Alessandro Sebastiani

The Monterozzi Necropolis in Tarquinia, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is an extraordinary example of a funerary landscape from the Etruscan period. Its 6,000 tombs inform us about the customs, life, and perception of death, enriched with frescoes and everyday objects.

The splendor of the pictorial representations fascinates the visitor, who finds themselves immersed in a world belonging to a past that is not so distant. Demons, banquets, allegories, and decorations allow for an immersion into cultural aspects, offering us the opportunity to investigate the Etruscan underworld and beliefs.

The painted doors that separate the world of the living from that of the dead, at the bottom of stairways leading to the heart of the earth, are sometimes guarded by mythological figures that we also find in other necropolises of Etruria; and the ascent back to the light and daily life creates an ideal passage between what was and what will be.