The Maremma sits on Italy's west coast. It's very rural...the home of these long-horned cows, locales for many of the Clint Eastwood "Spaghetti Westerns" shot in the 1970's, and some of the richest archeological sites on the Italian peninsula.
Vulci, in the heart of the Maremma, was first settled by the Etruscans in the 9th Century BC...a century before the founding of Rome. Legend says the Etruscans were the descendants of Aeneas, who was driven out of Troy at the end of the Trojan War. They are famous for their trade in pottery and bronze work, relics of which have been found as far away as Denmark.
Vulci was huge by ancient standards, stretching several miles from north to south.
Vulci was a prosperous city because of its commerce. Vulci was only seven miles from the sea. The Etruscans could easily float down the River Fiore and trade their agricultural and metal goods with other ancient cities on the Mediterranean.
Remains of an urn like this one, with designs distinctive to Vulci, have been found as far away as the south coast of France.
The Etruscans did not build a lot of stone structures, so not many of their buildings have survived.
There are exceptions however...
Here, Carol stands at what was once the West Gate to the city.
Archeologists believe the West Gate once looked something like this.
At the opposite side of the city, close to the river, are the remains of what was once a furnace, used to manufacture the bronze goods for which Vulci was noted.
Then...early in the 3rd Century BC, after almost 600 years of habitation...the Etruscans abandoned Vulci.
Historians know why.
The Romans were in a period of aggressive expansion across the Italian Peninsula. As their army approached Vulci, the Etruscans fled.
The Romans moved in and built their city right on top of what had been the heart of Vulci, the forum.
Because the Romans build their city out of stone and concrete, much of what they erected survives in some form today.
Archeologists have named this the "Grand Temple," because of its size.
They believe the temple was dedicated to Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom and...appropriately...trade.
The richest ruin at the site had once been the home of a wealthy Roman family.
The excavation is being led by a team of archeologists from Duke University.
The detail on the stone carvings provide an indication of the family's prosperity.
The house was expansive...
...containing both public quarters where the owner would conduct business...
....and private quarters where the family lived. This is what remains of the hortus, or enclosed private garden with a shrine to the family's household gods.
The real surprises came underground.
Below the house there was an extensive network of rooms....
...for grain storage...
...a central heating system...
...a sophisticated system of catch basins to store water for domestic use....
...and constant reminders how much shorter than us the ancient Romans were.
The Romans were also expert road builders.
They built 140,000 miles of roads across their empire.
This one has lasted two thousand years and is still used today by the trucks that maintain the archeological park.
The artist's rendering of how the roads were built explains why they have been so durable.
Appearances are certainly deceiving.
We, the uninitiated, thought this structure was a bakery where the arched recesses served as ovens.
Instead, it turned out to be something very different.
The archeologists say this was the shrine for a small religious sect that worshipped the Persian goddess Mitra.
The statue of Mitra stabbing a lion, the object of worship, is one of the very few pieces of art that remain outside a museum.
After about 600 years, the Roman city of Vulci was also abandoned.
The Roman Empire was collapsing. The government pulled its troops back to defend the capital. Like the Etruscans before them, when faced with an advancing enemy and nobody to defend them, the Roman citizens of Vulci just left.
Even after the fall of the Roman Empire, the area around Vulci remained an important crossroads for trade. People needed a way to cross the River Fiore.
The Etruscans had built three bridges over the river. Two of them collapsed after centuries of use.
But the third bridge remained.
(The red stone you see holding up the arch in the bridge date from Etruscan times).
In the year 809, the bridge was updated and the Church built a customs house to collect tolls from those wanting to cross the river.
Over the years, the customs house expanded into a monastery and then a fort. It became known as the Castello della Badia.
In the 15th century, it was rebuilt in its present form.
A small community grew up around it.
In the 19th century, the newly unified Italian government required the Church to sell off its non-ecclesiastical holdings, and the residents of the Castello della Badia abandoned Vulci a third time.
Today, Vulci is a national archeological and nature park. It has Etruscan tombs and a museum...all of which were closed the day we visited.
Many of the most valuable pieces of Etruscan art were pillaged by amateur archeologists in the 1800's and now reside in places like the British Museum.
