The Monterozzi hill, about 6 km long and home to the main city necropolis, stretches parallel to the Tyrrhenian coast, between it and the Civita hill where the Etruscan city once stood.
The tombs cover almost the entire hill; more than six thousand are known, mostly chambers carved into the rock and topped by tumuli. It is these latter, now barely visible on the ground because they have been leveled by agricultural work (but just a century ago there were more than 600), that gave the hill its popular and expressive name.
The extraordinary series of painted tombs – about 200 are known – represents the most prestigious core of the necropolis, which remains, for this aspect, the most important in the Mediterranean, so much so that M. Pallottino defined it as ‘the first chapter in the history of Italian painting.’ The practice of decorating the tombs of aristocratic families with paintings is also documented in other centers in Etruria, but only in Tarquinia does this phenomenon assume such large dimensions and continuity over time: it is attested from the 7th to the 2nd century BC, that is, for almost the entire duration of the city’s life. In the necropolis sector currently open to the public, it is possible to admire some of the most famous painted hypogea, such as the Tombs of the Lionesses, of the Leopards, of the Hunting and Fishing, etc.; visiting the so-called Scataglini necropolis, a suggestive area entirely excavated, also allows the visitor to understand how the “city of the dead” originally must have appeared.
Information on Monterozzi Necropolis of Tarquinia
Via Ripagretta
01016 Tarquinia (Viterbo)
0766856308
https://www.etruriameridionale.beniculturali.it/index.php?it/155/necropoli-dei-monterozzi-di-tarquinia
Source: MIBACT
