See also
*
Adriatic Veneti
The Veneti (sometimes also referred to as Venetici, Ancient Veneti or Paleoveneti to distinguish them from the modern-day inhabitants of the Veneto region, called ''Veneti'' in Italian language, Italian) were an Proto-Indo-Europeans, Indo-Europea ...
*
Polada culture
The Polada culture (22nd to 16th centuries BCE) is the name for a culture of the ancient Bronze Age which spread primarily in the territory of modern-day Lombardy, Veneto and Trentino, characterized by settlements on pile-dwellings.
The name der ...
*
Euganei
The Euganei (fr. Lat. ''Euganei'', ''Euganeorum''; cf. Gr. ''εὐγενής'' (eugenēs) 'well-born') were a group of populations, difficult to define, settled in the flat and mountainous areas of Northeast Italy, between the Eastern Alps and t ...
*
Canegrate culture
The Canegrate culture was a civilization of prehistoric Italy that developed from the late Bronze Age (13th century BC) until the Iron Age, in the areas that are now western Lombardy, eastern Piedmont, and Ticino. Canegrate had a cultural dynami ...
*
Golasecca culture
The Golasecca culture (9th – 4th centuries BC) was a Prehistoric Italy#Bronze Age, Late Bronze Age/Prehistoric Italy#Iron Age, Early Iron Age culture in northern Italy, whose type-site was excavated at Golasecca in the province of Varese, Lomb ...
*
Prehistoric Italy
The prehistory of Italy began in the Paleolithic period, when members of the genus ''Homo'' first inhabited what is now modern Italian territory, and ended in the Iron Age, when the first written records appeared in Italy.
Paleolithic
In preh ...
External links
La Situla Benvenuti
References
7th-century BC artifacts
Archaeological discoveries in Italy
Bronzeware
Este culture
{{Italy-archaeology-stub
Luca Zaghetto ''La situla Benvenuti di Este. Il poema figurato degli Antichi Veneti'', Bologna 2017.
19th-century archaeological discoveries