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Tuscania is one of the loveliest
towns in Upper Latium. Built on a hilltop by the Etruscans in the 7th century BC,
the town was situated in the river Marta valley, about 10 miles from Viterbo.
Thanks to trade and farming, Tuscania soon became one of the richest centres in
southern Etruria. After the Roman conquest, a new road was built, the Clodia
way, leading from Rome to Tuscany via Tuscania. Many Christian pilgrims reused
the Clodia in the early
Testo: A.G.Tur. di Viterbo Fonte
dati e immagini Amm.ne Prov. di Viterbo |
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Etruscans
and Romans
Middle Ages. In fact, a new town was built on St.
Peter’s hill after the fall of the Roman Empire, and two little churches
dedicated to St. Peter’s and Santa Maria Maggiore were erected between the 7th
and the 8th centuries AD. These two sacred buildings were completely rebuilt by
skilled stonemasons between the 11th and the early 13th centuries. Now the two
basilicas are wonderful examples of mediaeval churches in the Romanesque Lombard
style.Not far from the nice old centre of Tuscania there is also a fine Etruscan
museum. Housed inside the ex Franciscan convent of Santa Maria del Riposo, it
shows a collection of Etruscan objects and sarcophagi dating from between the
7th and the 2nd centuries BC. All around the town there are several cliff-type
necropolises. Among them is the Tomba della Regina (Madonna dell’Olivo
necropolis), a mound grave with several rock-cut underground passages