In early March, we unveiled a digital exhibition dedicated to the discoveries made within the necropolis of Podere Cannicci. Named “Etruscan Identities,” the exhibition is curated to spotlight the tangible remnants of Hellenistic-era interments unearthed along the slopes of a prominent hill.
The significance of these findings transcends mere materiality, as it pivots on the contextual insights derived from their pristine state. While the grave goods themselves, never touched by illicit excavators, remain largely intact and unaltered, the true value lies in their interpretive potential afforded by the unspoiled context. Through the analysis of pottery, jewelry artifacts, and textile fragments, we glean invaluable insights into an Etruscan society navigating the process of Romanization of this territory while steadfastly preserving its distinct cultural and social identity.
It is plausible that such cultural resilience provoked Sulla’s targeted annihilation of the settlement of Podere Cannicci amid the tumultuous early decades of the 1st century BCE. His orchestrated campaign of destruction effectively expunged all traces of local communal identity, relegating its memory to the sedimentary layers of time, ensconced beneath layers of compacted clay for generations to come.
Read more
Sebastiani A., 2022. A Late Etruscan Burial at Podere Cannicci (Civitella Paganico – Grosseto). Journal of Etruscan and Italic Studies, 25, 1-2: 173-197.
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Alessandro Sebastiani 
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