Tarquinia

Introducing Tarquinia

Further north up the coast, Tarquinia is the most famous of Lazio’s Etruscan centres. It is well known for its beautiful painted tombs, but it also has the best Etruscan museum outside of Rome and an evocative medieval quarter. Legend suggests that the town was founded towards the end of the Bronze Age in the 12th century BC. Later home to the Tarquin kings of Rome before the creation of the Roman Republic, it reached its prime in the 4th century BC, before a century of struggle ended with surrender to Rome in 204 BC.

For information about the town and its sights, pop into the tourist information office (0766 84 92 82; info@tarquinia@apt.it; Piazza Cavour 1; 8am-2pm Mon-Sat), on your left as you walk through the town’s medieval gate (Barriera San Giusto).

Close by is the beautiful 15th-century Palazzo Vitelleschi, which houses the Museo Nazionale Tarquiniese (0766 85 60 36; Piazza Cavour; adult/child €4/2, incl necropolis €6.50/3.25; 8.30am-7.30pm Tue-Sun). Highlights of its collection are a beautiful terracotta frieze of winged horses (the Cavalli Alati); a room full of painted friezes from tombs; displays of sarcophagi, jewellery and amphorae; and some plates whose saucy illustrations would surely have put the Etruscans off their peas (they’re in Sala VI on the ground floor). Also on the ground floor, in Sala IX, the Sarcofogo con cerbiatto is a model of 4th-century BC workmanship, showing a half-naked reclining woman holding a plate from which a long-necked dog (the cerbiatto) is drinking. Unfortunately, staff shortages mean that the painted tombs room and the winged horses room are rarely open at the same time.

To see the famous painted tombs in situ, head for the necropolis (0766 85 63 08; adult/child €4/2, incl museum adult/child €6.50/3.25; 8.30am-6pm summer, last exit 7.30pm, 8.30am-12.30pm winter, last exit 2pm), just a 20-minute walk through the centre of town. Almost 6000 tombs, of which 60 are painted, have been excavated since the first digs in 1489. Now protected by Unesco, the tombs have suffered centuries of exposure and are maintained at constant temperatures, and are visible only through glass partitions. There are some beautiful hunting and fishing scenes in the Tomba della Caccia e della Pesca; scenes featuring dancers, she-lions and dolphins in the Tomba delle Leonesse; and a smutty Dionysian-influenced scene of a man whipping a woman in the Tomba della Fustigazione.

To get to the necropolis from the tourist office, walk up Corso Vittorio Emanuele and turn right at Piazza Nazionale into Via di Porta Tarquinia. Continue past the Chiesa di San Francesco and then down Via Ripagretta until you see the necropolis on your left. Alternatively, a shuttle bus leaves from outside the tourist office every 30 to 45 minutes from 9am to 10.50am and from 2pm to 4.40pm, returning to town five minutes after it arrives at the necropolis.

There are a number of decent lunch spots in town, including Il Cavatappi (07 668 42 303; Via dei Granari 19), which specialises in dishes made with local products, and the highly regarded but pricey Re Tarquinio (07 668 42 125; Alberata Dante Alighieri 10).

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009