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This bronze model of a sheep's liver contains the entire Etruscan universe.
The Palazzo Farnese is a 16th century palace-turned-museum in the northern Italian city of Piacenza. Inside is something 1,600 years older than the palace itself: a bronze model of a sheep’s liver containing the whole cosmic order known to the ancient Etruscans. The palace was built by the Duke and Duchess of Parma in about 1550, but shouldn’t be confused with the Palazzo Farnese in Rome (there you can drop in on the French Embassy, but you won’t see an Etruscan sheep’s liver). It’s open to the public for tours of the rooms and furnishings, and they have some Botticelli and other important paintings, some friezes and frescoes, and some ancient armor and weaponry. But their prized possession is this little liver.
