Hi incurable travelers,
after visiting the necropolis of Tarquinia, we went to the National Archaeological Museum of Tarquinia, which is considered one of the most important in Italy for the variety and richness of the finds exhibited.
In a room of the National Archaeological Museum of Tarquinia, the ‘ex voto’ were collected, that is, the gifts offered to the Etruscan deity to receive grace or received by grace, most of which were found during archaeological excavations carried out around “Ara della Regina”.
On the second floor of the National Archaeological Museum of Tarquinia, there are finds coming from the excavations of Civita and the famous sculpture of winged horses found at the Ara della Regina, of which I talked to at the beginning of this blog tour. (If you want to read the article, you need to click on: _)
Always inside the Museum, the setting of four graves of the Necropolis of Monterozzi has recreated: the Olympics, the Ship, the Triclinium, and the Chariot, with their paintings, which were removed for conservation purposes.
All the museum was interesting, but what particularly struck me was the part dedicated to the collection of finds from the Villanovian period (IX – VIII BC).
The National Archaeological Museum of Tarquinia is housed in the Vitelleschi Renaissance Palace, dating back to the 15th century and located in Piazza Cavour 1. For more information on visiting times and/or ticket costs, you can call 0766-85.60.36
After the visit to the National Archaeological Museum of Tarquinia, we had lunch and visited the Vulci Natural Archaeological Park to photograph the Abbadia Bridge.
Along the way back to Viterbo, we stopped at Tuscania to visit the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore that was built between the end of the 11th and the beginning of the 12th century.
In the jambs of the façade of the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica are carved the figures of the apostles Peter and Paul, while in the lunette are placed the figures of the Madonna and Child Blessing (picture on the right).
In the right nave, there is an octagonal baptismal font dating back to the 13th century.
I enjoyed the colors of the frescoes of Santa Maria Maggiore’s Basilica, which convey a sense of serenity and peace.
After the visit to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, we went to visit the Church of San Pietro, which rises on the homonymous hill, already home to an Etruscan acropolis. The era of construction is not well defined, but a Romanesque imprint is given by a cosmatic rosette, formed by three concentric circles and at the corners four sculptures that call on the Evangelists (Eagle, Angel, Lion and Calf) and is surrounded by a multitude of decorative elements.
It is worth mentioning the nine-aisle crypt, enhanced by a forest of twenty-eight columns, each one different from the others. Almost all are Roman or high-medieval reused buildings dating back to the 12th century.
At the end of the visit to the Church of San Pietro, we went back to the hotel in Viterbo to rest for a while, in view the necropolis of Castel d’Asso, but I will tell you about in this article Necropolis of Castel d’Asso, if you lost the first chapter of the story, I suggest that you check: Etruscan temple.
Article translated from Italian by Chiara Casagrande
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