[2] A plan to set up a region-wide archaeological collection in Ancona was first devised the day after approval was granted for the Royal Decree issued by Lorenzo Valerio, the Extraordinary Commissioner for the Marches, on 3 November 1860.

Both men were staunch patriots, supporters of the Italian Risorgimento and members of an enlightened ruling class who were extremely receptive to a positivist approach and keenly aware of the need to break away from the old regime.

Creating a Museum which "would house any monuments from the Prehistoric Age onwards discovered in the local area", as Ciavarini started, was directly prompted by his specific academic interest but also by his desire to save the archaeological treasures of the Marches region from the onslaught of the rapacious antique market which was highly active at the time.

On 9 October 1927, under the direction of its Superintendent Giuseppe Moretti, the Museum was inaugurated by King Victor Emmanuel III together with the Honourable Undersecretary Emilio Bodrero and the Director General for Antiques and Fine Arts, Roberto Paribeni.

This time it was the turn of the Superintendent and Director, Delia Lollini, to set to rights the Picene section of the National Archaeological Museum of the Marches before it could be re-opened to the public in 1988.