Etruscans Now
Cities and settlement
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Simonetta Stopponi - University of Macerata
Recent Archaeological Investigations in Campo della Fiera at Orvieto
In 1876 in the area of Campo della Fiera at Orvieto, in Podere Giardino, there came to light walls and Etruscan architectural terracottas of Late Archaic date that are now in Berlin; in 1886, in another section of the same area, there was found a tract of a Roman road, flanked by remains of buildings, some of which belong to Roman tombs. For some time, modern historical-archaeological scholarship has supposed that Campo della Fiera should be the location of the Fanum Voltumnae, the federal sanctuary of the Etruscans mentioned several times by Livy. In 2000 the Etruscology section of the University of Macerata undertook archaeological investigations, directed by S. Stopponi and financed by the Monte dei Paschi di Siena Bank, in Campo della Fiera, Podere Giardino. Structures of various periods have been identified, distributed over a very large area (a retaining wall in polygonal masonry, a paved street, etc.), and many fragments of architectural terracottas have been recovered (among which are some similar to those in Berlin), datable from Late Archaic period to Hellenistic times. The presence of sacred buildings in the zone is suggested not only by the material found, but also by the discovery of a Medieval church that testifies to an uninterrupted continuity of cult.