Lazio tour: in the heart of Etruscan civilization

An itinerary backwards in the time: from the subtle charm of the "Popes town", Viterbo, to the discovery of the Etrurian necropolis of Tuscania and Tarquinia, symbol of one of the most mysterious and fascinating ancient civilizations.

It was a charming and mysterious civilisation, but also refined and aristocratic. Still today it has to be fully discovered and deciphered, starting from its writing that enormously influenced the following civilizations. We talk about Etruscans, the population of central Italy which reached its maximum magnificence between the end of VIII century B.C. and the beginning of the VI century B.C. Our itinerary will take us in the Viterbo province to visit the most important centres of Etruscan civilization: from Tuscania to Tarquinia. Without forgetting the charming main city of Roman Tuscia: Viterbo, the "Popes city".

About 2600 years ago, here, in the red of tufa and the green of Latium forests it was flourishing a civilization that would leave a deep sign in the Mediterranean history and in modern fantasy, in fact historians wanted to turn it into the nth historical mistery. In reality the Etruscan civilization was rich and very lively: thanks to ore bodies, to the development of metallurgy and ceramics and of a thick commercial net-work, it raised to an economical Power. From an artistical point of view the leading aristocracy was influenced by the Greek culture and by the great civilizations of Mesopotamia, Anatolia and of the Syrian-Palestinese area.

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Viterbo is set in a wide rural plain at the feet of the wooded volcanic group of Cimini Mountains. It gathers wonderful historical, archeological and artistical traces in an extremely charming and relaxing atmosphere characterized by a pleasant climate and by a landscape of vines and chestnut and olive trees. Close to the hill on which the Cathedral raises you may see the rests of the first settlement, which was destroyed by the Romans in 310 B.C. during their conquest of Tuscia.

Memories of the Etruscan Viterbo are collected in the Town Museum, placed outside the walls and adjoining the XIII century church of S. Maria delle Verità. It is hosted in the halls of a former convent with a nice Gothic cloister and it includes an archeological section presenting findings from Hellenistic necropolis. The most popular piece is the Roman sarcophagus of Bella Galliana, decorated with hunting scenes. But you have to drive down 8 kilometers to find the most evident traces of the first Etruscan urbanisation: the rupestrian necropolis of Castel d'Asso, the ancient Axia (VII-I century B.C.), laying beside the rests of a Medieval castle. A little bit Souther you may visit the Acquarossa excavations and see the rests of an Etruscan city of the VIII-VI centuries B.C. with the houses foundations and one of the few preserved urban plants of the archaic period.

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In Tarquinia you may visit the National Archeological Tarquinese Museum, created in the halls of the elegant Vitelleschi palace. It collects a rich repertory of Etruscan materials coming from the necropolis excavations: among them some valuable Etruscan sarcophagus and pieces that may be dated between the Villanovian and the Roman periods and document the evolution of Greek and Etruscan vase painting in its various forms. In the narrow roads of its Medieval quarter lays the XII century church of S. Martino, one of the oldest in Tarquinia, but the most beautiful church of the town is for sure S. Maria in Castello, it was built in 1121 (probably on a previous building) and sanctified in 1208. It has a simple rectangular facade with three portals: the central one and the big mullioned window above it are embellished with valuable decorations by Pietro di Ranuccio romano (1143).

Viaggio vacanze nel Lazio

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