Approximately 45 minutes north of Rome, just outside the town of Cervéteri, you'll find an impressive complex of Etruscan burial tumulli.
The Etruscans constructed a city of the dead here that has been so well preserved, that you will see complete streets and houses, some formed as strange round pillboxes carved from the living rock, others still covered in earth to create the tumuli effect that ripple over the landscape.
The graves date from the seventh to first century BC. It is said that women were buried in separate smaller chambers within the "house" while the men were laid on death beds (occasionally in sarcophagi) hewn directly from the stone. Slaves were cremated and their ashes placed in urns alongside their masters - civilized by comparison with the Romans, who simply threw their slaves into mass burial pits.
Don't miss: the Tomba Bella (Tomb of the Bas-Reliefs), Tomba dei Letti Funebri (Tomb of the Funeral Beds) and the Tomba dei Capitelli.
Open: Tues-Sun: May-Sept 9am-7pm; Oct-April 9am-4pm
Cervéteri
Colle della Banditaccia
Two km outside of town
Cervéteri (RM)
Lazio
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