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Vulci

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The city of Vulci is located about 12 kilometers from the sea in a vast plain in correspondence to both the east and south margins of the river Fiora.
The urban area is protected by steep natural embankments and by walls probably erected in the 4th century B.C., constituted of large tufa blocks with ashlars and reinforcements (in some places the thickness is equal to four meters). The decuman (street dating back to the 2nd century B.C.) was discovered from the road plan along with some of the buildings that faced it; on the east side you can see a small sacred building dedicated to Hercules with two life phases dating back to the 3rd century B.C. at the peak of the Imperial age. Along the south side of the decuman, at the intersection of a road that leads to acropolis, a nymphaeum and portico are found; on the other side you can see the foundation of a temple in use in late Roman archaic age, encircled in the middle.
A domus, dating back to the late republican age, fed by a private thermal spring was found next to the area.
Other structures from the Roman epic that deserve attention are two bridges that cross the River Fiora; the Badis bridge, triple arched with the central one measuring at 20 meters, dating back to the first half of the 1st century B.C., and the Rotto bridge, today destroyed, formed by five archways at 12 meters.
Surrounding the urban area, vast necropolises are unfolded in a distinct topographic manner: that to the south of Poggio Maremma is linked with that of Osteria, originally developed in the Villanoviana age with tombs and chambers.
The left bank of the Fiora river is rich with necropolises where, from the north towards the south, one can see the sepulchres of Cavalipo Sporco, Cavalupo, Ponte Rotto and Polledrara.
The necropolises of Ponte Rotto conserve a series of subterranean monuments from late Classic and Hellenistic periods, with the most noted being the tomb of Francois, belonging to the Saties family, discovered at the end of the last century. The inside was decorated with paintings, now found at the Torlonia museum, with characters inspired by historical Greek mythology.
Vulci was above all a center of workmanship and production of bronze products; precious examples of weapons and vases already popular in the late Villanoviana phase, but the technique reached its peak in the 6th century B.C. with refined objects in Ionic-Etruscan style, like candelabras and little statues on characteristic tripods.
The role of Vulci as a receiving and clearing center of luxurious goods, not only in the nearby Etruscan towns but also towards the south and central city of Etruria and towards the farther away trans-Apennine markets, is to be emphasised.