The Etruscans
6 Days / 5 Nights
Day 1: Rome
Arrival in Rome. Brief bus tour of the city with panoramic view from
the Gianicolo Hill and other heights. Dinner and Overnight.
Day 2: Rome - Cerveteri
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: S. Giovenale - Acquarossa - Viterbo
Today visit to San Giovenale and Acquarossa, two of only a handful
Etruscan town-sites so far excavated in central Italy. From Acquarossa we stop
at Viterbo, a gracious provincial capital north of Rome with one of the
most picturesque medieval quarters in central Italy. But first a visit to the
unique exhibit on Etruscan houses, the only one of its kind in the world. Dinner
and overnight.
Day 5: Orvieto
Visit to Orvieto, a gracious medieval town with a past reaching back
to Etruscan times. It was the Etruscan Velzna, called Volsinii by the Romans,
before they destroyed it in the 3rd century B.C. Farewell dinner and Overnight.
Day 6
Departure for return flight home.
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