# Vetulonia
> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Vetulonia
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Vetulonia.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vetulonia
> Source revision: 1352366631
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
{{for|the gastropod unassigned in the [Seguenzioidea](/source/Seguenzioidea) superfamily|Vetulonia (gastropod)}}
{{Infobox frazione
| name = Vetulonia
| native_name =
| image_skyline = PanoramaVetulonia.jpg
| image_caption = View of Vetulonia
| coordinates = {{coord|42|51|34|N|10|58|16|E|display=inline,title|type:city}}
| region = {{flag|Tuscany}}
| province = [Grosseto](/source/Province_of_Grosseto) (GR)
| comune = [Castiglione della Pescaia](/source/Castiglione_della_Pescaia)
| elevation_footnotes =
| elevation_m = 335
| area_footnotes =
| area_total_km2 =
| population_footnotes =
| population_total = 254
| population_as_of = 2011
| pop_density_footnotes =
| gentilic = Vetuloniesi
| saint =
| day =
| postal_code = 58043
| area_code = (+39) 0564
| website =
| footnotes =
}}
'''Vetulonia''', formerly called '''Vetulonium''' ([Etruscan](/source/Etruscan_language): ''Vatluna''), was an ancient [town](/source/town) of [Etruria](/source/Etruria), [Italy](/source/Italy), the site of which is probably occupied by the modern [village](/source/village) of Vetulonia, which up to 1887 bore the name of '''Colonnata''' and '''Colonna di Buriano''': the site is currently a ''frazione'' of the [comune](/source/comune) of [Castiglione della Pescaia](/source/Castiglione_della_Pescaia) ([province of Grosseto](/source/province_of_Grosseto)) with some 400 inhabitants.
It lies 300m above [sea level](/source/sea_level), about ten miles directly northwest of [Grosseto](/source/Grosseto), on the northeast side of the hills which project from the flat [Maremma](/source/Maremma) and form the [promontory](/source/promontory) of Castiglione.
==History and main sights==
[[File:MuraCiclopicheVetulonia.jpg|thumb|[Cyclopean wall](/source/Cyclopean_wall) of the ''Mura dell'Arce''.]]
Vetulonia has [Etruscan](/source/Etruscan_civilization) origins. It was, by 600 BC, part of the [Etruscan League](/source/Etruscan_civilization) of twelve cities.[[http://www.mysteriousetruscans.com/cities.html Mystery of the Etruscans]] [Dionysius of Halicarnassus](/source/Dionysius_of_Halicarnassus)[Dionysius, iii.52.] places the city within the [Latin](/source/Latin) alliance against [Rome](/source/Ancient_Rome) in the seventh century BC. According to [Silius Italicus](/source/Silius_Italicus) (''Punica'' VIII.485ff), the Romans adopted their [magisterial](/source/Magistrate) insignia, the [Lictors](/source/Lictors)' rods and [fasces](/source/fasces) and the [curule](/source/curule) 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 grave [stela](/source/stela) inscribed for Avele Feluske was discovered, on which the fasces were pictured. [Pliny the Elder](/source/Pliny_the_Elder) and [Ptolemy](/source/Ptolemy) also mention the town. The rich votive furnishing from the two extensive [necropoleis](/source/Necropolis) attest to the importance of Vetulonia's elite.
The ''Mura dell'Arce'' ([cyclopean walls](/source/Cyclopean_masonry)) 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 the [Roman Empire](/source/Roman_Empire), however, it shrank to a secondary center, with the northward spread of [malaria](/source/malaria). Little is known also about medieval Vetulonia: first fought over by the abbots of [San Bartolomeo di Sestinga](/source/Abbey_of_Sestinga) and the Lambardi family of Buriano, it was acquired by the commune of [Massa Marittima](/source/Massa_Marittima) in 1323. Nine years later it was handed over to [Siena](/source/Siena).
The site of the ancient city was not identified before 1881.[{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Vetulonium|volume=28|page=15|first=Thomas|last=Ashby|authorlink=Thomas Ashby (archaeologist)}}] The Etruscan city situated on the hill of Colonna di Buriano, where there are remains of [city wall](/source/city_wall)s of massive [limestone](/source/limestone), in almost horizontal courses, was accompanied by two [necropoleis](/source/Necropolis) partly excavated by [Isidoro Falchi](/source/Isidoro_Falchi) in 1885-86;[Falchi, in ''Notizie degli scavi'' December 1887.] the town was renamed Vetulonia by royal decree in 1887.
The objects discovered in its extensive seventh-century [necropolis](/source/necropolis), where over 1,000 tombs have been [excavated](/source/Excavation_(archaeology)), are now in the museums of Grosseto and [Florence](/source/Florence). The most important tombs, in this "richest and most interesting tomb group of northern Etruria",[[Larissa Bonfante Warren](/source/Larissa_Bonfante_Warren), reviewing Giovannangelo Camporeale, ''La Tomba del Duce, Vetulonia'' vol. I (Istituto di studi etruschi ed italici) Florence: Olschki 1967, in ''American Journal of Archaeology'' '''73'''.4 October 1969:484.] were covered by [tumuli](/source/tumuli), which still form a prominent feature in the landscape.[Notice on gate]
An archaeological museum, the Museo Isidoro Falchi, was opened in 2000.[[http://www.museoisidorofalchi.it Museo Isidoro Falchi]]
== See also ==
* [Buriano, Castiglione della Pescaia](/source/Buriano%2C_Castiglione_della_Pescaia)
* [Pian d'Alma](/source/Pian_d'Alma)
* [Pian di Rocca](/source/Pian_di_Rocca)
* [Punta Ala](/source/Punta_Ala)
* [Roccamare](/source/Roccamare)
* [Rocchette](/source/Rocchette)
* [Tirli](/source/Tirli)
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Further reading==
*Bell, Sinclair and Alexandra A. Carpino, eds. 2016. ''A Companion to the Etruscans.'' Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
*Haynes, Sybille. 2000. ''Etruscan civilization: A cultural history.'' Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum.
*Pallottino, Massimo. 1978. ''The Etruscans.'' Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
*Sprenger, Maia, and Gilda Bartoloni. 1983. ''The Etruscans: Their history, art and architecture.'' Translated by Robert E. Wolf. New York: Harry N. Abrams.
*[Turfa, Jean MacIntosh](/source/Turfa%2C_Jean_MacIntosh), ed. 2013. ''The Etruscan World.'' Routledge Worlds. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
==External links==
{{Library resources box |by=no |onlinebooks=yes |others=yes |about=yes |label=Vetulonia
|viaf= |lccn= |lcheading= |wikititle= }}
*[http://www.mysteriousetruscans.com/vetluna.html MysteriousEtruscans.com: Vetluna (Roman Vetulonia)]
*[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Toscana/Grosseto/Castiglione_della_Pescaia/Vetulonia/home.htm LacusCurtius website: Vetulonia]
*[http://www.dunia.it/vetulonia/ (Assiciazione pro Loc di Vetulonia)Vetulonia on-line]
*[https://archive.today/20121218211543/http://www.gol.grosseto.it/puam/comgr/stor/archeo2/vetulon.htm Dr. Maria Grazia Celuzza, "Vetulonia"] {{in lang|it}}
*{{cite web |url=http://pleiades.stoa.org/places/403291 |title=Places: 403291 (Vatl/Vetulonia) |author=Harris, W., R. Talbert, T. Elliott, S. Gillies |date=30 September 2020 |access-date=March 7, 2012|publisher=Pleiades}}
{{Villages of the Province of Grosseto}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Etruscan cities
Category:Frazioni of Castiglione della Pescaia
Category:Former populated places in Italy
Category:Archaeological sites in Tuscany
---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Vetulonia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vetulonia) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vetulonia?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.