DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0605
chap, xxvi.] GREAT INTEREST OF SOVANA. 497
Sovana presents a new field to the excavator. The
tombs in the cliffs have been rifled ages since ; but the
plain above must also be full of sepulchres, to which
the spade and mattock are the only keys. The rich-
ness of architectural decoration in this necropolis seems
to augur a corresponding wealth of sepulchral furniture;
but this remains to be proved by Campanari, Francis,
and Co.
Such is the necropolis of Sovana, such the treasures it
offers to the antiquary. Let no one who feels interest in the
past, enter this district of Etruria without paying it a visit.
It is better worth a pilgrimage than one half of known
Etruscan sites. In point of sepulchres, what is there at
Falleri—what at Castel d' Asso—what at Toscanella—
what at Bieda—to rival its interest % In exterior attrac-
tions, its tombs will bear comparison with those of any
other necropolis in Southern Etruria; even Norchia cannot
surpass it. Everything, however, be it remembered, yields
in interest to the "shadow-peopled caves" of Tarquinii
and Chiusi.
Sovana may be reached from three sides ; from the east,
leaving the high-road to Siena at Acquapendente, or San
Lorenzo ; from the west by the road leading from Orbetello
through Manciano ; and from the south, from Montalto or
Toscanella, through Farnese, Ischia or Valentano; and
it should always be borne in mind that Pitigliano, not
Sovana, is the point directly to be aimed at, as the latter
is utterly destitute of accommodation, and at the former
" the Baby " welcomes the traveller with open arms.
YOL. I.
Sovana presents a new field to the excavator. The
tombs in the cliffs have been rifled ages since ; but the
plain above must also be full of sepulchres, to which
the spade and mattock are the only keys. The rich-
ness of architectural decoration in this necropolis seems
to augur a corresponding wealth of sepulchral furniture;
but this remains to be proved by Campanari, Francis,
and Co.
Such is the necropolis of Sovana, such the treasures it
offers to the antiquary. Let no one who feels interest in the
past, enter this district of Etruria without paying it a visit.
It is better worth a pilgrimage than one half of known
Etruscan sites. In point of sepulchres, what is there at
Falleri—what at Castel d' Asso—what at Toscanella—
what at Bieda—to rival its interest % In exterior attrac-
tions, its tombs will bear comparison with those of any
other necropolis in Southern Etruria; even Norchia cannot
surpass it. Everything, however, be it remembered, yields
in interest to the "shadow-peopled caves" of Tarquinii
and Chiusi.
Sovana may be reached from three sides ; from the east,
leaving the high-road to Siena at Acquapendente, or San
Lorenzo ; from the west by the road leading from Orbetello
through Manciano ; and from the south, from Montalto or
Toscanella, through Farnese, Ischia or Valentano; and
it should always be borne in mind that Pitigliano, not
Sovana, is the point directly to be aimed at, as the latter
is utterly destitute of accommodation, and at the former
" the Baby " welcomes the traveller with open arms.
YOL. I.