#Villanovan culture

[blueiscoool]

A VILLANOVAN BRONZE CHEEK-PIECE

CIRCA 8TH CENTURY B.C.

4 5/8 in. (11.8 cm.) long.

[whencyclopedia]

Populonia

Populonia (Etruscan name: Pupluna or Fufluna), located on the western coast of Italy, was an important Etruscan town which flourished between the 7th and 2nd century BCE. Rich in metal deposits and so noted for its production of pig iron, it has become known as the 'Pittsburgh of antiquity;' the town was a successful trading port, able to mint its own coinage. 7th and 5th century BCE tombs survive at the site, including large tumuli and square stone aediculae set in rows.

Early Settlement

The earliest archaeological evidence of settlement are the cemeteries belonging to the Villanovan culture (1000-750 BCE), a precursor of the Etruscans. The settlement of Populonia benefitted from its location on the coast where it could act as a trading centre between incoming goods shipped by sea from the wider Mediterranean and export the minerals mined from the interior of Etruria. There were also long-standing trade relations with Sardinia. With its own port in the only Etrurian natural harbour (the Gulf of Baratti), Populonia was the only Etruscan town to be constructed directly on the coast. The Etruscan name for the town - Fufluna - is derived from the Etruscan god of wine Fufluns, and this may indicate viticulture was an early source of wealth. More certain is that Populonia became prosperous based on its production of bronze, using copper and tin deposits found in the nearby hills.

Even more important than all its other resources put together, Populonia was particularly noted as a smelting centre for iron coming from Elba. The island had exhausted its supply of wood needed for charcoal used in the smelting process and so was forced to send iron ore across to the mainland for treatment. It is interesting to note that archaeology has shown that the Populonians did not make the same mistake of mass deforestation. Analysis of charcoal remains at the town show that it typically came from trees which were 20 years old, suggesting there was some forest management and trees were cut on a rotation basis. Iron would bring great wealth to Populonia's ruling class, and as historian J. Heurgon points out, it would make the city as famous in antiquity as Pittsburgh was in the 20th century CE for its steel.

Continue reading...

[memories-of-ancients]

Bronze crested helmet, Villanovan culture (Italy), 9th century BC

from The Metropolitan Museum of Art

[furlantravelfashionblogger]

Sorano è un’antica città fiorita nell’epoca etrusca. Per la sua conformazione, arroccata su una rupe e scavata nel tufo (come la vicina Pitigliano), Sorano è nota anche come la Matera della Toscana: titolo conquistato grazie ai suoi villaggi rupestri e le suggestive vie delle cave frequentate fin dal periodo etrusco.

Visitarla è come fare un viaggio nel tempo: un tipico e affascinante borgo con le casette tutte addossate e vicoli pittoreschi dove si respira un’atmosfera unica.

Grazie a ciò, è stato insignito anche del premio di Bandiera Arancione da parte del Touring Club.

Si suppone che Sorano fosse inizialmente abitata dal popolo villanoviano, la prima civiltà conosciuta dell'Era del Ferro seguita, poi, dagli Etruschi; appartenne in seguito alla famiglia Aldobrandeschi che la fece crescere come borgo difensivo, fortificandola con i bastioni e imponendosi come uno dei feudi più potenti della Toscana meridionale per più di quattro secoli.

Più che unico nel suo genere è il Parco archeologico della Città del Tufo, dove si ritrovano i maggiori tesori storici, archeologici e culturali di Sovana, Sorano e Vitozza.🇮🇹❤👏👋

Sorano is an ancient city that flourished in Etruscan times. Due to its conformation, perched on a cliff and dug into the tuff (like the nearby Pitigliano), Sorano is also known as the Matera of Tuscany: a title conquered thanks to its rock villages and the suggestive streets of the quarries frequented since Etruscan times period.

Visiting it is like taking a journey through time: a typical and suggestive village with houses all leaning against each other and picturesque alleys where you can breathe a unique atmosphere.

Thanks to this, it was also awarded the Touring Club's Orange Flag.

It is assumed that Sorano was initially inhabited by the Villanovans, the first known civilization of the Iron Age followed by the Etruscans; later it belonged to the Aldobrandeschi who made it grow as a defensive village, fortifying it with ramparts and establishing itself as one of the most powerful fiefdoms in southern Tuscany for more than four centuries.

More than one of a kind, it is the Archaeological Park of the Città del Tufo, where the major historical, archaeological and cultural treasures of Sovana, Sorano and Vitozza are located.🇮🇹❤👏👋

Grazie: Complimenti a📷@instagram.com/blogsognoitaliano 💚🤍❤️

[scarlettmoram]

Was the idea of death important for antique Italy cultures?

Many cultures stablished in the Mediterranean area are well known for their culture methods, ancient constructions, their myths, deities and also by the way they used to bury the dead.

At the start they used to bury in special biconical urns the cremated body of the deceased underground, this is one of the reason why these cultures were known in the antiquity as an unique traits of them, which lead them to be known as the urnfield culture (Etruscans and Villanovans). For this metal urns with the shape of the first houses of the roman cultures, it can be said were the ones Romulus and Remo lived in, and give us an idea of it.

As the time passed on, cemeteries, later on necropolis, were stablished near the cities with special orders and distribution according to the social status of the person who died. This places were considered impure and filled with malephisies, so that’s the reason why those were placed at special locations, for example: The Sepulcrum near the today’s known as “The Roman Forum” at the Tiber river.

Some tombs tend to have more detail than others, more ornaments too, because in their beliefs at the afterlife people would be able to enjoy the artefacts and gold left for them. This can be seen in the artefacts left on Etruscan tombs named tumulus, which had cameras for the deceased with bucchero black pottery as this would be used as a banquet at the afterlife.

Also as they admired Greek culture’s art and myths, they used to decorate the tumulus’s interiors with paint made with metals of Greek gods and mythological creatures with importance and relation to death. As these creatures would bring company to the soul in their path to the afterlife. Giving as an example the hippocampus. 

As we can observe from Etruscan tombs, the death of an Etruscan involved a ceremony for the person as they adored life and with it they understood death as part of it, as the end of life in the world but the beginning of something more. Having mentioned this, they could be interpreted as fatalistic people with adoration for dead, they made these celebrations and “gave” gifts to the dead with the purpose of making afterlife less complicated of painful.

In conclusion, antique cultures such as Etruscans and Villanovans were cultures whose point of view about life was that it was full of enjoyment and energy, and once this was taken from people - in other words- they died, death was as a contrary of life, a painful path to afterlife… But not because of that it was wrong, it was just part of life, something impossible to omit. As a result, those beliefs are settled in the way they used to bury their people, big necropolis with order and art as part of it which reflected their people’s idea of what dead is alike and how the rituals they used to make were related to their cosmology. By being that said, death was important but also feared, just as it is in modern days.

[interestingasfuckreddit]

The back of a wooden throne from the early Iron Age (725-701 BCE), found in a tomb in Verucchio. Villanovan culture (c. 900–700 BCE), now housed at the Civic Archaeological Museum of Verucchio in Italy https://t.me/InterestingasfuckBackup/58597 #interestingasfuck #rinterestingasfuck #interestingasfuckreddit #interestingasfucksubreddit #r_interestingasfuck

[thatshowthingstarted]

Villanovan Bronze Disk, Circa 7th century BC,

A heavy cast, thick plate of bronze covered with a beautiful green and blue patina.

The Villanovan period is regarded as the earliest phase of Etruscan civilisation. Archaeological evidence and ancient literature alike show that the Etruscans had a dynamic artistic production. 

They were true masters of bronze and their vibrant metalwork was highly prized and exported throughout the ancient world. Progressively assimilated into Roman culture from the fourth century BC, the Etruscans gave Ancient Rome its most famous legendary king, Tarquin the Proud, whose tyrannical reign led to the foundation of the Roman Republic.

Diameter: 9 inches (22.9 cm)

Height: 12 3/4 inches (32.4 cm) on stand

Courtesy: Ariadne

[georgebucket]

"Iron-Age Swords From The Villanovan Culture, 9th-7th Century Bc"

[subjects-of-the-king]

Romans versus “Barbarians”: A Military Comparison, Part One

An original essay of Lucas Del Rio

Note: I continue in this essay with the Roman theme that explores the origins of the Middle Ages. This time, I compare and contrast Roman tactics and weaponry with some of those that they deemed barbarians and fought wars against. The word “barbarian” is sometimes used, which is only because that is who they were from the Roman standpoint. Keeping this in context, it is not meant as a judgement from my own standpoint. This essay, which will be in four parts, covers relevant wars in an order chronological with Roman history. Part one examines the transition in the Roman army from the Greek phalanx to the early legions in the wars they fought in Italy with the Etruscans, Latins, Samnites, and the Greek colonies. Next week, part two shall deal with the Roman wars with the Carthaginians, Macedonians, Iberians, and Seleucids. After that, part three will cover their wars against the Armenians, Gauls, Britons, and Parthians. Finally, the wars discussed in part four will be those opposing the Germans, Dacians, Sarmatians, and Vandals.

           Few empires can rival that of the Romans, but this is not to say that they had no worthy adversaries. It took centuries of wars of aggression against many different cultures for them to create such a massive and powerful realm. Later, their clout would diminish after centuries of defensive wars. The Romans, therefore, were strong enough to conquer what would then become their vast territories, plus continue to hold on to them for an impressive amount of time. Meanwhile, their opponents held off Roman expansion, and while many of them were ultimately subjugated, there were also cultures that were never defeated by the might of Rome. Many years in the future, foreign invaders proved that Romans were not the only successful conquerors around. Like the Greeks, the Romans considered other societies to be uncivilized and referred to them as “barbarians.” Romans had their own specialized ways of fighting that they refined over the centuries, hence their many military successes. Each culture that they battled also fought in manners that they had invented in earlier wars before fighting the Romans. Every war, consequently, was not just between the Roman and “barbarian” armies themselves but also their methods of combat.

           As the city of Rome is located in what is now Italy, the first Romans naturally fought their first wars and made their first conquests on the Italian peninsula. Prior to being united by the Romans, Italy was made up of many independent city-states with as many as ten different cultures. In central Italy, where Rome is located, this culture was the Etruscans. The Etruscans are believed to have existed in Italy for a very long time before Rome was even founded. DNA evidence shows that the region was first settled around 6000 BC, when Europe was still in the Stone Age. While the Etruscans were not the first Italians, their ancestors may have migrated from the Steppes. These ancestors, known as the Villanovan culture, were forming by 1100 BC as the Iron Age was beginning. Initially living only in small villages scattered across central Italy, they began to build large cities as they organized into Etruscan society over the course of several centuries. Such cities prospered as they formed trade routes across the Mediterranean Sea with the Carthaginians, Greeks, and others.

           There were several stories in antiquity as to how the city of Rome was founded, although the Romans maintained that the year was 753 BC. According to the Romans, their society began as a kingdom, with a series of four kings reigning from 753 to 616 BC. Under the last of these kings, Ancus Marcius, Rome began its military expansion. Following his death, however, the Tarquin dynasty, which was ethnically Etruscan, took over leadership of the city. Various characteristics of Roman civilization did in fact originate with the Etruscans. Perhaps most importantly, the Romans adopted many aspects of Etruscan architecture. Also significant was the Etruscan alphabet, which the Etruscans had adopted from the Greeks and the Greeks from the Phoenicians. Roman religion, often assumed to have only had Greek influence, had roots with the Etruscans as well. Comparatively trivial yet still culturally iconic, it was the Etruscans who wore the first togas. Three different Etruscan kings would rule Rome, but despite the impact that they would have on the Romans, it was the Etruscans who would be their first major adversary.

           When the Etruscans ruled the city of Rome, different Etruscan kings controlled at least twenty others. Alliances between these city-states were constantly shifting, as they periodically warred with one another. It might seem peculiar today, but Etruscan warriors were largely aristocrats who personally bought the items such as armor, shields, and weapons that they would need in order to fight. However, peasants were still levied for purposes other than combat. Kings of the city-states also would employ mercenaries that came from places such as Carthage and Greece. In addition to having these Greek mercenaries in their armies, the primary military formation used by Etruscan armies was the Greek phalanx. Possibly originating among the ancient Middle Eastern culture known as the Sumerians and also spreading to the Egyptians, the phalanx became a staple of warfare in Greece and neighboring Macedon. Even more so than Etruria, Greece was composed of a myriad of city-states that sporadically fought wars. The Greek phalanx was eight rows of warrior infantry known as hoplites, who were armored and carried a pike, a round shield, and a sword. A wall of pikes and shields was difficult for enemies to attack without taking heavy losses, and once the battle had become a conventional melee fight, the hoplites used their swords.

Armies in Etruria evolved as the centuries passed. The Etruscans had always preferred to fight as infantry, but the chariots they had sometimes previously employed were replaced by cavalry. Like the Romans, chariots had become strictly for ceremonial purposes. More significant was the change in the prevalence of hoplite phalanxes. After having been customary on Etruscan battlefields since as far back as the 700s BC, the 400s BC saw the formation decline in the region. For a time, the Etruscans tried to counter phalanxes, which did have the genuine problem of inflexibility, by sending waves of warriors brandishing axes into the weaker ends of the formation. While the Etruscans and their styles of fighting changed, there were also major changes occurring in one of their cities. Lucius Tarquinius Superbus was the final Etruscan king to rule the city of Rome, and supposedly he was also the most domineering over its citizens. According to Roman folklore, this king was ousted by his oppressed subjects. Historians today have generally concluded, however, that Tarquinius Superbus was deposed by invaders who then lost control of Rome.

Whatever the reason for the change, the Kingdom of Rome was transformed by the Roman Republic in 509 BC. The government began as an aristocracy despite its Republican name, for government positions were reserved for nobles called patricians. After 494 BC, a revolt of the commoners, known in Roman society as plebeians, established a system of voting rights for all free men. They may have achieved a degree of freedom, theoretically at least, although now the city wished to fight in order to expand their own domain. Part of the reason for this was because Rome, many years before becoming a major power, needed a buffer zone against Gallic and other raiders. During the wars that Rome fought against the Etruscans, the Roman army was still in its infancy. Like their Etruscan rivals, the Romans relied much more on infantry than on cavalry. Furthermore, these infantry largely fought as phalanxes, and soldiers in Roman phalanxes carried a spear known as the hasta. As Rome fought the Etruscans, they proved victorious, razing Veii, an Etruscan powerhouse, in 396 BC. It would still be many years before Rome took full control of Etruria, but the fortunes of the Etruscans would gradually decline as the Romans assumed more and more power.

Despite being the first, the Etruscans were only one of several cultures in Italy that the Romans had to vanquish in order to unite the peninsula. The weakening of Etruscan civilization resulted in a deteriorating economic situation for neighboring Latium as well, in fact, as for Rome. Power in central Italy fell into confusion for several decades, but the Romans eventually proved resurgent. Rome began to fight and conquer surrounding tribes, so the Latin League, in an attempt to eliminate the threat that the city posed, declared war in 340 BC. Like the Etruscans, the Latins could not withstand the strength of their Roman foes. By 338 BC, Rome was victorious. In less than a century after the establishment of the Roman Republic, the Romans had become quite the force to be reckoned with. Further south in Italy, a series of three wars with the Samnites also ended in 290 BC with a triumphant Rome.

During these wars, the Roman army continued to innovate. While the exact dates of the military reorganization are unclear, historians believe that the Romans abandoned the phalanx sometime in the 300s BC in favor of one of the mightiest military formations of the ancient world. This formation was the legion. Some scholars in classical antiquity claimed that the Roman army was always organized into legions since the days of the kings, but this notion is not supported by historical evidence. If Livy, one of the most renowned historians from Ancient Rome, is to be believed, then the Roman Republic began using legions in 362 BC. Much more complex than a phalanx, the legion was a highly sophisticated arrangement of different forms of both infantry and cavalry. Soldiers that fought in legions were known as legionnaires. Part of the organization in early legions had to do with experience, as the youngest legionnaires fought at the front of the legion. In early legions, soldiers were armed only with a shield and a spear, plus two of a type of javelin called a pilum.

Roman culture is widely known to have been greatly influenced by its Greek counterpart, but this did not mean that the Romans regarded the Greeks as friends. Long before the Romans invaded Greece itself, they were already having to fight the Greeks. For centuries, the city-states of Greece had been establishing colonies across the Mediterranean, including in Italy. One such colony, which historians believe to have been Spartan, was Tarentum. There are conflicting accounts from antiquity as to exactly how Rome and Tarentum went to war, but it appears, at least according to Roman historians, to have originated in a dispute over Roman trade vessels seized by the Tarentines. Knowing the strength of their foe, the Tarentines found support in other Greeks who had settled in Italy as well as Pyrrhus, the king of the Greek region of Epirus. Pyrrhus, who was related to Alexander the Great, amassed an army full of veteran mercenaries and in 280 BC faced off against the Romans at the Battle of Heraclea. In this battle, the Roman army was able to take advantage of flexibility of the still relatively new legion, which was now starting to prove its superiority over phalanxes. The older formation seemed slow and cumbersome, not to mention vulnerable to flank attacks, compared to the deadly mobility of legions.

Another strength possessed by the Roman army at the Battle of Heraclea was sheer size. The Greek forces led by Pyrrhus numbered twenty-six thousand compared to forty thousand soldiers of Rome. Despite the advantages that the Romans had in both numbers and military sophistication, it was the Greek general who managed to achieve a victory. He managed to bring twenty war elephants to Italy for the purpose of battling the Romans, who panicked at the sight of animals that they had never fought. However, the number of soldiers and their officers that Pyrrhus lost in the battle, possibly fifteen percent of his army, was devastating. Furthermore, his ability to replenish his forces was miniscule compared to that of the Romans, whose republic by this point controlled most of the Italian peninsula. Pyrrhus foolishly expected a Roman surrender, but he did not receive one. In the battles that followed, the Romans refined techniques of using fire to frighten his elephants. By 275 BC, the Roman Republic had won the war, and Pyrrhus managed to flee Italy. Rome may have now united the peninsula that was their homeland, although their ambition had by now grown to want to expand much further.

[vmattina1116]

This piece was called “Black Impasto Cinerary Urn and Lid” was made exclusively for funerary use by the Villanovan culture of central Italy in the 9th century BC. I found this piece to be interesting because it used to be filled with the ashes and bones of the deceased and then buried in a pit grave.

[blueiscoool]

A VILLANOVAN BRONZE VOTIVE HAND

CIRCA 7TH CENTURY B.C.

8 1/4 in. (21 cm.) high.

Votive offerings gained increasing popularity throughout Etruria, southern Latium and later northern Campania from the 7th Century onwards. Most gods were thought to possess the power to heal, and the sick flocked to their sanctuaries for a cure or to pray for future health. Predominantly these dedications depicted the parts of the human anatomy that needed healing. In particular in the area of Vulci many graves have been discovered containing pairs of hands cut from a sheet of bronze, rolled up at the base to form the wrist.

[gwendolynlerman]

Discovering the world

Italy 🇮🇹

Basic facts

Official name: Repubblica Italiana (Italian Republic)

Capital city: Rome

Population: 58.8 million (2023)

Demonym: Italian

Type of government: unitary parliamentary republic

Head of state: Sergio Mattarella (President)

Head of government: Giorgia Meloni (Prime Minister)

Gross domestic product (purchasing power parity): $3.34 trillion (2024)

Gini coefficient of wealth inequality: 32.5% (medium) (2020)

Human Development Index: 0.906 (very high) (2022)

Currency: euro (EUR)

Fun fact: It is home to the oldest university in the world.

Etymology

There are two theories about the country’s name. One suggests that it derives from an Ancient Greek term for the land of the Italoi tribe. The other one proposes that it comes from the name of local ruler Italus.

Geography

Italy is located in Southern Europe and borders Switzerland and Austria to the north, Slovenia to the northeast, the Mediterranean Sea to the east, south, and west, France to the northwest, and the enclaves of San Marino and Vatican City.

There are five main climates: tundra and warm-summer humid continental in the north, subtropical highland in the north and center, humid subtropical in the north and east, and hot-summer Mediterranean in the south and west. Temperatures range from 0 °C (32 °F) in winter to 30 °C (86 °F) in summer. The average annual temperature is 16.1 °C (60.9 °F).

The country is divided into twenty regions (regioni), which are further divided into 107 provinces (province). The largest cities in Italy are Rome, Milan, Naples, Turin, and Palermo.

History

2800-1800 BCE: Bell Beaker culture

1800-238 BCE: Nuragic culture

1650-1150 BCE: Apennine culture; Terramare culture

1300-750 BCE: Urnfield culture

1200-901 BCE: Proto-Villanovan culture

900-27 BCE: Etruscan civilization

753-509 BCE: Roman Kingdom

509-27 BCE: Roman Republic

264-146 BCE: Punic Wars

27 BCE-395 CE: Roman Empire

568-774 CE: Kingdom of the Lombards

577-1053: Principality of Benevento

395-1071: Byzantine Empire

697-1797: Republic of Venice

756-1870: Papal States

831-1091: Emirate of Sicily

839-1140: Duchy of Gaeta

851-1077: Principality of Salerno

855-1801: Kingdom of Italy

933-1003: Kingdom of Burgundy

958-1137: Duchy of Amalfi

967-1574: Margravate of Montferrat

967-1797: Marquisate of Finale

1000-1406: Republic of Pisa

1000-1532: Republic of Ancona

1003-1416: County of Savoy

1043-1130: County of Apulia and Calabria

1071-1130: County of Sicily

1088-1465: Principality of Taranto

1099-1797: Republic of Genoa

1115-1569: Republic of Florence

1125-1555: Republic of Siena

1130-1816: Kingdom of Sicily

1160-1805: Republic of Lucca

1164-1715: Crown of Aragon

1192-1797: Republic of Noli

1225-1336: Republic of Massa

1293-1323: Free Municipality of Sassari

1282-1806: Kingdom of Naples

1297-1861: Kingdom of Sardinia

1310-1711: Duchy of Mirandola

1355-1797: Marquisate of Fosdinovo

1371-1728: County of Novellara and Bagnolo

1395-1796: Duchy of Milan

1398-1805: Principality of Piombino

1406-1621: County of Guastalla

1416-1792, 1814-1847: Duchy of Savoy

1447-1450: Golden Ambrosian Republic

1452-1796, 1814-1859: Duchy of Modena and Reggio

1471-1597: Duchy of Ferrara

1473-1836: Duchy of Massa and Principality of Carrara

1532-1569: Duchy of Florence

1545-1802, 1814-1859: Duchy of Parma and Piacenza

1569-1801, 1814-1860: Grand Duchy of Tuscany

1574-1708: Duchy of Montferrat

1621-1748: Duchy of Guastalla

1647-1648: Neapolitan Republic

1796-1797: Cispadane Republic; Transpadane Republic

1797: Republic of Crema

1797-1802: Cisalpine Republic

1797-1805: Ligurian Republic

1798-1799: Roman Republic

1801-1807: Kingdom of Etruria

1802-1805: Italian Republic

1805-1814: Kingdom of Italy; Principality of Lucca and Piombino

1815-1847: Duchy of Lucca

1815-1848: Duchy of Genoa

1815-1866: Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia

1816-1861: Kingdom of the Two Sicilies

1848-1849: Republic of San Marco; First Italian War of Independence

1859: Second Italian War of Independence

1859-1860: United Provinces of Central Italy

1861-1946: Kingdom of Italy

1866: Third Italian War of Independence

1882-1960: Italian Empire

1895-1896: First Italo-Ethiopian War

1911-1912: Italo-Turkish War

1935-1937: Second Italo-Ethiopian War

1943-1945: Italian Social Republic; Italian Civil War

1946-present: Italian Republic

1968-1988: Years of Lead

Economy

Italy mainly imports from Germany, China, and France and exports to Germany, the United States, and France. Its top exports are wine, cheese, and pasta.

It has gas, marble, and pumice reserves. Services represent 73.9% of the GDP, followed by industry (23.9%) and agriculture (2.1%).

Italy is a member of the Council of Europe, the European Union, the G7, the G20, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the Union for the Mediterranean.

Demographics

91% of the population is ethnic Italian. The main religion is Christianity, practiced by 84% of the population, 73.9% of which is Catholic.

It has a positive net migration rate and a fertility rate of 1.2 children per woman. 71% of the population lives in urban areas. Life expectancy is 82 years and the median age is 46.5 years. The literacy rate is 99.2%.

Languages

The official language of the country is Italian. Albanian, Catalan, Croatian, Franco-Provençal, French, Friulian, German, Greek, Ladin, Occitan, Sardinian, and Slovene are recognized as historical minority languages.

Culture

Italy is known for its art, classical music, cuisine, and fashion. Italians are extroverted and warm and gesticulate a lot.

Men traditionally wear a white shirt, a vest, a jacket, white pants (ragas), and a hat. Women wear a white puff-sleeved blouse, a corset, an embroidered skirt, and a veil.

Architecture

Traditional houses in Italy have stone walls, tiled roofs, and balconies.

Cuisine

The Italian diet is based on fish, meat, pasta, and vegetables. Typical dishes include minestrone (a soup with beans, pasta, and vegetables), ossobuco (veal shanks braised with broth and vegetables), panna cotta (a pudding-like dessert made of cream, gelatin, and sugar), parmigiana di melanzane (layered eggplant with cheese and tomato sauce), and spaghetti alla puttanesca (spaghetti with anchovies, capers, olives, and tomatoes).

Holidays and festivals

Like other Christian countries, Italy celebrates Epiphany, Easter Sunday, Easter Monday, Assumption Day, All Saints’ Day, Immaculate Conception, Christmas Day, and Saint Stephen’s Day. It also commemorates New Year’s Day and Labor Day.

Specific Italian holidays include Liberation Day on April 25 and Republic Day on June 2.

Republic Day

Other celebrations include Carnival, the Madonna Bruna Festival, which features a procession and fireworks, and the Palio, a horse race.

Palio

Landmarks

There are 59 UNESCO World Heritage Sites: 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with the Park, the Aqueduct of Vanvitelli, and the San Leucio Complex, Amalfi Coast, Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe, Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalú and Monreale, Archeological Area and the Patriarchal Basilica of Aquileia, Archeological Area of Agrigento, Archeological Areas of Pompei, Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata, Assisi, the Basilica of San Francesco and Other Franciscan Sites, Botanical Garden, Padua, Castel del Monte, Cathedral, Torre Civica and Piazza Grande, Modena, Church and Dominican Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie with “The Last Supper” by Leonardo da Vinci, Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park with the Archeological Sites of Paestum and Velia, and the Certosa di Padula, City of Verona, City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto, Crespi d’Adda, Early Christian Monuments of Ravenna, Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tarquinia, Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Apennines, Ferrara, City of the Renaissance, and its Po Delta, Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the system of the Palazzi dei Rolli, Historic Centre of Florence, Historic Centre of Naples, Historic Centre of Rome, the Properties of the Holy See in that City Enjoying Extraterritorial Rights and San Paolo Fuori le Mura, Historic Centre of San Gimignano, Historic Centre of Siena, Historic Centre of the City of Pienza, Historic Centre of Urbino, Isole Eolie, Ivrea, industrial city of the 20th century, Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto, Longobards in Italy. Places of the Power, Mantua and Sabbioneta, Medici Villas and Gardens in Tuscany, Monte San Giorgio, Mount Etna, Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles, Piazza del Duomo, Pisa, Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands (Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto), Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps, Residences of the Royal House of Savoy, Rhaetian Railway in the Albula/Bernina Landscapes, Rock Drawings in Valcamonica, Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy, Su Nuraxi di Barumini, Syracuse and the Rocky Necropolis of Pantalica, The Dolomites, The Great Spa Towns of Europe, The Porticoes of Bologna, The Prosecco Hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene, The Trulli of Alberobello, The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches of Matera, Val d’Orcia, Venice and its Lagoon, Venetian Works of Defence between the 16th and 17th Centuries: Stato da Terra – Western Stato da Mar, Villa Adriana, Tivoli, Villa d’Este, Tivoli, Villa Romana del Casale, Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont: Langhe-Roero and Monferrato.

Villa Adriana

Other landmarks include the Cattolica di Stilo, the Citadel of Alessandria, Lake Maggiore, the Marmore Falls, and the Mole Antonelliana.

Lake Maggiore

Famous people

Andrea Bocelli - singer

Elena Ferrante - writer

Elodie - singer

Ennio Morricone - composer

Giada De Laurentiis - chef

Gianluigi Buffon - soccer player

Gianni Versace - fashion designer

Monica Bellucci - actress

Sara Errani - tennis player

Valentino Rossi - motorcycle racer

Elodie

You can find out more about life in Italy in this post and this video.

[nebris]

The Etruscan civilization (/ɪˈtrʌskən/) of ancient Italy covered a territory, at its greatest extent, of roughly what is now Tuscany, western Umbria, and northern Lazio,[1][2] as well as parts of what are now the Po Valley, Emilia-Romagna, south-eastern Lombardy, southern Veneto, and small parts of Campania.[3]

The earliest evidence of a culture that is identifiably Etruscan dates from about 900 BC.[4] This is the period of the Iron Age Villanovan culture, considered to be the earliest phase of Etruscan civilization,[5][6][7][8][9] which itself developed from the previous late Bronze Age Proto-Villanovan culture in the same region.[10] Etruscan civilization endured until it was assimilated into Roman society. Assimilation began in the late 4th century BC as a result of the Roman–Etruscan Wars;[11] it accelerated with the grant of Roman citizenship in 90 BC, and became complete in 27 BC, when the Etruscans' territory was incorporated into the newly established Roman Empire.[4]

Etruscan culture was influenced by Ancient Greek culture, beginning around 750 BC, during the last phase of the Villanovan period, when the Greeks, who were at this time in their Archaic Orientalizing period, started founding colonies in southern Italy. Greek influence also occurred in the 4th and 5th centuries BC during Greece's Classical period.

The territorial extent of Etruscan civilization reached its maximum around 750 BC, during the foundational period of the Roman Kingdom. Its culture flourished in three confederacies of cities: that of Etruria (Tuscany, Latium and Umbria), that of the Po Valley with the eastern Alps, and that of Campania.[12][13] The league in northern Italy is mentioned in Livy.[14][15][16] The reduction in Etruscan territory was gradual, but after 500 BC, the political balance of power on the Italian peninsula shifted away from the Etruscans in favor of the rising Roman Republic.[17]

The earliest known examples of Etruscan writing are inscriptions found in southern Etruria that date to around 700 BC.[11][18] The Etruscans developed a system of writing which uses symbols borrowed from Euboean Greek script, but the Etruscan language remains only partly understood, making modern understanding of their society and culture heavily dependent on much later and generally disapproving Roman and Greek sources. In the Etruscan political system, authority resided in its individual small cities, and probably in its prominent individual families. At the height of Etruscan power, elite Etruscan families grew very rich through trade with the Celtic world to the north and the Greeks to the south, and they filled their large family tombs with imported luxuries. Judging from archaeological remains, Archaic Greece had a huge influence on their art and architecture, and Greek mythology was evidently very familiar to them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etruscan_civilization

[lovebrookota-blog]

Etruscan

Etruscan civilization took place during the Villanovan period between c. 1000 and 100 B.C. The land occupied is modern Tuscany, on the west-central part of the Italian peninsula.  They established commercial trade routes through the Aegean, the Near East and North Africa. The Etruscan’s language origin is unknown, but they adapted the Greek alphabet as part of their own. There is not much literature left for anyone to study because most of it has disappeared. What is left are names and inscriptions written on graves. Much of what we know about the Etruscans is from the art from the tombs. Even their buildings did not withstand the environment because the materials they used were mud, tufa and wood.

Reading this chapter, it is apparent that the Etruscans adopted much of the Greeks art and construction. There are still some differences as well that can be seen in their temples, sculptures and other items. Architecture of late temples are different then the Greek because they used wattle-and-daub. This was the reinforcement of the temple by using branches with clay and mud. Podiums consisted of stone and the roofs were tiled. They also used the Greek wooden roof and pronaos. This placed emphasis on the front of the temple. Although there were some ideas used from the Greeks, the temples were built heavier and a more massive quality.

Sculptures and pottery were also adapted from the Greeks. The Wounded Chimera and the Capitoline Wolf are examples of the use of Bronze in their sculptures. The Greeks used bronze as well and both used the lost-wax method. I personally find the Capitoline Wolf interesting. The twin boys are nursing from the wolf. It seems odd to first see it, but it makes sense that the wolf is thought of as a guardian. Not only was bronze used in sculptures, but it was also used to make mirrors. The back of the mirrors were artistic scenes and made us aware that Etruscan women were literate. The Volterra is a bronze mirror with a mythical story on the back that recounts Zeus deceiving Hera into nursing. Many women in this era’s art show women dominating men by being more powerful, older, or hold a higher status. I find it remarkable that women held higher positions in this period. That was a major difference from the Greeks. Women participated in public with their husbands, and paid attention to fashion.

The Apollo of Veii is a great example of similarities and differences between the Etruscans and the Greeks. The hair in locks, smile, curvier features and the fanning of the calf muscles are of the Greek Archaic work. The difference we see is that there is more clarity and a forcefulness characterization that sets them apart from the Greeks.

This chapter discusses many differences and similarities with the Greeks but then it talks about similarities with the Egyptians. I found the most interesting part of this chapter is that the dead were cremated. Like the Egyptians, the dead were placed in tombs, or vessels. Obviously, the Etruscans placed the ashes in them instead of a body. Sometimes the vessels had markings that indicated if the remains were a female or male. I found it creepy that the lids of these urns were sometimes made to resemble a human head. Some urns were created to look like houses or even couches with the couple sitting on them. To me, the couple look happy, despite having ashes inside. Like other cultures, paintings were also found in underground tombs. Bright colors can be seen in some of these paintings. An example of this is the Mourners at the Door of the Other World.

It’s unfortunate that we were unable to research the Entruscans further because so much was destroyed. They seemed literate and wise. Women of this time also held more power then the era’s we have seen in the past.

[yourantiquarian]

Iron Age biconical cinerary urn

ITEM Biconical cinerary urn MATERIAL Pottery CULTURE Iron Age, Villanovan PERIOD 7th Century B.C DIMENSIONS 210 mm x 140 mm CONDITION Good condition, restored, see pictures PROVENANCE Ex Dutch private collection, acquired between 1960 - 1990 Read the full article

[theancientwayoflife]

~ Villanovan Fibula. Culture: Villanovan Place of origin: Italy Date: late 8th century B.C. Medium: Bronze and amber