DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0331
CHAPTER XV.
CASTEL D' ASSO.—CASTELLUM AXIA.
Sovr' a' sepolti le tombe terragne
Portan segnato quel ch' elli eran pria.
Dante. Purg.
Here man's departed steps are traced
But by his dust amid the solitude. Hemans.
The best guide to the Etruscan antiquities of Viterbo
and its neighbourhood, is Ruggieri, a caffetUre of that city
who, though a master-excavator himself, will condescend,
for a consideration, to act the cicerone. As he happened
to be on his travels, we provided ourselves with the second-
best guide Viterbo could afford, in the person of a meagre
barber, Giuseppe Perugini by name, with none of the
garrulity and vivacity of Figaro, that type of tonsorial
excellence, but taciturn, solemn, and grave as a cat, if
there be truth in the proverb—
Chi sempre ride e matto,
Chi mai e di natura di gatto.
Under his auspices we made several excursions to Castel
d' Asso,1 an Etruscan necropolis, which has already been
1 It is first found under this name in
the works of Annio of Viterbo. Orioli
(Ann. dell' Inst. 1833, p. 23) asserts
that its true name is Castellaccio, as it
has always been, and is still, so called by
the lower orders of Viterbo; but the
Chevalier Bunsen, on the other hand,
maintains that, though there is a ruined
tower some miles distant called Castel-
laccio, this site is always mentioned
by the shepherds and peasantry as
Castel d* Asso. Bullett. dell' Inst.
1833, p. 97. My own experience
agrees with that of Orioli, and I have
found peasants who did not understand
the name of Castel d' Asso, but in-
stantly comprehended what I meant by
Castellaccio.
CASTEL D' ASSO.—CASTELLUM AXIA.
Sovr' a' sepolti le tombe terragne
Portan segnato quel ch' elli eran pria.
Dante. Purg.
Here man's departed steps are traced
But by his dust amid the solitude. Hemans.
The best guide to the Etruscan antiquities of Viterbo
and its neighbourhood, is Ruggieri, a caffetUre of that city
who, though a master-excavator himself, will condescend,
for a consideration, to act the cicerone. As he happened
to be on his travels, we provided ourselves with the second-
best guide Viterbo could afford, in the person of a meagre
barber, Giuseppe Perugini by name, with none of the
garrulity and vivacity of Figaro, that type of tonsorial
excellence, but taciturn, solemn, and grave as a cat, if
there be truth in the proverb—
Chi sempre ride e matto,
Chi mai e di natura di gatto.
Under his auspices we made several excursions to Castel
d' Asso,1 an Etruscan necropolis, which has already been
1 It is first found under this name in
the works of Annio of Viterbo. Orioli
(Ann. dell' Inst. 1833, p. 23) asserts
that its true name is Castellaccio, as it
has always been, and is still, so called by
the lower orders of Viterbo; but the
Chevalier Bunsen, on the other hand,
maintains that, though there is a ruined
tower some miles distant called Castel-
laccio, this site is always mentioned
by the shepherds and peasantry as
Castel d* Asso. Bullett. dell' Inst.
1833, p. 97. My own experience
agrees with that of Orioli, and I have
found peasants who did not understand
the name of Castel d' Asso, but in-
stantly comprehended what I meant by
Castellaccio.