DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.847#0330
TUSCAN1A. 307
more important excavations, as the graves were no
sooner emptied of their precious contents than they
were filled up again. A little further on, we scram-
bled down among rocks and brushwood to the
mouth of a sepulchre of, greater importance, which
was called by the people of the country "Grotta
della Regina," and which was very large and sin-
gular in its form. The entrance was by a long
passage cut in the rock, and when we fairly got into
the cavern we were struck by the singular mixture
of rude nature and ancient art, for the roof is sup-
ported by two very massive pillars, and there are
traces of pilasters cut out along the rugged rock.
It is altogether a most irregular chamber, and very
inferior to that which it most nearly resembles, the
Grotta del Cardinale at Tarquinia. Behind the
upper end there runs a circular mine, which on one
side extends into a dark passage which has never been
explored. The position of Toscanella and of the
tombs which we had been visiting, reminded us of
that of Tarquinia and its necropolis, the general
character of the scenery being the same, though in
point of beauty I think the preference must be given
to Toscanella.
From the hill of the tombs there is a very fine
view of the opposite height, crowned with the high
turretted walls and lofty round towers of the town,
and of a still higher hill without the walls, 6n which
is situated the church of San Pietro. Here, as at
Vulci, and indeed more or less throughout Etruria,
more important excavations, as the graves were no
sooner emptied of their precious contents than they
were filled up again. A little further on, we scram-
bled down among rocks and brushwood to the
mouth of a sepulchre of, greater importance, which
was called by the people of the country "Grotta
della Regina," and which was very large and sin-
gular in its form. The entrance was by a long
passage cut in the rock, and when we fairly got into
the cavern we were struck by the singular mixture
of rude nature and ancient art, for the roof is sup-
ported by two very massive pillars, and there are
traces of pilasters cut out along the rugged rock.
It is altogether a most irregular chamber, and very
inferior to that which it most nearly resembles, the
Grotta del Cardinale at Tarquinia. Behind the
upper end there runs a circular mine, which on one
side extends into a dark passage which has never been
explored. The position of Toscanella and of the
tombs which we had been visiting, reminded us of
that of Tarquinia and its necropolis, the general
character of the scenery being the same, though in
point of beauty I think the preference must be given
to Toscanella.
From the hill of the tombs there is a very fine
view of the opposite height, crowned with the high
turretted walls and lofty round towers of the town,
and of a still higher hill without the walls, 6n which
is situated the church of San Pietro. Here, as at
Vulci, and indeed more or less throughout Etruria,