The archaeological area of Veio is located near the borgo of Isola Farnese in Rome, on the via Cassia, near La Storta. The site stretches out across a plain bounded by the fossi del Piordo and Valchetta.
Between 800-500 B.C.E., this place saw the birth and development of the southernmost Etruscan city in Etruria; known as Veii by the Romans, it was Rome’s rival for control of the trade ports on the Tiber river and the salt flats at its source. Following a siege that tradition holds lasted a decade, Marcus Furius Camillus seized and definitively destroyed the city. In 27 C.E., Emperor Augustus raised it to the rank of Municipio, however the city was already emptying by the end of the 1st century C.E. and in less than a century would be completely abandoned.
The archaeological site conserves traces of residences – huts dating to the Bronze and Villanovan ages. The Sanctuary of Portonaccio, dedicated to the goddess Minerva, was hidden behind walls and had a pool for ritual bathing and a square altar at the centre of an open square for votive offerings. The Sanctuary of Campetti was dedicated to the underworld goddess Veii who gave the city its name. The area also includes ponte Sodo, a tunnel of about 70m dug out to encourage the flow of the ancient Crèmera river, and the oldest painted tombs of Etruria: the tombs of the Roaring Lions and the Ducks.
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