I have only visited one of the two components to this site, Tarquinia, and I picked it only because it was closer to a train station than Cerveteri. There was a train every two hours out from Rome to Tarquinia, on the line up to Pisa, and the railway gave a great view over the Mediterranean as it passed close to the shoreline. From Tarquinia, there was a little shuttle bus up the hill into the town or, if you have time, the walk was only about 3 km or so into the town centre although it was quite steep and the countryside was not that interesting to walk through. Tarquinia itself is a nice quiet little town although lacking in pedestrian infrastructure, but where in Italy isn’t? The necropolis lies a little out of town to the east and you pass beneath the grand medieval walls to get there with a view back down the hill to the Mediterranean.

Entry into the site is still cash only as of November 2022, costing 10€ for a combined ticket to the necropolis and the museum in town. I arrived just after opening at 9am and had the whole place to myself, which was a real treat. There are about 15 painted tombs here, each one accessed through a little hut with stairs leading down to a glass window where you press a button to turn on the light and view what’s inside. Going up and down into all of them is a good leg workout but well worth the effort. If I may romanticise a little, descending into the darkness and then lighting up these ancient works of art gives a hint of the kind of feeling of awe that early archaeologists would have had when they first uncovered Pompeii or the Valley of the Kings. The paintings themselves are a mixed bag, some so worn that barely anything is visible and others still rendered in magnificent colour all these centuries later. The Tomba dei Leopardi (picture attached) is the most famous and rightfully so, truly superb, but there are plenty of others nearly as good. Perhaps the second most famous tomb, Tomba della Fustigazione with its erotic drawings, was sadly closed for maintenance on the day of my visit. Tomba delle Leonesse was a personal favourite of mine, with its depictions of lionesses and dolphins. With detailed information boards in Italian and English outside each tomb, there is lots to read about the fascinating Etruscan culture and you even gain some sense of how the civilization evolved over time, with the Greek influence being very clear in some of the later works. There is also a fantastic view from the top of the hill down into the valley on the other side. Back in town, the museum is worth a visit as well, housing a few recovered paintings in mock tombs as well as some of the sarcophagi and other grave goods that used to be in these tombs.

Earlier in the week I had visited the Vatican Museums and it seems a shame that the vast collection of Etruscan artefacts there are so overlooked. As I passed through those galleries, it was a welcome relief from the huge tour groups everywhere else that seem to skip that section. I can’t help but feel though that some of the pieces that are a mere sideshow in Rome would be centre stage here in Tarquinia. That being said, there is more than enough still in Tarquinia underground in its original location and in the local museum to be deserving of inscription and certainly deserving your time to visit.