Tarquinia discovery guide

Tarquinia holds the largest body of painted tombs surviving from the ancient world. Over six thousand tombs have been catalogued on the Monterozzi plateau, and about four hundred of them are painted — which is where most of what anyone knows about how Etruscans looked, ate and buried their dead actually comes from. The necropolis has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2004.

The friction is that only a rotating handful of tombs is open at any time, they are underground and humidity-controlled, and the ancient city itself is on a different plateau from the modern town — visitors regularly expect ruins under their feet and find none.

So plan it as two stops, not one: the necropolis on the Monterozzi, then the national museum in town, where the painted walls that had to be lifted for conservation now hang. Go in spring or autumn — the plateau is exposed, and summer here is hard work.

April to early June is the best window: the Maremma is green, the necropolis plateau is comfortable, and the coast has not yet filled.

Summer is hot and exposed on the Monterozzi, where there is almost no shade and the tombs are entered by open stairways. The coast at the Lido is busy, and the archaeological visit is best done early in the morning.

September and October are the other strong season, with the light at its best over the Maremma and the summer crowd gone from the coast.

Winter is mild and wet rather than cold — the comune is in climate zone D, with 1,658 degree-days — and very quiet.

Any time of year, check which tombs are open: access is rotated for conservation, since the paintings are humidity-sensitive.

Go down into the painted tombs

Around four hundred painted hypogea survive on the Monterozzi, out of more than six thousand tombs catalogued there.

Look for the Ionian hand

The painting was renewed around 530 BC by painters arriving from an Asia Minor conquered by the Persians — a refugee movement visible on tomb walls.

See the Tomba dell'Orco

Associated with the Spurinna family, and frescoed with a banquet whose participants are named in inscriptions.

Visit the national museum in town

Where detached paintings and grave goods are shown, and the accessible way to see this material.

Walk the Civita

The plateau north-east of town where the ancient city actually stood, with the sanctuary of the Ara della Regina.

Go down to Gravisca

The city's coastal emporium, where eastern Greek merchants left dedications to Aphrodite, Hera and Apollo.

Tarquinia is a small provincial town carrying a reputation that belongs to a civilisation which ended before Rome became an empire.

The town is matter-of-fact about it. Fifteen thousand people live here, farming the Maremma and working the coast, and the Etruscan material is the town's livelihood rather than its daily subject.

The name itself shows how constructed the modern identity is: this was Corneto until 1872, and only became Tarquinia in 1922. The medieval town took the ancient city's name, having spent centuries beside it under a different one.

The archaeological community is a real presence — excavation here has been continuous and is still producing — and the relationship between town and site is closer than in places where archaeology arrives from outside.

There is also a strong coastal half to the comune, around the Lido, which functions as an ordinary Italian seaside resort and has very little to do with the tombs.

And the subject matter leaves a mark. A town whose principal monument is four hundred painted graves has a different relationship with its own dead than most.

The paintings are the most fragile thing in Lazio. Around four hundred painted hypogea survive, and they are humidity-sensitive: that is why only a rotating selection is open, why the chambers are glazed, and why numbers inside are limited. Do not ask for exceptions, do not touch the glass, and follow whatever the photography rule is on the day.

Six thousand tombs lie under open ground. The Monterozzi plateau looks like rough grassland. It is a cemetery with a catalogue. Stay on the marked paths, and treat the ground as the monument it is.

The museum is not the consolation prize. Paintings that could not safely be left in place were detached and are shown in town — seeing them there is part of the proper visit, and it is also the accessible option for anyone who cannot manage the tomb stairs.

Buy nothing that looks ancient. This region has a long history of tomb robbing, and the market for Etruscan material is the reason a great deal of context was destroyed. Reputable sellers do not offer antiquities to passing visitors.

Spend in the hill town. Much summer money goes to the Lido on the coast; the medieval town is where a cultural visit can actually leave something.

The coast is a working landscape. The Maremma was marsh before it was farmland, and its remaining wetlands are the most sensitive ground in the comune.

What each level of spending buys in Tarquinia

Tarquinia is good value for what it holds. It is a working Maremma town rather than a resort, and its two essential visits — the necropolis and the national museum — are ordinary museum prices rather than headline-attraction ones.

Two EU rules govern what you are actually charged. You must be clearly informed of the total price, including all taxes and additional charges. And traders in the EU are not allowed to charge extra for paying by credit or debit card — the exceptions are American Express and Diners Club cards and corporate cards, where any fee may not exceed what processing actually costs the trader.

The tiers above describe what each level of spending buys here, not quoted rates. No published rate card covers a comune this size, and prices move sharply with the season.