Tuscania: the city and the territory

The town of Tuscania is located on seven tufa cliffs, a few miles from Lake Bolsena. Local myths says that his foundation is linked to Ascanio, son of Aeneas, or Tuscus, son of Hercules and Araxa.
In addition to some findings from the Paleolithic period, some Etruscan tombs (of Scalette and Pantacciano) are to date the construction of the city between the Copper Age and the Bronze Age, ie between the third and the first half of the second millennium BC.
The oldest cemeteries, particularly in the locality Scalette, are home to many kinds of tombs with the top arched slit and dating back  to the Orientalizing period, VIII - VII century BC. In later centuries the geographical location of the city favored the development and flourishing of Tuscania transforming it from all settlements in predominantly agricultural market town, to become one of the most important cities of Tarquinia and a center of the road network linking the coast and the hinterland.
There were no papers or documents of war about Roman domination: this suggests that the city was annexed in a peaceful manner, so as to prosper, with the flourishing of workshops for the production of decorated sarcophagi both in terracotta and nenfro (a variety of tuff). The construction of aqueducts and baths made it one of the most important centers in the area.
Tuscania came under the dominion of Charlemagne, was the patrimony of the Church, then became a fiefdom of the Aldobrandeschi and the Marquis of Tuscany. The decline of the city began in 1495, after the sacking of Tuscania by French troops of Charles VIII. Places to visit: the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore and the Church of San Pietro, both Romanesque Cathedral, the burial di Scalette, Ara del Tufo, Pian di Mola, Madonna dell’Olivo, the city walls, the Etruscan Museum.

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