Flora And Fora

As we approach Rome we've been really leaning into some Etruscan archaeology and history, the pre-roman inhabitants of Tuscany. 

Starting yesterday with a nice couple of hours in Siena was a relaxing way to break up our 4 hour drive from Florence to Rome. With plenty of renaissance buildings and beautiful Tuscan scenes it was a perfect way to start the day.

Our next stop roughly another hour down the road was in Roselle, one of the main 12 settlements in the Etruscan League. Fortunately for us, from the 6th century onwards the hill top colony of Roselle was largely empty of all but the last goat herders and pastoralists so the foundations of the buildings were in a remarkable state of preservation. Pictured here is the Domus, the house of the big cheese of Roselle. It was just past the forum (our first of the two days) and had this garden with mosaics, pillars, and possibly, depending on interpretation, the equivalent of a Roman infinity pool! 

Past the forum on the other side and slightly away into the merchants and craftsmen's houses is the main baths of the town used by the majority of the inhabitants, who would not have used the personal baths in the Domus. These baths had an excellent example of an actual swimming pool which, at this depth, was quite rare in the Roman world. These baths were converted in the post-roman era into a Church which was the seat of the Bishop of Roselle until it was moved to the nearby town of Grossetto in the 12th century thus inadvertently helping preserve the site for us today

After our next hour long drive down the coast we made it to the enormous bars, lagoons, and a spit which, while beautiful, was unfortunately also a popular destination for all manner of insects including thousands of mosquitoes.

We found a lovely beach park up which we stayed the night in, and which this morning was a beautiful spot to stop and read accompanied by loads of these lovely green little lizards!

Before making our final way down to Rome we decided to pop in at another Etruscan site, this time the hill top village of Cosa. This was in a much worse state of preservation and not nearly as well signposted but the material remains were significantly more impressive. Pictured here is the entrance to the forum complete with the enormous marble arches, a ruined one on its side on the left, the bases of a series of shops, and the trees which have since grown on this derelict site. 

Further up the hill looking out over the lagoon was this incredibly impressive remaining wall from the Arx, the roman temple to the gods Jupiter, Minerva, and Juno. A couple of things stood out to me about this. the first being its use after the Romans had abandoned the site in the early 5th century, while the western roman empire still existed, which was for grain storage and a small shepherds hut pictured in the bottom left. The second was the use of this site in the 6th century as an outpost by the Byzantine army as they tried to reconquer Italy.

Finally all Fora-ed out, we made our final journey down the coast to Rome but before we make the plunge into the eternal city we are going to make a stop at the main naval port in the empire for the first several centuries of its existence: Ostia!

Danni's favourite fact: In medieval Roselle, the paving slabs from the forum floor were used as grave stones outside the church (which was built on top of the old baths)

Rob's favourite fact: In the post-Roman era many of the cisterns that had been built in the cities to feed the various fountains and baths were used, now that they were drained and unused, as prisons!