The first decades of the 19^th Century marked an era of extraordinary discoveries in the territories which at that time were included in the Papal State, and where some of the most important cities of Etruria were once located.

This frenzy of digging resulted in the opening of thousands of tombs within a few years, and led to the foundation of the Gregorian Etruscan Museum in 1837. The digs brought forth an impressive amount of painted vases. However, only a portion of the finds were proper Etruscan pottery, while the majority consisted of Greek vases that had been formerly exported to the flourishing markets of Etruria.
In those years there was a serious lack of attention to the contexts of archaeological discoveries, except in very exceptional cases. This had an immediate effect on the display of the objects in the Museum, which then ordered the finds in groups relating to their constituent materials and displayed them in a way that was characterized by the space in the museum itself.
The collection of vases in the Museum of Gregory XVI was created as a distinct nucleus and was parallel to the "Etruscan antiquities" in the strict sense, not only for these reasons but also because it was an already defined field of collection of the Vatican, like the Gallery Clementina of the Vatican Library, settled in 1733, but which has collections of more ancient formation (17^th to 18^th Century).
The Collection of Vases follows a chronological order, organized by artists and productions, in which is inserted the prestigious Collection Astarita as a distinct nucleus. The Astarita Collection is composed primarily of Greek vases, followed by Italioti (vases made in the cities colonized and influenced by the Greek culture in southern Italy) and a small number of Etruscan vases. The Etruscan cities of Vulci and Cerveteri represent the main archaeological sites of Greek vases collected in our museum. Among them are famous masterpieces signed or attributed to the great names of Greek vase painting.

 This restoration project consists of the restoration of some Greek pottery and a number of Etruscan ceramics, including the archaic production conventionally attributed to the Micali Painter and his circle. The Etruscan pottery painter known as "the painter of Micali" was active in Vulci in the last quarter of the 6^th Century BC. This is the most significant expression of an artistic personality which combines the themes of the Greek world with its own decorative Etruscan taste. This was done through a fantastic iconographic language populated by a range of imaginary creatures, such as mermaids, sphinxes, winged horses, satyrs, maenads and young people involved in the race or in the dance.

This group of Greek vases  belongs to the Astarita Collection,  which was donated to the Vatican Museums in 1967, and, with the exception of the stamnos vase that is located in the glass case E in Room XX (Astarita),  are presently on display in the glass case E in Room XXI (Meridiana) of the Etruscan Rooms.

The restoration of these vases was determined by their current state of  preservation;  all had been previously restored during the past several hundred years using unsuitable techniques which resulted in further damage as well as adding  to their poor state of conservation.  In particular,  the glues that had been used in the past were negatively affecting the structure of the vase itself as well as the destabilization of the plaster.  This deterioration also caused further cracking and separations from the surface area.

The touch-ups performed in previous restorations was also executed improperly, and several original areas had also been repainted, often covering over the original surface. All the vases were fragmentary and incomplete: unfortunately there are few original areas that have remained and the majority of the drawings on the vases are incomplete and repainted.  Exceptions are the ceramic plate n. 35838 and the kyathos vase n. 34968 (its handle is not original and was completely restored).

The restoration of these vases was performed by Giulia Barrella between August 2014 and May 1015 in the Metal and Ceramics Restoration Laboratory  of the Vatican Museums.

The first step in this project consisted of a complete photographic  documentation (before, during and after the restoration) of the works by the Photographic Laboratory of the Vatican Museums (foto 5). This was followed by   a scrupulous study of the state of preservation of the vases.

The restorer then proceeded to remove the effects of previous  restorations. Two  vases  (n. 16511 and n. 35965) had to be completely dismantled. This process was performed by the full immersion of the vases in hot water and local injections of ethanol. The subsequent assembly of the pieces was performed with Mowital B60HH 20% in ethanol.

The next step consisted in the cleaning of the surface areas and the removal of dust and old glues. The restorer then completely eliminated the previous repaintings of the original decorative design.  Several diverse solvents were used and the final part of the process was performed with a scalpal.

The removal of plaster and glue for the  completed restorations in plaster  was carried out using hot water. The cracks and gaps were filled using  Polyfilla stucco;  in some areas it was necessary to add marble powder in order to augment the adherence  of these elements.

All the re-integrations  and touch-ups were done according to common practices of conservation restoration for the Diagnostic Laboratory of the Museums, and by analyzing the chromatic unity of each piece. Thus no new figures or paintings were created.  However, some geometric decorations were reintegrated.   These “repainted” areas were controlled in a close-up position using the “puntinato” (pointing) technique.