The American Southwest Museum – Enzo Larry Vescia Collection

The museum houses and displays the collection of Lorenzo “Larry” Vescia, consisting of 332 artifacts from Indigenous groups belonging to different cultural areas, predominantly from the Southwest, as well as 66 pre-Columbian ceramics from Mexico and from Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado.

The collection is divided into two main sections: on the one hand the so-called “Native American” artifacts, and on the other the pioneers’ equipment. These are complemented by a heterogeneous assortment of objects linked to the memory of Vescia.

The museum is organized as an educational exhibition itinerary that retraces key moments in the history and culture of the peoples of the Southwest/Oasisamerica. The installation includes a scale reconstruction of a traditional kiva.

The Vescia Collection, on the mandate of the municipal administration of Cuveglio, was assessed by Prof. Charles A. Dailey of the American Institute of Indian Arts (AIAI) in Santa Fe, NM (USA).
The museum also includes a smaller nucleus, the Colonna Collection, bequeathed by Mr. Fabrizio Colonna and consisting of 35 artifacts attributable to the Indigenous peoples of the Southwest/Oasisamerica and the Great Plains.