In pre-Roman Italy, Cortona was one of the 12 cities of the Etruscan confederation, and so many artifacts from that era were discovered nearby that an Etruscan Academy was founded in 1727. The collection is housed in the Palazzo Casali, a 13th-century mansion built for the city's governors. The lower galleries tackle the Etruscan and Roman history of Cortona, with lots of gold from excavated tombs and the enigmatic Cortona Tablet, a 200-word document inscribed in bronze. On the sprawling upper floors, the most intriguing object is a one-of-a-kind oil lamp from the late 4th century B.C., decorated with human heads, allegorical figures, and a few virile Pans playing their pipes, all surrounding a leering Gorgon's head on the bottom.