Daily Updates
Week Two: Sept. 28
28 September. Katherine and Joanna reporting: Today when we woke up, we couldn’t turn on the lights to go to the bathroom. This was a crisis. Had a fuse been blown? No, the power was out in all of central Italy, so we used flashlights as we stumbled around our hotel rooms at the Hotel Villa Nencini in Volterra. After breakfast and climbing into our second home, our beloved Damibus, our driver performed a miracle and backed out going up a very steep, incredibly narrow Italian strada. It was a sight to behold, as other Italians were gawking from their windows at 8:30 AM. We applauded our heroic bus driver, as he did not even scratch our enormous second home. We arrived in Populonia, an Etruscan necropolis with a gorgeous view of the sea and the Italian countryside. We were fortunate to have an excellent Italian guide, and what we did not understand, Professor Ulrich translated for us. The group toured around the field of tombs and visited the Tomb of the Carriages with an entrance so small we had to crouch. Later, we headed toward a wooded area and lunched by a quarry whose rock was used for building the tombs. Then we hiked a little longer to see some incredible tombs dug out of side of a rock wall. Next, the group visited another old Etruscan village of Vetulonia, which today, is populated by only 600 inhabitants. Vetulonia is home to the only remains of Etruscan dwellings and a large tomb two stories tall. We did not stay long, for it began to rain, and headed to our hotel for the night in a small fishing village named Castiglione della Pescaia. We had a paper due the following day, so most of us trudged off to our rooms to begin writing the “finishing touches.” It was a rather long, but fullfilling day.
28 September. Populonia: the only Etruscan site on the water
28 September. The Italian guide at the site of Populonia
28 September. The great tumulus at Populonia
28 September. Inside the tumulus
28 September. Professor Ulrich fills out the Italian lecture in English
28 September. Entering the aedicula tomb
28 September. Some sarcophagi at Populonia
28 September. The entrance to an unroofed tumulus tomb
28 September. Taking a quiz
28 September. Lunch in the hills of Populonia
28 September. Courtney
28 September. Another lunch shot
28 September. Peter, Sophia and Maya
28 September. View of the necropolis from the path
28 September. A closer view of the cliff tombs carved into the bedrock
28 September. Brian stands in the quarry
28 September. Exploring the underground chamber tombs
28 September. Exploring the underground chamber tombs
28 September. Reconstruction of a wattle and daub hut
28 September. The Etruscan paving and street at Vetulonia
28 September. A chamber tomb viewed from the inside
28 September. Interesting niches for burials
28 September. The two-storied tumulus at Vetulonia
28 September. The interior of the tumulus
28 September. Another view of the interior
28 September. Brian, who scales all heights, atop a tumulus