City wall The impressive
cyclopean walls were built by the Etruscans between the 7th and 6th centuries BC. The perimeter of the city wall is over 3 km, with an average height of about 7 m. The walls consist of irregular, unworked blocks of travertine often measuring as much as
Roman amphitheatre On the top of the hill north of the city, the
amphitheatre dates from the 1st century AD and is the only one known among Etruscan coastal towns. The earth removed to create the arena was probably used as a base for the banks of seating. The walls of
opus reticulatum date from the early 1st century AD confirmed by the discovery of "sealed"
Arretine ceramic. Inside the arena along the major axis, four stones aligned with regularly spaced holes were discovered that were probably used to divide with stage scenery. During the early Middle Ages the building became a fortified enclosure using additional material from other Roman buildings, and in defence of Byzantine territories against the advance of the Lombards. This area remained occupied until at least the 16th century, as evidenced by the various fragments of archaic majolica.
House of the Mosaics '' The first traces of the house (
domus) date back to the late republican period. After extensive destruction in 90–80 BC, it was enlarged and restored, as well as enriched with three statues of
Tiberius,
Livia and
Drusus Minor. During the
Claudian era there was a partial destruction, perhaps due to a fire, followed by an immediate restoration. At the same time the house and its baths in the southern half became public rather than residential. In the late
Hadrianic or
Antonine era the structure was subjected to heavy restructuring with the raising and widening of the baths and its appendages: this phase witnessed the installation of mosaics in the baths and
tablinum. Other changes affected the position of the columns and fountain peristyle, while the small
laconicum was adorned with stucco decorations in high relief. The house underwent substantial transformation between the 4th to 7th centuries and in late antiquity a shop occupied the former living rooms. The workshop of a locksmith produced thick layers of ash, coal and waste disposed on almost all floors, blackened by metallurgical activity. Furthermore, the finds of bronze and metal objects have led to the hypothesis that in this workshop objects were not produced from scratch, but re-used antiques from Etruscan tombs and from public and private Roman buildings. Towards the end of the 4th century the workshop and what remained of the
domus were abandoned and in the course of the 6th century witnessed burials of infants above the level of collapse.
Headquarters of the Augustales On the southern part of the site, close to the mosaics of the
domus, are the archaeological remains of the ancient Roman headquarters of the
Augustales (an
Augusteum), which was built in the imperial period (1st century AD). This was transformed in the early Middle Ages into a Christian church dedicated to St. Sylvester from 765.
The Thermal Baths On the north slopes of the hill the thermal complex of the Roman period is characterised by walls of
opus reticulatum. The structure is divided into two sectors; the first area covers the northern section, almost rectangular the long sides facing east-west and centred on a bath while the second is characterised by a highly irregular plan in which there is a room with two niches accessed via a double staircase, a large room with an apse in the southwestern corner and another larger room, immediately to the east. A complex system of canals and tunnels with elaborate brick arches indicates the thermal use of the rooms. The characteristics of the
opus mixtum used for the structures (with the toothing of brickwork) suggests a date between the last quarter of the 1st century AD and the first quarter of the next.
House of the Impluvium The House of the Impluvium is an early 4th c. BC example of an Italic house with an atrium whose roof fed the
impluvium pool at its centre. ==Gallery==