Tarquinia is an Italian town of 16 269 inhabitants in the
province of Viterbo in Lazio. Tarquinia (in Tarquinia "Tarquigna")
is located at 133 m above sea level on a hill overlooking the lower
course of the Marta river from the left, near the Via Aurelia, in
the Lazio Maremma not far from Tuscany.
The Arrone torrent,
which marks the border with the territory of Montalto di Castro, and
the Mignone river also flow through the municipal area.
The ancient Etruscan and Roman center stood on the hill called "La
Civita", behind the "Monterozzi hill" where today's town stands and
where the ancient necropolis (Monterozzi necropolis) is located.
Since 31 March 2011, Tarquinia has been the first UNESCO world heritage
city to have a QR Code signage, which allows you to obtain information
on the attractions and services indicated directly on your mobile
device.
Tarquinia Cathedral;
Church of Santa Maria in Castello
(1121-1207), in which Lombard and Cosmatesque influences can be seen;
Santissima Annunziata, where Arab and Byzantine influences can be seen;
Church of San Giuseppe (Statue of the Risen Christ);
Church of San
Leonardo;
Chiesa del Suffragio, an example of a baroque building;
Church of San Pancrazio (deconsecrated), where Gothic forms are grafted
onto Romanesque ones;
Church of San Francesco;
Church of San
Giovanni;
Church of San Martino, probably the oldest in the city;
Church of San Giacomo;
Church of the Savior (adjacent to the previous
one).
Church of Santa Maria di Valverde, the exact period of
construction is unknown even if we are inclined to date the building
back to the 12th century also thanks to an unknown Servite chronicler
who reports that a bell in the church bore the following inscription:
"Anno Domini 1211. Lotteringio, son of Bartolomeo Pisano, made me, at
the time of the brothers Leonardo, Angelo and Simeone".
The first
historical information on the church of Santa Maria di Valverde dates
back to 1268, when some religious of the Order of the Brothers of Mary
in Valle Viridis settled in the convent, annexed to the church. They had
their main convent in Flanders, near Brussels, in a valley called
Valverde. The complex was elevated to a Diocesan Sanctuary on 8 December
1984 by the then Bishop Girolamo Grillo, it houses the icon of the
Patron Saint of Tarquinia, Santa Maria di Valverde (year 1189 coming
from the Holy Land, third Crusade). Today the custody of the church is
entrusted to the members of the "Devoti SS Madonna di Valverde"
association. On May 8th of each year the icon is carried on the
shoulders by porters belonging to the association, through the streets
of the Etruscan city in a solemn procession.
Medieval walls; the current city retains, especially in the northern
districts, a strong medieval character, accentuated by the numerous
towers, walls and several churches.
The remains of the Palazzo dei
Priori and some towers make up the most characteristic medieval scenery
of the city.
The Vitelleschi palace, begun in 1436 and completed in
elegant Renaissance forms around 1480-1490, is home to the Tarquinian
National Museum.
War Memorial
Etruscan city
The oldest evidence of inhabitation on the hill of
"La Civita" dates back to a large proto-urban center from the Villanovan
period (9th-8th century BC) which, thanks to topographic research, was
able to be calculated at around 150 hectares in size; the remains of the
town are not numerous, of which the imposing remains of a temple, today
called Ara della Regina (44 × 25 m), dating back to around the 4th - 3rd
century BC, are visible in particular; the building, with a single cell
and colonnade, was built in tuff with wooden superstructures and clay
decorations. The route of the city wall is identifiable, adapted to the
heights for a distance of approximately 8 km (4th - 5th century BC).
Necropolis
An element of exceptional archaeological interest is
constituted by the vast necropolises, in particular the Monterozzi
necropolis, which contain a large number of tumulus tombs with rooms dug
into the rock, in which an extraordinary series of paintings is
preserved, which represent the most conspicuous nucleus pictorial of
Etruscan art that has come down to us and at the same time the most
extensive document of all ancient painting before the Roman imperial
age. The funerary chambers, modeled on the interiors of the houses, have
walls decorated in fresco on a light layer of plaster, with scenes of a
magical-religious nature depicting funeral banquets, dancers, aulós
players, juggling, landscapes, in which a movement is imprinted animated
and harmonious, portrayed with intense and lively colours. After the 5th
century BC figures of demons and divinities accompany the farewell
episodes, in the accentuation of the monstrous and the pathetic.
Salina di Tarquinia nature reserve; in the area there are the ancient "Saline", today a natural reserve for the animal population of the Saline di Tarquinia.
Tarquinia is located at 133 m above sea level on a hill overlooking
the lower course of the Marta river from the left, near the Via Aurelia,
in the Lazio Maremma not far from Tuscany.
The Arrone torrent,
which marks the border with the territory of Montalto di Castro, and the
Mignone river also flow through the municipal territory.
Climate classification: zone D, 1658 GR/G
The city of Tarquinia (Tarquinii in Latin and Tarch(u)na in Etruscan,
deriving from the name of the mythical Tarconte) was one of the oldest
and most important settlements of the Etruscan dodecapolis. In
relationship with Rome since very ancient times, it gave this city the
dynasty of Etruscan kings (Tarquinius Priscus, Servius Tullius and
Tarquinius the Superbus) who played a role of primary importance in the
history of the Latin city (end of the 7th and 6th centuries BC. ).
The ancient myths linked to Tarquinia (those of its eponymous
founder Tarconte - son or brother of Tirreno - and of the infant oracle
Tagete, who gave the Etruscans Etruscan discipline), indicate the
antiquity and cultural importance of the city. According to
archaeological findings, Tarquinia eclipsed its neighbors well before
the advent of written documents. It is said to have already been a
thriving city when Demaratus of Corinth brought Greek workers.
The emergence of Tarquinia as a trading power as early as the 8th
century BC it was influenced by the control of the mineral resources
located in the Tolfa mountains, south of the city and halfway from the
Caeretan port of Pyrgi.
In 509 BC, after the overthrow of the
Roman monarchy, the family of Tarquinius Superbus went into exile in
Caere. He tried to regain the throne first with the Tarquinian
conspiracy and, when this failed, with force of arms. He convinced the
cities of Tarquinia and Veii to support him and led their armies against
Rome in the Battle of Selva Arsia. Despite the victory of the Roman
army, Livy reports that the forces of Tarquinia fought well on the right
wing, initially repelling the Roman left wing. After the battle the
forces of Tarquinia returned to their homeland.
At the end of the
5th century and in the first half of the 4th century BC. a brief rebirth
occurred, both in the political and artistic spheres, probably under the
ascendancy of the Spurinna family, whose members contributed to the
renewed expansion of Tarquinia and the repopulation and growth of the
inland cities. The Spurinna tomb, known as the Tomba dell'Orco, is
decorated with frescoes of a banquet bringing together family members,
identified by inscriptions. The Spurinna family was important in
Tarquinia until the 1st century. Two fragmented slabs, known as the
Elogia Tarquiniensis, pay homage to Velthur Spurinnas and Aulus
Spurinnas, and offer a rare glimpse of Etruscan history, including the
mention of a king Orgolnium of Caere, reminiscent of the family name
Urgulanilla, who counted among the its members the wife of Emperor
Claudius, Plautia Urgalanilla.
In this period Tarquinia surpassed
Caere and other Etruscan cities in terms of power and influence.
Colossal walls were built around the city in this period in response to
threats from the Celts and Rome. Tarquinia, unaffected by the Celtic
invasions, definitively colonized all its previously held territories in
385 BC. about. This new flourishing state allowed a rapid resumption of
all activities. Large funerary monuments decorated with paintings, with
sarcophagi and stone funerary sculptures, reflect the eminent social
position of the new aristocratic classes, but several inscriptions on
walls and sarcophagi show the gradual process of an increasingly
democratic transition.
Tarquinia entered into war with Rome
several times and was finally subdued by Rome after the battle of
Sentino, in 295 BC. Since then Tarquinia was part of the Roman
territories in the Royal VII Etruria. The maritime colony of Gravisca
developed on its coast, which until the foundation of Centumcellae (now
Civitavecchia) by the emperor Trajan in the 2nd century AD, represented
the main port of southern Etruria, abandoned following the raids of the
Saracen corsairs in the early medieval period.
In the 5th century it passed under the Ostrogothic kingdom of
Theodoric. In the first half of the 6th century it found itself involved
in the Gothic war and in the second half of the century it became part
of the Lombard duchy of Tuscia. In the second half of the 8th century it
was first acquired by the Carolingian dominions and then donated to the
pontiff as part of the newly established Church State.
The
initial gradual depopulation of the Etruscan-Roman town probably began
as early as the 6th century, which became more pronounced in the Middle
Ages, and was then completed in the late Middle Ages, when the ancient
city had been reduced to little more than a fortified castle. The causes
can be found in the devastation carried out by the Germanic invaders
first and then in the incursions of the Muslims, who in addition to
decimating the population caused a progressive economic decline in the
territory.
Starting from the 8th century, on a hill adjacent to
the ancient city, but with a view of the sea, the presence of a fortress
called Corgnetum or Cornietum is attested. Between the end of the 10th
and the beginning of the 11th century, documents mention a Corgitus
(from 1004) or Torre di Corgnitu (from 939). From this small first
nucleus, the medieval center of Corneto developed in the 11th and 12th
centuries.
In 1144 Corneto became a free Italian municipality by
stipulating commercial pacts with Genoa (in 1177) and with Pisa (in
1177). In the 13th century it validly resisted the siege of Emperor
Frederick II. In this period the Corno area was one of the major
producers and exporters of wheat in Italy. Furthermore, following the
destruction of Centumcellae by the Barbary corsairs, starting from the
9th century the ancient port, abandoned centuries earlier, regained life
and importance and became a port of call between the Umbria hinterland
and the Mediterranean.
The clash in the 13th and 14th centuries
between Corneto and larger cities, such as Viterbo and Rome, which
intended to impose their dominion by taking advantage of the weakness of
the papal power, especially during the Avignon captivity, can be seen in
this context. Corneto also opposed the aims of the Church, but the city
was finally reduced to obedience by Cardinal Egidio Albornoz (1355) and
from that moment, even if with brief interruptions, it remained
permanently in the Papal State, sharing its events.
In 1435 Pope Eugene IV elevated Corneto to the rank of civitas and
bishopric, as a reward for the merits of Cardinal Vitelleschi, a native
of Corneto, in re-establishing papal dominion over the State of the
Church. In 1854 the diocese of Corneto was united equally principaliter
to the diocese of Civitavecchia. In 1986 the dioceses were fully united
in the diocese of Civitavecchia-Tarquinia.
From documents found
in the Historical Archives of the Municipality of Tarquinia there is
news of the presence of Albanesi starting from 1458, when Pope Pius II,
on 17 September, wrote to the "beloved son, nobleman Count of
Pitigliano" Aldobrandino II that a "certain man Albanian man set fire to
a large quantity of wheat in the Corno area in the recent summer and
then found refuge, with his escape, in your castle where he still is."
In 1484 many Albanian families went to live in Corneto, mostly
soldiers (stradioti) who were gradually joined by other Albanian
families to escape Ottoman oppression.
On 5 October 1592,
Flaminio Delfino, colonel of the papal army, arrived in Corneto to
re-establish the society of the lancer soldiers of the Albanian captain
Elia Caputio. Also on the same date, 5 October 1592, a written order was
sent to Colonel Delfino, relating to the deployment of the papal troops
in the Papal States. Among these deployments appears the Company of
Albanians of Captain Michele Papada (Papadà) who was ordered to go and
serve in the territory of Ancona, in the navies and, when necessary,
also in that of Jesi, for seven scudi a month.
In a letter dated
19 November 1592 sent by the community of Corneto to Teophilo Scauri,
Prosecutor of Rome, we can see the arrival of a company of Albanian
soldiers on horseback led by Captain Elia Caputio who, since they had
arrived, had begun to miss of respect, so that the community asked for a
measure to have them removed, otherwise considerable disorder could
arise. Furthermore, the Albanians wanted the community to provide them
with 40 rubbi of barley, which was not possible because there was no
barley to be found in Corneto. They were not satisfied with the hay that
the community gave them, so much so that they stole it from the
warehouses, not leaving out anything else they found there.
The
Albanians of Corneto were incorporated into the social fabric. From the
urban cadastre of 1798 there is a cluster of houses in the San Martino
district as the "Zinghereria district", previously known as the Terziere
del Poggio, which is still recognized with the name of "Zinghereria".
Following the construction of the new port of Civitavecchia, heir to
the ancient Centumcellae, with fortifications designed by architects of
the caliber of Michelangelo Buonarroti and Antonio da Sangallo, in the
15th century Corneto once again and definitively lost its function as
the port of upper Lazio, the which led to a progressive economic and
demographic decline of the territory, increasingly affected by malaria
due to the coastal marshes.
In the period before the Second World
War it became home to the parachuting school. It was also affected by a
massive land reclamation program by the fascist regime, followed by the
agrarian reform of 1950: the two measures contributed to the revival of
the agricultural sector and to a connected ephemeral industrial
development, attracting huge internal immigration, especially from the
Marche.
Since the 1960s, with the construction of Lido di
Tarquinia and Marina Velca along the coast, a fair amount of seaside
tourism has also developed.
The Tarquinian dialect, or "Cornetano", developed in an area located
north of Rome, and therefore open to both Roman and Tuscan influences:
although it can be included in the dialects of the Viterbo Tuscia, it
differs from it due to other characteristics , so its classification is
problematic, and therefore it would be preferable to consider it a
"transitional" dialect. In any case, it has the greatest affinities with
the speech of Montalto di Castro and other neighboring places in the
southern Maremma. To this it must be added that, immediately after the
battle of Castelfidardo in 1860, in the Tarquinian countryside there
occurred a massive influx of families from the Marche, mainly coming
from the province of Macerata, who settled in Maremma to reclaim the
plains: given the scarcity of contacts with the Tarquinian population of
the urban centre, maintained their traditions and their Median type of
speech until about half a century ago, characterized by the masculine
definite article lu and the suffixes in -u from the original Latin words
in -us/-um, as well as by the systematic passage of the initial "b" into
"v" (vocca for "mouth"). The main characteristics of the Cornetano
dialect are the following:
• the passage of the final "-i",
masculine and feminine, into "-e", a typical characteristic of many
areas ranging from the central Marche hinterland (Arcevia in the
province of Ancona), to Umbria (Assisi, ancient Perugian dialect, Todi
and Orvieto), until reaching the southern towns of Viterbo and Grosseto,
and whose final effects were felt in the ancient dialect of
Civitavecchia. Therefore you will have for example le bacche for "the
mustache", le parte for "the parts", l'omine morti for "the dead men",
etc.;
• the oscillation of the singular masculine definite
article, which can be rendered, depending on the case, in er, as in
Roman dialect, el or l, as in northern Viterbo and southern Tuscany:
this marked variability constitutes a clear demonstration of the
character of transition of the Tarquinian area; it should be noted that
the terms starting with the letter "z" are preceded by el or l, rather
than by "lo" as in Italian or by "o" as in Rome, so we will have for
example l sugar, l knapsack, etc., and from this it follows that even
the indeterminatives preceding "z" or impure "s" are rendered as a or n,
e.g. a hoof or no hoof;
• there are also numerous peculiarities
in the rendering of words, which are obviously being lost in current
speech: e.g. "the cave-the caves" becomes the cave-le grotti, "the
hand-the hands" becomes the hand-the hand, etc.;
• commonly in
other dialects of central Italy, Umbria and Tuscany, the possessive
adjectives "mio, tuo, suo" become mi', tu', su, in every word, and not
only for kinship names as in Roman dialect: for example . l tu 'dog, le
su' dog, for "your dog", "his dogs"; the same articles, rendered in the
plural, when they follow the noun, become mine, yours, his, e.g. think
about your business while I think about mine;
• the personal
pronouns "lui" and "lei" become lù and lè respectively, as in many other
parts of central Italy, especially Umbria; in turn, "we" and "you"
become noe vo;
• apocope occurs, i.e. the dropping of the final
syllable, in words such as "father, mother, uncle", which say pa', ma',
zi', e.g. l mi' pa, la su' ma, l zi' 'Ntogno ("uncle Antonio"): this
phenomenon can be found especially in Tuscany;
• as in the Roman
dialect, the transition from LD to LL occurs in the single word callo-a
for "hot-a", unlike what happens in the middle and southern Italian
dialects, where the phenomenon occurs in a systematic manner;
•
articulated prepositions are rendered detached from the articles, e.g.
de le case for "of the houses", a la scola for "to the school": this
phenomenon is also very common in the Umbrian, Marche and Abruzzo
dialects;
• as in Rome and in the rest of Lazio (and not only),
the systematic doubling of "b", "z" and g" occurs (e.g. tabbella,
azzione, report card, etc.);
• it is possible to find some
sporadic divergences in the opening and closing of the vowels compared
to the Italian of Rome: e.g. nòme, as opposed to the Roman (and standard
Italian) nóme, or vice versa after, as in Tuscan and standard Italian,
as opposed to the Roman after, and again the suffixes in "-esimo/a" are
made open as in Tuscan, Umbrian and Marche (as well as in standard
Italian), unlike Roman, which pronounces them closed, e.g. fifteenth and
not fifteenth;
• in the vernacular it is possible to find, as in
the rest of northern Lazio, the Tuscan form "via" used at the end of a
sentence, e.g. "let's do this, go!", while in Rome "go" is commonly
used; again, they are in use as in Tuscany in diminutives with the
suffix in "-ino/a": e.g. cosina, in place of the Roman (and also
Italian) cosetta;
• finally, regarding verbs, they are regal•
finally, regarding verbs, particular forms should be noted, found here
and there also in the Roman dialect and in other vernaculars, such as
the first person of the present conditional coincides with the third
(e.g. I would have, lù would have); always in the present conditional
the first and second person plural take on a promiscuous form between
the conditional itself and the imperfect subjunctive, e.g. no' had for
"we would have", or avressive for "you would have", where you can see
that the vo' is joined to the verb, a bit like what happens in French;
furthermore, the deformations also involve the past tenses, where,
instead of the first plural of this verbal form, the first plural of the
imperfect subjunctive is used, e.g. "we had" becomes no' we had: this is
a usage also present in Tuscany in the 16th and 17th centuries; then
forms such as cantono and cantavono are used; in the past participle,
"creduto" becomes creso, "sceso" becomes scento, and from "spandere" we
have spaso, this last form also in use in Umbria, Marche and Abruzzo;
finally, the imperative of the verb "essere", "be", becomes esse or, as
in Rome, esse, e.g. esse/-i bono for "be good".