Archaeology In The Rome Area
8 Days / 7Nights
Day 1: Rome
Arrival in Rome. Brief bus tour of the city with panoramic views from the
Gianicolo Hill and other heights. Dinner and Overnight
Day 2: Rome
We begin our tour with a visit to the National Etruscan Museum, the
world's foremost collection of Etruscan art and artifacts. Next we drive out
to Cerveteri, site of one of the most powerful of Etruscan city-states,
to the necropolis which furnished some of the objects in the Villa Giulia Museum.
During the afternoon we shall visit a totally different type of cemetery. Dinner
and overnight.
Day 3: Tarquinia
A full day in Tarquinia, another important Etruscan city a bit further
to the north of Cerveteri. These are unmatched in the ancient world for their
sheer number, their engaging color, and their vitality. Tarquinia's Etruscan
museum, which is housed in a Gothic-Renaissance palace, is truly a jewel. In
the museum's very fine collection, there is a truly unique piece, a sculpted
terracotta decorative plaque depicting a pair of winged horses. Dinner and overnight.
Day 4: Rome
Focal point of Roman daily life, the Forum was where people gathered
to shop, vote, revere their Gods, submit to justice, hear political speeches,
gather news, and, of course, gossip.
The Colosseum needs no special introduction, but a brief visit would
be meaningful, since it, too, played a central role in Roman life. On the way
to San Clemente, our next stop, we see below street level a miniature
amphitheater.
Dinner and overnight.
Day 5: Ostia
All-day visit to Ostia Antica, ancient Rome's port city abandoned in
the late Empire. A large part of Rome's supply of necessities, as well as luxuries
passed through Ostia. Behind the museum we can see the breakwater of the Roman
port that replaced Ostia, as Rome's imports grew beyond Ostia's ability to handle
them. Dinner and overnight.
Day 6: Rome
An all-day tour of the surviving elements of the aqueducts, ancient
Rome's ingenious system of urban water supply, including a walk inside the
water channel (conditions permitting). The aqueducts were one of the supreme
achievements of Roman engineering, and Roman writers eulogized them as being
greater than the Egyptian pyramids for their combination of beauty & functionality.
Dinner and overnight.
Day 7: Rome
Today we shall make a very brief visit to the ruins of a Roman postal way
station and a stretch of the ancient Via Cassia, one of the main roads
which linked ancient Rome to Florentia, Roman Florence. This will be followed
by a tour of a live archaeological excavation, consisting of the Via Amerina,
and its bridges and tombs.
We shall make a brief stop in the medieval section of Civita Castellana,
the ancient Faliscan city of Falerii (completely destroyed by the Romans in
241 B.C.) to see a very fine example of a medieval Italian church in the Romanesque
style. On our return, we shall stop at Sutri, an ancient Etruscan-Faliscan
town taken by the Romans in the 4th century B.C. Farewell dinner and Overnight.
Day 8: Rome - Departure
Departure for return flight home.
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