There is a land in Tuscany where, in any season, it is easy to choose. For this reason this land is different. It's called Etruscan Coast: here, all year round, the time is a holiday time and desire to find out why in this land the sea and nature, art and history live together in a single, harmonious design. Greedily, the Etruscan Coast is all to discover, and then meet with love  its various souls. The sea, first of all: crystal clear, with shades ranging from deep blue to emerald green, accompanied by deep, endless beaches and reefs that smell of saline and wind, sheltered by pine-woods. A sharp edge of the Mediterranean. .. here, throughout the year, is a holiday time and desire ..   Then, the nature. An incredibly rich environment reveals parks and protected areas, enjoying with care, botanical oases wildlife populated by rare and precious species, a rich vegetation of pine forests and woods that hug the hills. The campaign full of colors and scents, is crossed by the Road of Wine characterized by noble vineyards and silver olive trees, where wines and oils that are renowed worldwide.

In southern Etruria between the rivers Fiora and Albegna, numerous and important are the towns that take the form of real cities equipped with defense works - consisting of boundary walls, terracing and aggere - religious buildings and structures housing which sometimes take the form of princely residences: Poggio Buco, Pitigliano, Sovana, in the basin of the river Fiora; Marsili and Saturnia in the dell'Albegna. On all these centers, and those still on the Orbetello and Talamone, Magliano, Ghiaccioforte Doganella and extended the influence of Vulci, the powerful Etruscan city located at the mouth of the river Fiora. In a time span of between about half of the eighth and beginning of the third century BC the historical events of this region, closely linked to the changes brought about by the policy of the great metropolis Marsili, in the lower valley, perhaps identified with the city of Caletra. It is the funerary monuments of age Orientalizzante (the most important relate to the seventh century BC.) Consist of a rectangular pit dug in the ground - intended to accommodate the deceased - surrounded by a circle of stones planted in the ground, sometimes with a diameter of more than 15 meters, and covered with a mound of earth. Still occur several Etruscan tombs of Saturnia, in the upper valley dell'Albegna. Here, the presence of extensive travertine formations forced to adopt a different type. The structure prevalent in the funerary orientalizing period is indeed the tomb chamber with a partition wall along the central axis made of travertine slabs and covered with a mound of earth.   their strong diversity finds its main reason in the deep bond that the Etruscans was able to establish with the environment so varied Maremma, adapting their needs to a shrewd exploitation of all natural resources. In the Fiora Valley, on the border with the Tuscia, the massive tufa formations in fact they provided the item for the realization of the necropolis surrounding the ancient towns of Pitigliano, Sovana and Poggio Buco. Particularly fascinating and impressive occur in this region of the tombs of the Hellenistic period (III-II century BC.) Rock in front of Sovana (the Etruscan SVEAMA), which sometimes reproduce temple buildings with columns and high podium (Ildebranda grave, grave Pola).   In the valley dell'Albegna, instead characterized by the presence of the oldest geological formations, the most characteristic funerary structures are formed from the burial mounds with stone circle containment spread mainly underwent profound changes determinand the disappearance of some settlements and encouraging the development of others.All settlements have in common mentioned the testimony of traces of prehistoric age dating and, in particular, in the final stages of the Bronze Age. However, despite the close and reciprocal ties that united them, the archaeological and historical data to which we can draw show for each of them very different historical events, as well as the peculiar appear funerary structures The Etruscan cities, ancient and modern:   CERVETERI ancient CAERE CLOSED ancient Clusium AREZZO ancient Arretium Cortona ancient CURTUM PERUGIA, old PERUSNA POPULONIA ancient Pupluna VETULONIA ancient Vetluna VOLTERRA ancient Volaterrae BOLSENA ancient VOLSINII VULCI ancient Velch   ORIGINS - Etruscan yet know very little, and the texts on which today builds the history of this civilization date back to ancient Greece and Rome. Herodotus the great historian greek offers a reconstruction of the origins, but Etruscologist and archaeologists now tend to severely restrict the simple interpretation of Herodotus, a theory his, widespread among all the classical writers. His story seems to suffer too much from the myths and fairy tales, which in ancient times tended to be dependent on the origin and the birth of the Etruscans, the people of the West, a migration coming from the East, from Lydia, following a severe famine in the mythical epoch, ie shortly after the Trojan War, led by a great leader: Tirreno.   Dionysius Halicarnassus thesis of Herodotus formulated another hypothesis: the native origin of the Etruscans, while Livio discussed in a step has accredited a third theory, a northern origin of this people, of which the networks and other alpine populations would the remains.   They were right part of all three even though their three theories are incorrect. In fact, some resistance only Eastern origin, is motivated by the difficulties that today is the archeology, to see a chain in the continuous development of the civilizations that have lived in central Italy, with a fracture does not go far enough and net , then not only the result of a "just" foreign people emigrating.   For a long time it was thought to be able to place this fracture around 800 BC, when, ie this civilization from the East, it replaces the existing civilization in the Italian territory; civilization latter, called "Villanova" because it was identified and defined the first time in a country called Villanova, near Bologna.   It is written (X citing Livy, XXXIII) of the Etruscans founded Bologna (Felsinea), Modena, Piacenza, Ravenna, Plug and Mantua, whereas we now know that these places were already inhabited. Bologna had an important settlement in the area of ​​the old town. A large area like wildfire that around the year 1000 BC was welded and stabilized; was practiced metallurgy, crafts and a wide network of businesses, then already an important capital of the Villanova culture (native), although with a lot of influence in the Mediterranean (through Adria and Spina) and those northern Po and subalpine, before the arrival of the Etruscans.   The dwelling, abandoned alpine valleys and the same Po Valley, there had already arrived with their rich culture around 1300 a. C. Not far away, in Este, there was a great center of "dwelling", and in the Veneto region of settlements, there were several, Padua, Vicenza, Verona, Rovigo, and .... where it will rise as a result (the only ones who remained faithful to this type of dwelling) Venice. Even the Gauls, in the middle of the fourth century, the capital of Emilia they claimed the foundation (calling Bononia). Moved forward as many claims the Romans in 191 BC you figured out a colony in 189. C.. (In short, all operated as Pissarro and Cortes in America, bringing, they assured, the "civilization"! And often changed their names in the place where they came).   Today the recent and continuing advances in archaeological research, have led scholars to be able to conclude that among the thesis of Eastern and indigenous origin of the Etruscans there is a real contrast, there is more and more orienting a more balanced resolution of the problem. One must conclude that if that is oriental elements have reached the Tyrrhenian coasts, these (numerically unimportant - perhaps a few thousand) did not change significantly and deep settlements of the civilization of pre-existing populations. In fact, the foundations of civilization villavoviana found in the Etruscan civilization development of some of its essential characteristics: it is not exceeded nor destroyed by the Etruscans, but in a form, often manifested (haughtily Etruscan) from both the two civilizations, developed and expanded. So developed and expanded the autochthonous this will be to influence the other.   (Note that no nation that dominated the peninsula as a result, he was never able to make change the language in any district).   The problem was not solved until a few years ago, it was instead the slow onset (1800-1500 BC) and the subsequent sudden death (1300 BC) of the dwelling, first in alpine lakes, then the Po Valley. A civilization that this thought had come from central Europe. But today we know that had fallen from the Iron Gates (Yugoslavia-Bulgaria-Romania border), this coming from the East from where it was left up the Danube, but emigrated from Thrace thousand years before, and in some areas, even two thousand years before that the Etruscans emigrated from Lydia, and they landed in Tuscany.   This people (also known as a culture called the "Fields of polls") before it occupied the Alpine valleys and foothills, then went down into the Po valley, in Emilia finally around 1100 to 1000 BC in Umbria and Lazio. In the area where Romulus will raise Rome in 753, at the base of the Palatine, burials have been discovered with the system of practice incineratoria (unknown to the Latins of the Colli Albani) dating from 1100. C. - It is also the oldest, dating back to 1500 BC that suggest that the dwelling (this silent people and ghost, but with a great culture behind) you had already gone four centuries before. (See Foundation of Rome)   From the linguistic data (very composite and heterogeneous, whose documentation is drawn from materials and eras, of other ages and areas) and from the archaeological record is derived organic and logical sequence of cultural phenomena, in which it is difficult, if not impossible, to fix the stakes, of breaks, which assign the value of a qualitative leap in its historic one-eastern migration (Theory of Herodotus). And on the basis of historical, cultural, linguistic and archaeological sites are to be rejected is the native one (theory of Halicarnassus) is that of northern origin theory (Livy). More simply, the Etruscans, must be understood as a migration took place from different directions and at different times, but always with a unique oriental origin. The dwelling of the North, as in Constance or Ledro (TN) etc.., 1000 years ago, if you had with many objects of Thrace-Mycenaean culture, and so brought with them those then landed in Tuscany, but the Mycenaean culture, taking with him a thousand years later, already absorbed and partly evolved in the Pre-Hellenic. (1000-800 BC.)   That the Tyrrhenians-Etruscans came from the Aegean Sea there are no more doubts. The discovery of an inscription at Lemnos in pre-Greek language (ancient Phoenicia-1 - origin from 1519 to 1220 BC.) Has brought to light, narrow, and undoubted affinity between that language and Etruscan. And the island of Lemnos (prefecture of Lesbos) was inhabited by a native of ..... Thrace. (! Attention to this name - appear often - nothing to do with the history of Thrace (Romania) Romana - the previous culture had already disappeared for a thousand years)   In Thrace (we know very recently) seems to be a great civilization existed thousands of years earlier than the one Sumerian. Here, the rest not so many years ago, were found the tablets Tartarie seals and the first round Sumerian-Babylonian-Egyptian, and it seems that here the Sumerians discovered the art of writing. And perhaps the Phoenicians as a result of contact with Traci was born to them the idea of ​​the Alphabet. The letter N of Thrace 3500 BC be a coincidence that in Sumerian, in Egyptian, in Phoenician, in Etruscan, in greek, in Latin, is always the same? The tablets Tartarie have questioned the origin of writing, a yellow, because they were found where there had to be. And along with these, many other objects and treasures that have rocked the archaeological world. It seems that the European prehistory was born here, in Thrace.   A civilization that of Thrace, who at the time of the Roman conquests had all but disappeared. The Greeks had been deleted. Although 4000 years before had founded Troy, had been the first to land in Crete thousand years before the Minoan civilization (the bull, the Taurus was a cult Trace!), Had created almost all of the Greek gods (Zeus in God Trace means, Dionisio and his son - in Nysos Trace means child, and the same Orpheus and Orphism was Trace. The mythical Mount Olympus was Trace, because at the border of the ancient territory Trace.   The Greeks took possession of the territory as well as also of all the mythology of Thrace. Many today still believe that the Greek mythology and Greek tradition, however it is the unknown Thracian civilization. When the Greeks founded the Black Sea, Apollonia in the fifth century. BC erected a statue thirteen meters high (sculptor Calamis) in honor of the god to protect the Trace ... Greece, and the god Apollo was honored in Thrace 2000 years before the greek (Dupljaja found myself in the Banat), etc.. etc.. Then he seized it. So the goddess Cybele, was the goddess of fertility Trace (famous statuettes from the big breasts) If we re-read Homer (Iliad) we find that hints at Reso, such as the legendary King Trace, praises the high degree of civilization of his tribe, and remains fascinated by his chariot and armor of pure gold and its most beautiful horse in the world. In Varna has lately been discovered something that gives reason to Homer. In Thrace again in 3200 BC just wallowed in gold. That is to say two thousand years before the Return. 24-karat gold jewelry in pounds, the scepters and jewelry in gold foil as the mask of Agamemnon they had already made a thousand years before that arise Mycenae and Troy. And we know today where he was the famous (always kept secret) "treasure chest" of Trajan in the most opulent of Rome: the gold mines in Thrace and Dacia.   And even if we re-read Herodotus tells of a people with excellent rules and social organization, where each family had its own house, who lived on the lakes, whose beautiful houses but not in straw boards together, are built in the water above high stakes. The people - he wrote in 470 a. C. - He calls them "Ancients" Peoni, the area is the lake Prasia (now Lake Takiros), the territory of Thrace. Of these villages have been unearthed about 350 today. Dating back to 4000. C. So we know where it came from the lake-dwelling architecture identical to that of the Alpine valleys, and who they were and where he came from the culture of the peoples of the Fields of Urns. But back to the Etruscans Only around the seventh century Etruscan civilization begin to become aware of their existence, of their personality, their own language, their own autonomy, as compared to other civilizations that lived in Italy at the time. A type of warrior society distinctly, in contrast to the existing cultures throughout the peninsula, milder, non-competitive. This explains the wide geographical distribution of the Etruscans and, consequently, the cultural supremacy. Over the centuries, ranging from this age until the second century. C. forward, you have the large and luxuriant development of the Etruscans, which account for all this period a major political force, social and cultural life: then you can very well say that the Etruscan civilization is the first, large, powerful and flourishing civilization Italian, despite many flaws. The apogee of the Etruscan power, it has especially in the sixth century, when the Etruscans enter into an alliance with the Carthaginians alliance that assures them the dominion of all the western Mediterranean, and then start the flourishing trade. Around 535 you have a great affirmation of their maritime and commercial power with the great victory in the naval battle on the Phoenicians, off the coast of Aleria, Corsica. As a testament to the splendor of the Etruscan civilization in the seventh century and again in the sixth, just remember that the same King of Rome, ie Tarquini were no more than Etruscans: so in this period the Etruscans down south, expanding their rule and their military and economic power in a "country" still young, not yet well organized: the Latin. In the second half of the sixth century the Etruscans go even further, going down in the Po Valley up to the mouth of the Po, establishing important centers of commercial life and the fundamental points of support (One even in Melzo). To the south come up in Campania, in Capua, while the new Greek - modern - you are landing from the south)   DECLINE - A major expansion of this power, following the inevitable slow decline, the beginning of which can be reported in the 509, with the expulsion of the Tarquins from Rome, that this date also marks the beginning of the history of republican Rome: the fall of Etruscans already beginning to be inextricably linked to the rise of Rome. In 474 the decline meets a dramatic confirmation in the naval battle of Cuma, where the Etruscan fleet is destroyed by the Syracusan, who gained control of the western Mediterranean. In 423, another drama, the Samnites occupy Capua, an outpost of the Etruscan civilization in Southern Italy. Then with the beginning of the Gallic invasions in Italy, around the year 400, the Etruscan civilization is also affected behind, and enters into agony. Not only is no longer able to make achievements, but it is not even able to defend their territory. To do so would need men, and of a central power, but is found to have only cowardly servants and peasants, the one that produced their "close" company. It therefore has the long period of the Roman conquest of Etruria. The Romans fail to block, to reject the Gauls, then move toward the north attracted to the power vacuum that the decay Etruscan created in the northern regions of Italy. In 358 starts the war between Rome and the Etruscans, which ends in 351 with the victory of Rome. The story of the Roman conquest become more tight: in 310 Rome defeats the Etruscans in Arezzo, Cortona and Perugia in 295 with the defeat of the Gauls and Etruscans in Sentinum, Rome subdues the Volsini, Arezzo and Perugia, Rome in 280 concludes a treaty of alliance with some of the most important cities of the Etruscan League: Volsini, Arezzo, Perugia, Vulci, Rusellae, Vetulonia and Populonia. A central power Etruscan has never existed, so everyone solves the issue in his own home. Others can not do, a real Etruscan nation has never existed, not even a national consciousness. Fate is only one: to submit to those who are giving birth this consciousness: the Roman world. By this time the Roman Etruria becomes, and thus concludes the story of the glorious Etruscan civilization, which, however, does not die culturally, indeed, still manages to survive, to influence some important features of social and public life, as well as artistic, Romans conquerors. Not in the language though. And it is a problem which is also wrapped, such as origins, in an atmosphere of mystery. A language impenetrable and indecipherable. Have been deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs, ideograms Mycenaean, the Mesopotamian cuneiform, simply because we have plenty of these languages ​​and texts written in some bilingual who allowed us to understand even signs lacking a basic phonic (eg, the Rosetta Stone was the key to the hieroglyphics). And the Sumerian writing possess some real vocabularies on tablets. We have almost ten thousand instead of Etruscan texts (for the most part epigraphic), but many of them are very short and simple. Almost always use the same words, the Etruscology is currently in possession of a vocabulary that does not exceed 200 words; insignificant a base that does not allow to have some knowledge of grammar and syntax of a language. Missing a short vocabulary. So you have to give to understand the Etruscan, until you manage to find a long bilingual text, which gives us the translation in greek, latin, or other known language of Etruscan texts. While in New York by the Greeks, the Romans mutuavano the signs of the Greek alphabet Phoenician-2 and created from scratch a language, Latin, the Etruscans (closed world) continued with the Phoenician alphabet 1, which had brought with them from Lydia, in 'Aegean, which in the meantime had adopted the alphabet 2, and with that he began his literary Hellenistic was intense, then landed in Sicily, in Puglia, Campania and finally to Rome. The Roman hegemony after the 280 (with the Treaty) condemned forever the old alphabet. The schools were now all in Latin, and none of the teachers more (perhaps for nationalism or censorship imposed from above - as always happens to those who conquer a country) an Etruscan text translated into Latin, the language after a couple of generations in the life Civil disappeared entirely, even in families of Etruscan origin. (As it would be many centuries later to Latin). Another singular and naive mistake they had made the Etruscans settling in Tuscany. Together with the archaic language had also adopted the calendar of Lydia, Mesopotamia, lunar, already thousands of years. It was archaic and in Lydia worked, but not in Tuscany: seasons were not the same. The timing of agriculture did not fit, or rather an archaic calendar indigenous worked better. The Etruscans retouched several times jumping months; But after a few years was always out of step with the seasons. The reason was simple there was 2:00 to 3:00 degrees latitude difference, and corresponded to 4-6 degrees lower temperature, as well as being the length of day different. When in Mesopotamia or Anatolia began sowing in Tuscany was still in the cold "February." The rainy season in Mesopotamia took place in April, in Tuscany in the fall. Even the Roman calendar of Numa ran into this same error. For over 700 years, no one understood why. It was only after Julius Caesar - in 49 BC, on his return from Egypt with the discovery of the calendar year that things went the right way. After 13 lunar months does not return in the spring, but after 12 calendar months instead of the length of day is exactly equal to that of the previous year, and in the following. It took almost two hundred years to officially introduce the Year Julian, who is still one of today become more accurate with Pope Gregory in 1582, and that why it's called Gregorian. THE COMPANY 'ETRUSCA - The Etruscan civilization it is written above is the first, large, powerful and flourishing Italian civilization. And 'different from the others not only because it has a rich cultural and technological, although important, but because he has something more than the other, it is well organized and structured in its political and social life. (Even if questionable). This complex and developed civilization unlike the Roman - while almost simultaneously - has some great qualities but also potentially defect, which where then those that will lead to decay. The Romans (or better by the time the Latins) already after just two centuries, borrow the first, and try to avoid the latter when in 509 give life to the Republic. Unlike the Roman civilization, which since the sixth century, through the establishment censitaria attributed to Servius Tullius, had passed the primitive duality between plebeians and patricians, the Etruscan society presents itself perpetually and still strictly divided into two classes of servants and masters. This type of company is maintained with absolute conservatism and without substantial changes over the centuries. The error will also result in Rome, and after Rome, many other civilizations, many other peoples, kingdoms or states. Of this class of servants and masters Etruscan many aspects because there are no known archaeological traces reveal many details. Testimonials in graveyards that you always refer to wealthy individuals, of a certain social level, certainly not humble people. At the top of the hierarchy of the company are the king, who up to ancient times appear to us at the head of the Etruscan power. We know the names of some of these, because tramandatatici were protagonists of famous events with the Romans: the famous Porsena, Muzio Scaevola and Clelia, but also retain the name of other kings, especially through the funerary inscriptions. For the whole of Etruria there was not a king, but as many as twelve; many as were the great Etruscan cities that were part of "confederation" of Etruria. Please remember: Volterra, Populonia, Chiusi, Perugia, Vetulonia, Tarquinia, Fiesole, Marxabotto, Norchia, Tuscania, Saturnia, Talamone, Arezzo, Cortona. They were firmly united by religious bonds but not from a political constraint as to suggest a unitary state and compact, but rather a federation within which it appears that it was not possible that a city has had - or could aspire - the dominance over the other . Too many jealousies among cities and towns. The kings were not kings but tyrants like figures who worked in their small kingdom with a small oligarchic class. The insignia of royal power, are transmitted to us and described by the greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus, in the story that he makes the conquest of Etruria by Rome, under the reign of Tarquinius Priscus: a golden crown, a throne ' ivory scepter decorated with an eagle at the top, a tunic of purple woven of gold and a purple robe adorned with embroidered cloaks similar to those of the kings of Lydia and Persia. The most obvious sign of sovereignty was made by lictors who opened the royal procession carrying the fasces on the back: each of the twelve Etruscan kings had one available, "Lucumone" was the name of the Etruscan king. In addition to the king, are the leaders, the military hierarchy properly, their historical existence is linked in each case to that of their gens, and is also certified epigraphically several times, as in the case of the family of Tolumnii to Veii. One of the most famous leaders of Etruscan history, whose name has been handed down to us thanks to its value - which was presented in terms of almost wonders - is Macstarna, which according to Roman tradition had come to Rome as an ally to put his sword in the service of King Tarquin, while the Etruscan version of the same story first figure in the number of enemies and then even in that of the killers of Tarquin, to occupy one of the hills of Rome and seize the throne for peaceful purposes is not certain. Macstrana is one of the leading names of this class of leaders, that class, as we see in his example, he was strong at times to such an extent as to endanger even the same authority of the king. Another category of civil society of the Etruscans, very powerful and very jealous of its prerogatives and privileges, is one of the judges who constitute a class called upon to resolve a kind of Senate, it is the only political assembly of the State Etruscan. The magistrates Etruscan choose among them a "princeps" who, elected once every year, can in certain cases replace the king, and makes the functions of a kind of president of the republic, assisted by a number of judges, also elected once every year, making up a college similar to that of the Archons of Athens. On these judges, their titles, on the vicissitudes of his career, the powers and privileges which they belong, epigraphy makes up a large part in the silence of historians, and introduces us to a series of "career" much more complicated and difficult to that characterize the Roman public life. (The look like Byzantine). In addition to these charges, less important but certainly within the Etruscan society, are the priestly offices and administrative, that at the present time of the research, are nothing more than mere names. Just a few quick news; elements that seem to have had particular emphasis, because they had a direct participation in the government. In the Etruscan language has been in fact recognized a whole family of words derived from the root zil which means "rule" as Zilic, zilath which means "magistratus", that is the position of the judiciary, that the person who exercises it, the magistrate; and still zilaxjnve, zilachnuce, worth "did the magistrate." Some zilath brought another title, maru, which meant a set of magistrates and priests (such as construction, the Roman Pontiffs), and finally the president of the college of zilath (a sort of council of ministers) and the "first zilath" was precisely the "prime minister" or "Prime Minister". This was the complex life of every kingdom, and these were the highest magistrates in the context of the individual Etruscan cities. A level of "Country," in which the various cities were periodically assembled in Switzerland, was elected one of the supreme zilath, which is confirmed in the name of epigraphically zilath mechl rasnas, meaning "zilath of the Etruscan people" that the governor of a state, which c 'was formally but there was no substance. This was organized it was just a very nice facade, behind there was a "nation," but servants and peasants. MASTERS AND SERVANTS - Below these categories mentioned above bosses and managers, there were only servants in the palaces of the city, in the countryside farms, in mines and factories, there lived a great, indeed the greater part of the Etruscan population ; that had also a kind of hierarchy or at least of distinction. First there was the crowd of "domestic", who lived very numerous at the homes of the wealthy, had many tasks, such as providing direct service to the master, serve at the table, preparing and organizing the kitchen and supplies, in short all activities that take place inside and outside of any home. Completely different and far more numerous were the servants of the country, who were employed in agriculture. More than slaves were "animals" of burden, that is miserable "animals" workers toil from dawn until sunset. Lower strata of the population of these news are very rare and uncertain, and of course fragmentary in the highest degree: beyond the few clues provided to us by the funerary inscriptions and in greater quantities by the frescoes of the graves, which often show us the servants of cities in 'act of serving at the table, or next to the boss to meet his demands, or some farmers engaged in the work of the fields, little is known of this vast part of the Etruscan population. Evidently, however, he had to live in a very uncertain and without any possibility of development: the social life of the Etruscans was clearly closed, locked in a pattern of caste, which did not allow any possibility of access to the lower classes to the upper ones. (When he needed to fight an external enemy, they paid very dear this closure) Moreover, the power, the dignity, the size of an Etruscan was especially due to the number of servants, slaves, freedmen, clients and ether which could surround. The last three categories were very few elements entered with their servility in the good graces of the owners, who enjoyed some freedom and a greater consideration. Up to the point that they die buried in the family tomb. THE FAMILY ETRUSCA - It was made by the father and mother, who live with their children and grandchildren, and is different from Greek or Roman family. The Etruscans seem to have always had strong families, whose members were bound together by common bonds very intensely felt and lived, and none of the family members objected to the "pater familias" the authority to guide, which will be attributed to him especially by the Romans, as shown by many inscriptions in which the subsidiary is in fact his father. Thanks to these inscriptions we can now know the main names of kinship in the Etruscan language: clan means son, daughter sec, dark bride, the bride and groom tusurthi; grandfather said Pope, grandmother atinacna, thuva brother, nephew papacs. Moreover, the same iconography so typically Etruscan tombs, which are the husband and wife lying next to each other, lying on the bier, in dignified attitude and affectionate family, in the gesture of protection (see title picture) husband's and wife's trust in the tender, expresses the importance that the family had at the Etruscans. The couple was solid. Note that in the tombs will appear next to the name in evidence always the first name of the father and mother of both spouses. "Vel Titio Petronius, son of Vel and Amelia Spurinna rests here with his wife Veila Clantia daughter Arrus." THE WOMAN - Inside the Etruscan family, the woman has a place of considerable importance, even in the inscriptions as we have just read, you can note the detail that distinguishes marital status Etruscan: the name of women is preceded by the first name, while a Roman woman, as illustrious, will always be only one Claudia, a Cornelia, and even if Empress, a Livia: Etruscan women were identified with a first name that assured them a personality within the family and also the shape of Latin onomastics mentions after the forename noble only the first name of the father: Marcus Tullitus, Marci filii, the Etruscan epigraphy, I added the name of the mother. These customs, in their uniqueness and their persistence, give us a clue to the particular position of women in family and society Etruscan. We would say today, a liberated woman. The Etruscan woman, in fact, among the Greek and Roman writers, did not enjoy a great reputation, if the Greek and Roman women lived in the shadow of the house, the ideal of the Etruscan woman and her costumes are very different. Since her husband is held in high esteem. (The husbands Romans at the most, when they did, they wrote on the graves of their bridal "domum servavit." That in a nutshell is meant to be a "good servant girl of my house"). The Etruscan woman "out" a lot, has important political and administrative power, that is, fully live the life of the family and society. Etruscan women do not enjoy freedom only a comparison of Roman women, but also within civil society fulfill a role of leader even: to the point that he did come to conclusions perhaps excessive, speaking of true matriarchy women Etruscan. A witness there are only historical examples of women particularly in view in the political, but also archaeological examples that show the importance that the woman in Etruscan tombs, not only in location, but also in the choice of. In short, the Etruscan woman live fully all the intense activity of Etruscan society, occupying a role of privilege, invested almost sovereign authority: she is the artist, the educated woman, curious about the preciousness of Hellenism and promotes civilization and the culture of their country, and finally in the tomb is venerated as if it were a goddess. Curious fact is that in the pictures of the covers of the polls, are represented in an extraordinary realism, do not shy to show starkly the signs of old age, the accurate reproduction of physical defects, or the ugliness of your face. (Like the one at the Museum in Volterra Grandacci). You are portraying (when they were supposedly still alive) faithfully; keep us to stay themselves; undoubted sign of a strong character. LIFE ON THE ETRUSCAN - As of today, the rest of Tuscany, the Etruria was a fertile region, also celebrated as "Etruria felix", a land opulent, rich and generous, cultivated with love and tenacity. Pliny describes it thus: "The landscape is very beautiful. Imagine a huge amphitheater which only nature can offer: a wide and spacious flat surrounded by hills and mountains that have ancient woodland to the top of tall trees, and game abundant and varied. From the woods sloping down, and there in the middle, fertile hills of good land, because nowhere in it is easy to find rock, even if it is sought. No lower fertility for the fields located in the plain real : rich put you ripen later, it's true (the calendar) but not less well. At their feet on each side lie the vineyards connected to each other so as to uniformly cover the space in length and breadth, and the lower limit , almost forming a border, there are thickets, meadows and then and still land to wheat, that you can not plow, if not with the help of oxen and plows mighty strong. then grasslands dotted with flowers produce clover, and other herbs, always young and tender, as if just born, these being irrigated land from inexhaustible sources. "   It 'clear that Pliny refers to Etruria internal, that the high valleys of the Tiber and Arno; very different was the situation on the coast. There were the marshes of the Maremma and malaria deeply grieved and troubled life of Etruria. Even if faced with courage, tenacity and ingenuity the problem of the marshes and the basin of the distribution and regulation of the water, with the decline of the Etruscan power, the canalisation works were abandoned. no longer maintained and monitored, and the marshes of the Maremma returned to dominate the territory until recently. Archaeological discoveries in Spina and Adria - ports used by the Etruscans - have highlighted the great work with which regolarono complicated course of the Po Then they abandoned everything. During the heyday, we have evidence that the Etruscans had for their land a great attachment. Tenacious as farmers and settlers, and brought great suffering to the agricultural land. With the fertile plains, the Etruscans were sharing the fields with precision, delimited by boundaries very clear, typical of the Etruscan countryside. Loved, cared for and defended with obstinacy. Produced cereals enough to even be able to export to neighboring countries; wheat was the crop of the bottom, very celebrated not only the quantity but also the quality, for the whiteness of flour, Chiusi and Arezzo, famous for soft wheat for the packaging of fine bread, while in Pisa was the famous flour (flour, then wheat) to make dough. (But two wheat species Triticum monococcum and sphaerococcum, appears in the 1700 to 1500 BC to Lake Ledro, and these two species were grown only on the Caspian Sea, not yet in Greece. Then came from the north and from the south) Another celebrity of the Etruscans (still today) is that of wine; vaunted (but only in 400-300 BC by writers even in Greece. Dionysius of Halicarnassus exalts them and compares them to those of Falerno and Roman hills; Martial puts them on par with those of his Spain. While other authors referring to white wine (red does not exist yet) state that the best of all is the one produced on the border of Liguria. (what is now known as the Cinque Terre, Est Est Est) The screw does not yet know if she was taken in Tuscany (and then later in Rome) by the Etruscans, or learned growing from pile-dwelling. latter, in the settlements of the Alpine lakes were already cultivating a thousand years before the arrival of the Etruscans in Tuscany (known Already distillation) and we know that dwelling in 1100-1000 BC were down almost on the border of Tuscany. arrived in Rome very late: around 600 BC Among other things, gave him a bad wine. was only in 300 BC hybrid varieties selected produced what would later become the nectar of Lazio "wines of the Colli Albani." Equally in Tuscany later when crossing the varieties of Malvasia, Canaiolo, and Sangiovese (which is native to Tuscany and the Romagna) they also produced the famous "Chianti".   Specialities of Tarquinia was instead the cultivation of flax and its texture, the textile industry seems to have been one of the major economic activities of the Etruscans, who still under the rule of Augustus held the top spot for the packaging of linens; primarily those the sails. (But both flax, pieces of cloth, and the perfect frames for weaving have been found at Lake Ledro, and operated in 1800-1300 BC in Thrace in 4000. C.).   For those visiting the Archaeological Museum dwelling Ledro and then immediately after the Archaeological Etruscan Florence, can not but be taken aback. The olive tree - strange thing in itself - was not yet widespread in Etruria. At the time of Tarquinius Priscus, the olive tree was so far unknown in Italy. That is, until the second century BC The Etruscans oil used it, but as evidenced by the numerous amphorae of the rest of Greek workmanship, was directly imported from the Aegean. The first Greek settlers began to plant the first seedlings of olive in Apulia and in the vicinity of Gioia Tauro only in 700 BC The olive tree to grow and produce it takes several decades, and this was perhaps the reason for the long delay nell'introdurlo, because he not made immediately.   Not so the fruit trees, as well as legumes and vegetables (just a few) celebrated in ancient Rome. Most of them were from Greece, but even these limited as variety and quality, because the Greeks did not have much contact with Mesopotamia and the Caspian region (in "Paradise" see NEOLITHIC - the origin of the most common plants). In fact, for the variety and richness of the most popular crops and fruit, Italy will have to wait for the Arabs in 800 AD-1000 when their conquests Elbruz came up to the mountains, to the Caspian, in Samarkand and the borders of China, uncovering the "paradise", the "gardens" of Turkmenistan, where they still exist all the families of the original plants of almost all fruits and the vegetables that we know, including all cereals: soybeans, rice, wheat, maize, millet.   With regard to agricultural tools, we have an extensive collection, handed down from their graves. They show clearly the method of work of the farmer Etruscan. A series of spades, sickles, scythes and especially some plows. At the same time they appear in different shapes, some in use in ancient Mycenae, others in Greece.   Also the breeding of livestock had a great importance, not only for animals working in the fields but also in domestic animals for direct consumption. Where they came from the north or south if, again fumbling in the dark. Sheep, goats, cattle, buffalo, pigs, horses, rabbits and poultry, the origin was on the Caspian Sea. Herds of these pets were present in Thrace in 5000-4000 BC, and dwelling in lakes (Valcamonica, Ledro, Garda, Constance) practiced farming 1,000 years before the arrival of the Etruscans. In short, the same applies as above.   There were two migratory flows and two cultures that intersected always the Apennines. The difference is, that one had to get used about 2000 years up the Danube, the other I had come suddenly (but perhaps in several waves) within a few weeks of sailing. The first in its long migration almost two thousand years in uninhabited areas had further increased its culture (especially social-political), while the second thousand years later, migrating from an environment where authoritarian political unrest had been intense, had landed in Tuscany with a more crafty, evolved and complex. Even if the same phenomenon happened to the Etruscans; "closing" and "isolating" in that they believed to be the best company, they continued to live as they had arrived, losing touch with the "New Politics" (and even in writing) that in Meanwhile it had evolved not only in the place of origin, in the Aegean, but in a form native had developed and perfected in New York, just a few steps from their kingdoms, where the Etruscans had erected a "high wall" of lack of communication.   We talked about the wealth of agriculture. Do not omit to mention that the fisheries that took place not only on the seas but also on the lakes of Bolsena, Vico and Bracciano, where the Etruscans even ambientarono many types of saltwater fish that are so accustomed to fresh water . They had the wealth of the woods, but the Etruscans not worked in a very smart way. Tuscany was strewn with immense forests of tall trees. Were sacked without any restraint to cope with the demands of naval timber and domestic use; still it is possible to notice the effects of this massive and indiscriminate stripping which underwent the hills of Etruria, the rich woodlands celebrated in ancient times there is very little. As for the mineral resource that can be referred to as the origin of Etruria itself, around the south of the province of Livorno current, and all the territory between Volterra and Massa Marittima, they still maintain considerable amount of traces of this activity centuries of mining. Especially in Populonia (Piombino)'s "generous", the iron mines were inexhaustible and was the center of the metallurgical industry that gave the Etruscans economic power. But an essential tool for the spread of this economic and commercial power was the merchant fleet, and even more the development of roads. Not easy this vocation in a region difficult and bumpy. Nevertheless managed to build a road network rather widespread and important. Far, however, the idea of ​​the Roman roads, most drawn on the bare ground, beaten by the continuous passage. On these roads, the Etruscans were circulating vehicles with large and robust two reinforced wheels from bandages and metal circles. On rainy days, we can imagine what was happening. The ruts were plowing the road. EVERYDAY LIFE - Another aspect of Etruscan life, showing us this people very rich, economically powerful and politically safe is his daily life. The ostentatious wealth was primarily in the Etruscan cities. It is not possible to reconstruct in detail a typical day for the lack of literary texts. Some news succeed provides a historic greek, Posidonius, and concerns the rich Etruscan table: "The Etruscans who do set the table twice a day with a sumptuous table everything that contributes to a life of delicate and prepare the bed blankets embroidered flowers; have a quantity of silver tableware; be served by a considerable number of slaves. " Obviously, however, this is your day happy and jolly in a rich Etruscan, and should have been very different the lives of the majority of the population. The frescoes are preserved in several tombs, often show us the Etruscans in the joy of banquets, intent on eating and drinking with opulence and splendor, and also the wealth of pottery, found in the tombs, shows just the attention that the Etruscans have always had for a laden table in the sumptuous and well taken care of in every detail. Great place in the life of the Etruscans had the games. Herodotus tells us that even before emigrating from Lydia, the inhabitants of boredom had invented many games. The most famous one of the nuts, and equally famous one of the ball (or Episkyros harpastum) Undoubtedly these two games they continued to be practiced even in their new homeland. Not for nothing that football was born in Florence: the Florentinum harpastum, and also his first treatise. But even more important in the life of the Etruscans was music. Recent historians tend to ascribe to the Etruscans even the formation of the Orpheus myth, the myth-prince, that of music. But today we know that the myth of Orpheus was celebrated 2,000 years earlier in Thrace (Thrace always!). The great importance of music has witnessed not only by the frescoes, from decoration of vases and other archaeological finds, but also by the general appearance of the Etruscan civilization: it might even be said that there was no action of some importance in life is agricultural town that (weddings, funerals, crops, harvests, banquets, ceremonies), which did not have a musical element more or less developed. The music obviously brought with it the dancing: and also there are many frescoes that show dancers that move with grace and ease, drawing graceful figures. THE CITY '- Unfortunately, in order to understand this civilization alive in the Etruscan cities, we have to resort to the excavations of the dead cities. Despite the efforts of the archaeological research started only in this century, with the discovered and recovered has not been possible to reconstruct a profile enough. With patience we have to wait several more years of research and studies. There remains some trace in Marzabotto, where you can see some elements of the road network and neighborhoods. The plan of the city there are also some testimonials written by ancient authors, which make us think that, contrary to what happened in Greece, where the center of the city was the agora, the square of meeting and trade, the Etruscan city gravitated around the temple, and that the layout of the buildings was established by the sacred norms. Exceptional is the interest of the tombs, and decorations from the tree because we can get an idea of ​​the Etruscan homes as they were made. In fact, the tomb was built in the likeness of the house. Widespread use to sculpt the tuff, inside, household effects, for example in the tomb at Cerveteri (dell'Alcova, the Reliefs) are carved beds, chairs and armchairs. On the walls are paintings then other objects, plants and animals, to make more complete the similarity between the tomb and the house. Even the urns are shaped in form of house and give us an idea of ​​how they were in the houses. So we are left with only the cemeteries, cemeteries. Necropolis sometimes vast and organized in a certain order and measure that shows us, in this their own greatness and orderly unfolding, a cult dedicated to the afterlife that the Etruscans, the world of the dead. The tombs give us often, especially in centers of higher political and economic sense rather approximate what was to be the Etruscan house. Well-developed, complex, rich in columns, beams, lintels, with an architectural movement and a provision of the rooms very comfortable and functional. The Etruscan house was different from that of the Romans: in fact, for example, the lobby had no impluvium, which will be added only by the Romans, nor indeed had the simplicity and functionality of the Roman sparse. The Etruscans were especially display of columns, aiming to give a sense of pomp and architectural wealth, power and greatness of the building. The show was short, a vocation. ON ART - CRAFT - LITERATURE - By the fifth century Greece enter the splendor of its classical period and Etruria who had always lived in the orbit more or less Greek, it has gone away, mainly due to changed situations economic and trade. In his old age, ie from the beginning of the third century onwards, Etruscan art is clearly in the orbit of the vast cultural movement that goes by the name of Hellenism. On craft the Etruscans were distinguished above all in metal and terracotta, and jealously handed down from one generation to the profession within a city, without making the remaining participants confederates. An exasperated provincialism. And 'This is one of the negative aspects of that lack of unity, as we have already read, will be the cause of ruin and decay for the Etruscan civilization. In the literature, some scholars call into question even the existence. We know some books because Etruscan come down to us through translations and summaries made by the Romans: But these books were gathered into three groups: Haruspicini Books, Books and Books Fulgirales Rituales. Treated respectively of divination, the observation of lightning and rules relating to the cult. Also concerned civilian and military institutions. They were so sacred books, as well as having a religious character, they also had a legal nature: containing not only religious norms, but also a real body of laws. On art, religion, history, issues with passionate arguments vast, anyone who wanted to deepen refer to a precious book of J. Heurgon, Daily Life of the Etruscans, published by Basic Books, there has often been useful to offer this small painting of the Etruscan civilization. In conclusion we can say that the Etruscan civilization, in its beautiful bloom centuries, formed not only the first large, well-organized and fully conscious Italian civilization, but in his curious and passionate look out towards the Greek civilization, was the first bridge to 'introduction and development of our Italy. The Etruscans are therefore at the center between the Greeks and the Romans, are imitators and heirs of the first, second and educators are almost fathers.   LOCATION 'YOU FLOWERS' CIVILIZATION 'ETRUSCA CERVETERI (the Caere) - Excavations and museum - the famous "Tomb of the spouses" (the one shown here) VOLTERRA - Excavations - Material found housed in the Museo Guarnacci POPOLULONIA (LI) Excavations - Mat. ritr. housed in the Etruscan Museum of FLORENCE VETULONIA (GR) Excavations - Mat. ritr. housed in the Etruscan Museum of FLORENCE Fiesole (FI) Excavations - Material found housed in the Museum of Fiesole VOLSINII - Excavations - Mat. ritr. housed in the Museum of Orvieto ROSSELLE - Necropolis - Mat. ritr. housed in the Etruscan Museum of FLORENCE VULCI - Remains of the city - Mat. ritr. housed in the Museum of FLORENCE and ROME Tarquinia (VT) - GRAVES (about 200), frescoes - Mat. ritr. Museum Nat. TARQUINIA Tarquinia (VT): CIVITA, an ancient Etruscan town, temple base, precious relics walls. CERE (RO) - Necropolis (about 100 tombs) - Mat. ritr. - Museum VILLA GIULIA - ROME NORCHIA (VT) Necropolis of rock) - Mat. ritr. - Museum VILLA GIULIA - ROME CASTEL D'ASSO (VT) - Tombs of the wall (30) - Mat. ritr. - Museum VILLA GIULIA - ROME   CORCHIANO (VT), frescoes, wall Subscribers VEIO - Temple, bridge, tombs - Mat. ritr. housed in the Museum VILLA GIULIA - ROME Nepi (Viterbo) - Necropolis CASTEL S. ELIA SUTRI (VT) - amphitheater, necropolis, sarcophagus - TOWN HALL SUTRI Tuscania (VT) - Necropolis - Tomb near Canino SOVANA - (GR) Necropolis - Mat. ritr. housed in the Etruscan Museum of FLORENCE Saturnia - Remains of the Etruscan walls-Mat. ritr. housed in the Etruscan Museum of FLORENCE    

When the green is colored blue because of parks and protected areas, wildlife refuges, pine-woods, mark the border with the sea, nature is no longer just a frame, but the very essence of a land. In the Etruscan coast, the fertile countryside changing colors and light, stretches from the sea to the hill slopes and is crossed by trails that wind through forests of olive trees, chestnut trees, holm oaks and cork trees, trails ideal for trekking, mountain biking, horse riding and to collect mushrooms and chestnuts.   Villas, country houses and farms overlooking the green, converted to farmhouses, accompany and comfort breaks of the visitors. The Wine Route, along which you will meet famous products such as Sassicaia, runs between the hills and the sea, illuminated by the sun filtering through the trees and shines the vineyards. Precious jewels, protected and stored, are part of the natural heritage of  the Etruscan Coast and are ready to welcome visitors but respectful:  the Oasi of Bolgheri, beautiful and evocative "wetland of international importance" populated by thousands of waterbirds, with walkways and cabana, and Orti Bottegone to Piombino, where he will meet flamingos, ibises, storks, herons.  

In Livorno there are major maritime events. If the Sailing Trophy sponsored by the Naval Academy, and century-old prestigious military institution, is played by teams from all over the world, in the Palio Marinaro neighborhoods are citizens who will compete on the rowing arms, according to a custom that has been passed intact in time. In the golden light of sunset is the beach of San Vincenzo, however, to accommodate the Palio of the Etruscan Coast, where magnificent thoroughbred engage in the selections for the Palio of Siena. In Marina di Castagneto, in the cooking competition "A table on the beach", the participants propose original and creative recipes. The sea of the Etruscan Coast you live. The fishing, photography and scuba diving, are favored by the quality of 'marine habitat, populated by wildlife fine, specimens of which are hosted from the Aquarium of Livorno. Fishing, sailing, windsurfing, and much more to live the golden sea of the Etruscan Coast .. The mild climate and in some areas particularly breezy, makes it possible, in all seasons, sailing and windsurfing. Qualified instructors and specialized schools are supportive to the lovers of these sports. Great opportunities for sailing and pleasure, thanks to the ports of Livorno and Piombino, to marinas di Cecina, San Vincenzo, Castiglioncello, Rosignano, Baratti, the harbors and the landing, many along the coast, offering hundreds of berths. The center of yachting in Vada and the presence of many yacht clubs, contribute to raising the quality of services.

The sea is the soul of the Etruscan Coast: it accompanies you everywhere. It lives in history, in landscape view, it illuminates the sunset and perfumes the air, you get a view of the sea from the villages and hills, the lapping thick pine forests, ample green space and glittering Mediterranean. White sand beaches, fine sand, or gravel dark, alternate with cliffs carved by the fury of the wind and waves.   The sea is the soul of the Etruscan Coast ... Inlets, coves and bays follow each other endlessly. The ancient towers, which defended the territory from attacks by pirates, dot the coast. Across the sea the Etruscans did their trade and have settled, building to Baratti, the only necropolis located on the coast. The sea furrowed since ancient times, by people from distant countries, races and religions different, still hides in its depths their treasures.  

The Etruscans respected and loved this land: the Necropolis of Baratti, the only one built on the sea shore, in the shade of pine trees and olive groves, this testifies to a complete harmony between people and nature. The Etruscan and Roman civilizations have left evidence imported collections in the museums of Populonia Rosignano Cecina or unearthed in the archaeological areas of Vada and Campiglia Marittima. In Venturina a famous thermal spring was already known in Etruscan and exploited by the Romans. On this coast the Etruscans mined and worked the metal, creating precious artefacts. And, over time, has been passed down their wisdom. The Archaeological Park of Campiglia, excavation, open air, among the most important in the Mediterranean, is a very suggestive itinerary to reconstruct the use of different technologies in history.