The Civic Museum of Sesto Calende offers a complete panorama of the civilisations which settled in this area through the centuries. The artefacts that belonged to the communities that lived here in prehistoric times are especially interesting.

The Museum has a natural history section displaying the rich outcrop of Pliocene fossil shells found at Cheglio, testifying to the earlier presence of an abundant marine invertebrate fauna.

The archaeological section focuses on the collection of finds from the Golasecca culture, which flourished throughout the first Iron Age, between the 9th and the 5th centuries B.C., in the lands around the River Sesia, and whose members acted as trading intermediaries between the Etruscans and the Celtic tribes thanks to their central strategic position on the trade routes of the time.

Finds on display from the two settlements discovered, Cascina Testa and Briccola, include a number of cromlechs, burial enclosures typical of this area made of river stones, grave goods from the necropolis of Carera datable to the beginning of the 8th century B.C, and a large quantity of pottery dating from the mid 5th century B.C.

A find of great archaeological importance is the tripod tomb dating from the years between 800-750 B.C., which contained grave goods belonging to a woman comprising ornaments and articles for personal grooming.

The Museum also conserves Roman, Lombard and medieval finds from the area of the Abbey of San Donato and the church of San Vincenzo.   

Open from Monday to Thursday 8.30-12.30 and 14.30-16.30; Saturday 15.00-19.00; Sunday 15.00-17.00.  Closed on Fridays.