The Civita

10th century BC

Walking along the Civita, which you can see stretching towards the sea between two hilltops, means being in the heart of the history of one of the most famous Etruscan cities.

The Civita of Tarquinia consists of two plateaus joined by a narrow isthmus where systematic excavations have been carried out since the 19th century. In the first half of the 20th century, the archaeologist Pietro Romanelli highlighted the fact that the Civita is an Etruscan city, discovering the circuit of walls that joins the area ‘Pian della Regina’, with the imposing sanctuary of the ‘Ara della Regina’ (the ‘Alter of the Queen’ in English), to the western plateau, which contains the remains of buildings from the settlement.

Gravisca

from the 6th century BC to the 3rd century BC

On the coast, near Porto Clementino, there are the remains of the Etruscan emporium of Gravisca.
The remains of an important place of worship are visible, located on the edge of the Roman colony, established in 181 BC on the remains of a previous Etruscan settlement.
The sanctuary was used from the 6th century BC to the 3rd century BC and is composed of various buildings dedicated to Greek and Etruscan deities.

Porto Clementino

Revived in the Middle Ages as a landing place for illustrious men and valuable goods, it was restored several times, even by Pope Clement XII (1738, after whom it was named) and it also had a grain loader (1748). Connected to the navigability of the River Marta and the neighbouring saltworks, this landing place was abandoned (20th century), being superseded by that of Civitavecchia. Nearby are the towers of Corneto (in ruins) and that of plague victims (Torre degli Appestati)

The Ancient Ruins

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