December 2011

Cowboys seldom spring to mind when we think of Italy. Historians might imagine the grandeur of ancient Rome, the Colosseum or the Pantheon while art lovers might be reminded of the Renaissance, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci or Caravaggio. For others good food and fine wines, pasta or pizza might spring to mind.

Spaghetti Westerns are famous and it is common knowledge that some of them were filmed in parts of Italy like Abruzzo. Less well known are the authentic Italian cowboys known locally as the butteri (pronounced bootery) or buttero singular.  

These rugged herdsmen inhabited a vast and inaccessible land known as the Maremma, an area bordering the Tyrrhenian sea and stretching from north Lazio into south west Tuscany.  

The buttero needed to be tough. Like his American counterpart, he was adept with cattle and horses and endured a hard lifestyle. The working day was long, typically commencing at dawn. The terrain, immortalized in Dante’s Inferno, was harsh.

Much of the swamp land has been drained in the past hundred years but it was not always like this. Dante’s description of the area around Corneto, as the picturesque village of Tarquinia was known at that time, is at once unflattering whilst also portraying something of the wild beauty of the Maremma in its haunting passages

“Not verdant there

The foliage, but of dusky hue ; not light”

This was a land where only those animals that “hate cultured fields” abide.  Among these beasts, the wild boar and cattle along with the butteri would come to symbolize the Maremma and contribute to the unique culinary traditions of the area.

The butteri, in addition to their legendary animal handling skills, enjoy a reputation for being both cunning and proud. In 1890 Bill Cody, the legendary Buffalo Bill, was touring Europe. When he stopped in Rome on 29^th March of that year, a series of contests took place between his entourage and some butteri. In one of these he famously lost after challenging the butteri to ride one of his wild horses. This event is remembered and recounted in local folklore to this day.

Modern farming techniques and the reclaiming of marshland have changed the landscape of the Maremma down through the years. These changes have also witnessed a decline in the number of butteri however their characteristic resilience and strong sense of tradition mean they are not likely to become extinct any time soon. Butteri are still found today working farms such as the one at Alberese in southern Tuscany. 

Shows and exhibitions of butteri horsemanship and general lifestyle take place regularly throughout the year such as the “Butteri Sotto le Stelle/Butteri under the Stars” festival which takes place in Tarquinia in north Lazio every July.

28 February 2010 

Holidaying in Italy can be expensive but here are three ways to make big savings without compromising on quality, your comfort or enjoyment.

1) A large part of your vacation expenditure will be taken up by accommodation. Hotels and Bed and Breakfasts can be expensive in Italy and self catering accommodation of a similar quality will typically cost you around 25% less.   An increasingly popular alternative to Hotels and B&Bs is to rent an apartment for the duration of your stay. The money saved with apartment rental can be even higher for groups of more than two. Compare the price of renting a 2 bedroom apartment suitable for 4 people to paying for 2 double bedrooms in a hotel and you could easily save up to 50% off the total bill.  This makes renting an apartment particularly cost effective for family holidays.

 
2) In Italy, like everywhere else, prices tend to be much higher in tourist congested areas. Public transport, on the other hand, is relatively cheap when compared to other developed countries so staying in well-connected areas with good transport links can save you substantial amounts on all kinds of services from simply having a coffee or ice cream at a bar to eating out or lodging.  The picturesque and historic town of Tarquina in northern Lazio for example, is set in beautiful green countryside while also very well connected by road and rail making it perfect as a rural retreat.  The regular train service to Rome takes just 1 hour and the ticket price is a genuine bargain at 6.20€ each way. 

3) For people who are new to Italy the difference between various types of eating establishments may not be immediately obvious. A trattoria is a traditional Italian place to go and eat out which tends to be less formal than a ristorante.  In a trattoria the service may come with fewer frills but the food quality is just as good as and often better than a restaurant, this is especially true in the traditional family run trattoria.  Just look to where native Italians go to eat out if you need a well informed judge.  Apart from lower prices the food portions are often more plentiful in a trattoria so they are great value for a family who has worked up a big appetite after a long day of sightseeing.  

In summary, Italy’s abundance of attractions makes it a very popular tourist destination. As a result of this popularity it can also be expensive. However the good news is that for a great vacation in Italy you don’t need to sacrifice any of the sights, itineraries or your comfort.  A little preparation and spending wisely will help you stay within your budget while having a great holiday.

19 March 2009

Lazio has so much to offer the tourist with an abundance of things to see and do that are too numerous to cover all of them here.  In this first of a series of articles we look at the area surrounding the picturesque and historic town of Tarquinia in northern Lazio. Tarquinia, just one hour from Rome by train with excellent road and public transport connections is perfect as a relaxing base from which to explore Lazio and Tuscany . Here we will start with 5 things to see and do in Tarquinia.

1. Relax by the sea and revitalize your body and soul. Just five kilometres from the town, the unspoilt beach at Tarquinia Lido is ideal for a relaxing walk and taking in the sea air. There are plenty of leisure resorts and facilities many offering entertainment for children in the summer months as well as a variety of beach and water sports. There are also some excellent restaurants with great views looking onto the waterfront where one can enjoy a mouth-watering dish of freshly caught seafood.  The food, wine, comfortable surroundings and excellent service at Il Tirreno make it one of the many restaurants worth visiting.
2. Explore the world of the mysterious Etruscans by visiting the necropolis and museum. Tarquinia was one of the principal cities of ancient Etruria, home to the Etruscan civilization that occupied this part of Italy from around 900 BC. Today an air of mystery surrounds the Etruscans. While we know they were highly advanced both technically and culturally, there are many gaps in our knowledge as to their origins and the language they spoke.  The cemetery just outside the town of Tarquinia with its 6000 graves some 200 of which contain remarkable wall paintings and the museum in the town centre house some of the finest examples of Etruscan art in the world today and present a unique insight into the fascinating world of this people.
3. For those of us accustomed to hurrying to the supermarket before it closes after a long day at work, it is a refreshing change to go directly to a producer and buy high quality fresh produce.  Instead of checking labels for expiry dates and “unwanted additives” with who knows what adverse affects, visiting a farm, chatting with the producer and seeing food cultivated naturally is the best measure of quality available.  Agriculture is as important to Tarquinia as tourism and many local producers welcome visitors who wish to sample and/or purchase their produce.  Olive oil, local cheeses and of course wine are all to be sampled.  One such producer is Sant Isidoro.
4. Tarquinia has long been a home to artists, a tradition which continues to thrive today. Almost every street in the old town has a workshop or artist studio.  Visitors are often welcome so if you would like to see an artist at work, pick up a few pointers or share experiences look out for these studio with the sign ‘ingresso libero’.  Of the many artists with studios in the historic centre, the English born Brian Mobbs is one of the best known. His studio is on Via di Porta Castello.
5. For nature lovers the wildlife reserve at Tarquinia Le Saline offers a rare opportunity to view several species of migratory birds not often seen in Europe. Just as interesting and varied is the long history of this area from busy port to the Greeks, Etruscans and Romans to salt extraction. The 170 hectares is today a peaceful paradise, protected by the National Forestry and whose winding pathways are ideal for a relaxing walk or bicycle ride.

Tarquinia, at just over one hour from Rome with good rail and road connections, is a great base from which to explore Lazio. Low cost flights are available to Ciampino airport which is around 90 minutes drive from Tarquinia. A regular train service connects Tarquinia to Rome and the city of Pisa.

 Author : Finbar Fitzgerald (f.fitzgerald@etruscanvilla.com)

13 Dec 08

On a quiet hill just outside the town of Tarquinia in northern Lazio, a dedicated group of people maintain a caring and lonely vigil over one of the most important Pre-Roman archaeological sites in Italy. Here, in a melancholy echo of a distant past, some 6000 graves bear evidence to the existence of a highly advanced civilization dating back hundreds of years before the founding of Rome.

Today there is little trace left of the people known as Etruscans who inhabited an area including parts of Lazio,Tuscany and Umbria from around 900 BC. Italy at the time was divided in regions whose loose borders were occupied and fiercely contested by a variety of ethnic groups. Wars were commonplace and often brutal. The nascent Roman military, which would later go on to enjoy unprecedented success and create the greatest Empire in history, dealt ruthlessly with opponents and things un-Roman. Often not content with killing adversaries, it deliberately set out to eradicate all traces of their culture and identity and it seems to have dealt particularly ferociously with the Etruscans.

Of the diverse groups who populated Italy in that period the Etruscans stand out. They were culturally distinct and far more advanced than any other. It is widely believed that the Etruscans were not indigenous but originated in Asia Minor in an area that is part of modern day Turkey.

From archaeological sites like Tarquinia and Cerveteri, and references by Greek and Roman writers, we know they were technically and culturally advanced but sadly there are no remaining written works, no history or literature, left by the Etruscans themselves to allow us a glimpse of their world from within. The scarcity of reference material has added to the air of mystery surrounding the Etruscans making these sites all the more precious.  

Thanks to the Etruscan tradition of wall painting their tombs, the necropolises at Tarquinia and Cerveteri are home to some of the finest examples of Etruscan art in the world today. Perhaps it was for superstitious reasons that the Romans didn’t destroy the artwork of these graves. Whatever their motives they appear to have respected Etruscan burial rites and what insights we do have into Etruscan lifestyle we owe in large part to their cemeteries.

Of the 6000 tombs in Tarquinia, 200 have wall paintings that are considered of major interest. Although some have suffered the effects of aging down through the centuries it is still possible to view and marvel at the splendour of Etruscan art. Delicately crafted and rich in symbolism, these frescoes portray a range of everyday scenes providing a sense of what life was like in ancient Etruria.  Typical themes include dancing accompanied by musicians playing instruments like the flute and lyre and sporting scenes depicting athletes, horsemen and wrestlers.

To distinguish the tombs archaeologists have given each one a name. In the Tomb of the Leopards we witness a magnificent banquet with reclining couples enjoying a great feast. One man, probably the deceased, is seen holding up an egg between thumb and forefinger. The egg is thought to represent rebirth or the afterlife.  

In the Tomb of Hunting and Fishing which dates to the sixth century BC, beautifully colored scenes depict a hunter with a slingshot stalking a flock of birds who give flight against a hazy sky while fishermen in a boat below cast their net into a blue-green sea as dolphins leap playfully from the waves.  One man dives into the sea from a rock while another is climbing the rock after him. Diving into water is thought to be another symbol of rebirth.

The Necropolis at Cerveteri is astonishingly elaborate. Tombs consisting of chambers connected by corridors, like rooms in houses, are arranged along streets as in any urban development. In their day these rooms  would have contained furniture and ornamental decorations, precious metals, utensils and in some cases even pets, anything that might be considered necessary or useful in the after life. It is an eerie experience walking the streets of this city of the dead and one which takes us to the very soul of Etruscan culture.

The sites at Tarquinia and Cerveteri were considered important enough to be assigned World Heritage status by UNESCO in 2004. In assigning this status the artworks in the necropolises of Tarquinia and Cerveteri were deemed ‘masterpieces of creative genius’. Finbar Fitzgerald f.fitzgerald@etruscanvilla.com