In November 2008 Nicola Barbatelli came across a poplar panel in Salerno: a bearded man of about forty-five, in three-quarter view, black hat, and on the back the inscription PINXIT MEA written in reverse, the way you write facing a mirror. That painting, the Ritratto lucano — or Ritratto di Acerenza — hangs here, and it is the reason most outside visitors climb up to Vaglio at all.
What to see
The attribution to Leonardo is anything but settled, and it helps to know that before standing in front of the picture. On one side: radiocarbon dating of the panel between 1474 and 1517, the mirror writing, and a fingerprint that supporters of the attribution match to one lifted from the Lady with an Ermine. On the other: most Leonardo scholars, who point to the modest quality of the painting and to a rather convenient likeness to the Uffizi self-portrait; in 2018 the University of Malta pulled out of showing it, calling it not authentic. Look closely all the same: the left side of the face has lost paint, while hair and beard are built up with a thin, restless brushstroke.
The rest of the museum, open since 2006, works through reconstructions: life in the Lucanian settlement of Serra di Vaglio and life at the sanctuary of Rossano dedicated to the goddess Mefitis, the two sites that lie within the municipal territory.
Visiting
The museum stands in the pine wood of Vaglio, outside the village. Expect reconstructions and explanatory panels rather than cases full of originals: most of the excavated material is in the Museo archeologico nazionale della Basilicata in Potenza.
Our editors' tip
Come here before going up to Serra di Vaglio, not after: the reconstructed house and sanctuary make sense of stone courses that on their own say very little. And in front of the Ritratto lucano, do not stop at the name Leonardo — the interesting part is the chain of tests that has divided specialists ever since the panel surfaced.