Vetulonia | |
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 View of Vetulonia | |
  Vetulonia Location of Vetulonia in Italy | |
| Coordinates:42°51′34″N10°58′16″E / 42.85944°N 10.97111°E /42.85944; 10.97111 | |
| Country | Italy |
| Region |  Tuscany |
| Province | Grosseto (GR) |
| Comune | Castiglione della Pescaia |
| Elevation | 335 m (1,099 ft) |
| Population (2011) | |
• Total | 254 |
| Demonym | Vetuloniesi |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Postal code | 58043 |
| Dialing code | (+39) 0564 |
Vetulonia, formerly calledVetulonium (Etruscan:Vatluna), was an ancienttown ofEtruria,Italy, the site of which is probably occupied by the modernvillage of Vetulonia, which up to 1887 bore the name ofColonnata andColonna di Buriano: the site is currently afrazione of thecomune ofCastiglione della Pescaia, with some 400 inhabitants.
It lies 300m abovesea level, about ten miles directly northwest ofGrosseto, on the northeast side of the hills which project from the flatMaremma and form thepromontory of Castiglione.
Vetulonia hasEtruscan origins. It was, by 600 BC, part of theEtruscan League of twelve cities.[1]Dionysius of Halicarnassus[2] places the city within theLatin alliance againstRome in the seventh century BC. According toSilius Italicus (Punica VIII.485ff), the Romans adopted theirmagisterial insignia, theLictors' rods andfasces and thecurule seat, from Vetulonia; in 1898, a tomb in the necropolis was discovered with a bundle of iron rods with a double-headed axe in the centre, and soon afterwards, a gravestela inscribed for Avele Feluske was discovered, on which the fasces were pictured.Pliny the Elder andPtolemy also mention the town. The rich votive furnishing from the two extensivenecropoleis attest to the importance of Vetulonia's elite.
TheMura dell'Arce (cyclopean walls) date probably from the 6th-5th century BC, and aerial photography has revealed further stretches, which show the political and commercial importance of Vetulonia, which was famous for its goldsmiths. Under theRoman Empire, however, it shrank to a secondary center, with the northward spread ofmalaria. Little is known also about medieval Vetulonia: first fought over by the abbots of San Bartolomeo di Sestinga and the Lambardi family of Buriano, it was acquired by the commune ofMassa Marittima in 1323. Nine years later it was handed over toSiena.
The site of the ancient city was not identified before 1881.[3] The Etruscan city situated on the hill of Colonna di Buriano, where there are remains ofcity walls of massivelimestone, in almost horizontal courses, was accompanied by twonecropoleis partly excavated byIsidoro Falchi in 1885-86;[4] the town was renamed Vetulonia by royal decree in 1887.
The objects discovered in its extensive seventh-centurynecropolis, where over 1,000 tombs have beenexcavated, are now in the museums of Grosseto andFlorence. The most important tombs, in this "richest and most interesting tomb group of northern Etruria",[5] were covered bytumuli, which still form a prominent feature in the landscape.[3]
The site halfway up the hill to the modern town is easily walked in about ten minutes and is open June to September from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday, and seven days a week in July and August. There is no car park but there is a lay-by a few yards away.[6]
An archaeological museum, the Museo Isidoro Falchi, was opened in 2000.[7]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Ashby, Thomas (1911). "Vetulonium". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 15.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)| International | |
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