Housed in the fifteenth-century Palazzo Galvani — once known as the Hospital of Death because it served patients deemed beyond cure — the Museo Civico Archeologico holds Bologna's best survey of the city's deep past. The Etruscan section is exceptional: Bologna was the Etruscan town of Felsina before the Romans arrived, and most of what was dug up from the necropoleis around the city ended up here.
There is also a sizeable Egyptian collection, a strong Roman section with material from the colonial city of Bononia, and a numismatic gallery. The museum is right next to the Archiginnasio and easy to combine with a visit there.