Umbria travel:
Towns of Etruscan origin

Archeology Itinerary: Towns of Etruscan origin

Settlements and Population

Bettona - Vettona:

The present-day town of Bettona stands on the same site that it has occupied since ancient times, on the slopes of the Monti Martani, in a location near the confluence of the rivers Chiascio and Topino. After the social war it became part of the Clustumina tribe, inclusion in which was considered to be a “punitive” mark, indicating the town’s hostile attitude towards Rome. The finds discovered outside the town walls, which date back to the 4th century B.C., confirm Vettona’s clear inclination towards the Etruscan cultural sphere, so much so it was considered, with its “twin” Arna<, to be a proper bastion of the Perugian territories towards the areas on the right of the Tiber controlled by the Umbrian populations. Although the town is about 5 km from the route of the Via Amerina, ancient road itineraries indicate it as a stopping place (statio) along the aforementioned road on the stretch between Todi and Perugia.

In the town:
- Boundary wall
- Hypogeum in Colle

Environs:
- Torgiano: Wine Museum
- Deruta: Ceramics Museum

Orvieto - Volsinii Veteres

Identified as Valsinii Veteres, which the sources say was destroyed by the Romans in 264 B.C. after a long series of wars that began in the 4th century, the town looks out from the top of a volcanic tuff cliff over a fertile plain irrigated by the rivers Chiani and Paglia. In connection with this, it is worth pointing out the presence near Pagliano of structures pertaining to a river port. Volsinii was one of the most powerful towns in the Italic world, and its territory included the Fanum Voltumnae, in other words the great federal sanctuary of the Etruscan populations where the heads of the city-states (lucumonie) would assemble together.

Perugia - Perusia

The ancient writers (Servius) knew that the town of Perugia was originally founded by the Sarsinati, a population that belonged to the stock of the Umbrians. However, the same Servius, together with other historians (Appianus for example), also mentions the legend of the foundation of Perugia by Aulestes, son of Ocnus, founder in his turn of Felsina, present-day Bologna. The settlement, which was established in a favorable position on a rise overlooking the flourishing Tiber plain, has thrown up sporadic archaeological testimonies relative to the most ancient periods. There is far more information available, on the other hand, as far as the Etruscan-Roman phase is concerned.

With the extension of Roman citizenship to all Italics after the social war of 90-89 B.C., like many other urban centers in the Peninsula, Perugia too became a municipium and was integrated by full right into the Roman state, renewing its image according to the model of Rome.

It was on this occasion, and even more so after the city was set fire to during the Bellum Perusinum of 41-40 B.C. (Appianus, De bello civili V 129; 133) and the granting of the title of Augusta Perusia attested to by the epigraphs on the arch of Augustus and on the Porta Marzia, that the town witnessed a great flourishing of building activity, both at public and private level.

It is important to point out that in the Christian period too, continuing the expansion outside the Etruscan walls in which the city had played a leading role ever since the Roman phase, both the Rotunda of Sant’Angelo to the north, and the churches of San Pietro and San Costanzo in the southern area, chose locations along the important thoroughfares of ancient origin.

In the town:
- National Archaeological Museum of Umbria
- Boundary wall and gates
- Etruscan well
- Roman mosaic
- Rotunda of Sant'Angelo
- San Pietro
- Sperandio necropolis
- San Manno hypogeum
- Archaeological area in Piazza Cavallotti