The Tiber, Arno, Po, Rubicon, Sele, Basento, Bradano… many are the rivers in Italy that form an important part of the landscape and whose history takes us back to ancient times. While road networks are usually well described and connected with relevant settlements in the scholarly literature, rivers are often ignored or mentioned in passing. As a result, we may not be made aware of the significance of water sources for the creation and continuity of settlements and how the presence of water has determined much of an area’s political and social importance.
It is therefore with great anticipation that we approach the volume discussed here for the purpose of evaluating a number of indiviudal sites that in different ways owed their existence to the river Paglia, known in antiquity as Pallia, as shown on the Peutinger Table (s.v. Pleiades https://pleiades.stoa.org/places/413243/pallia-fl.
The multi-authored volume owes its origin to a conference held at the Università per Stranieri di Siena in March 2024 and, with the exception of minor changes, the twenty published papers correspond with the conference program.
Each chapter provides a text with detailed analysis of the topics, complemented with references and ample bibliographies which allow the reader to expand on the information provided. This feature becomes especially important because of the detailed descriptions of a landscape with many place names that are not likely to be known to non-specialists and that are difficult to locate on maps.
In the introductory Notes, the editors, Jacopo Tabolli and Edoardo Vanni, outline the origin of the study based on observing and following the flow of the river Paglia and recognizing the need for linking the waterway to the many sites that are directly dependent on the presence of the river as a water source, as a means of transportation, and perhaps as a boundary between communities. While the order of the chapters is intended to create ‘una passeggiata metaforica ideale’, following the Paglia from its source at Grotta dell’Arciere at Abbadia San Salvatore to Pagliano at the Tiber by outlining specific examples of settlements and sites, the reading of each chapter highlights the fact that there is a multitude of evidence for the historical and archaeological sources that are relevant for our understanding of this area as a whole, covering parts of three modern regions (Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio), including the history of the landscape and role played by roads and rivers.
While the order of the chapters is effectively aligned with the flow of the Paglia, the reader quickly becomes aware of the complexity of the landscape. Thus it becomes evident that many of the topics correspond with each other in terms of their themes and that their history and archaeology may guide us to a common goal.
Depending on the reader’s interests, it is possible to apply a number of topics to the topographical entity of a river and its surrounding countryside. These may include the methodology, the purpose of the river as a demarcation of a boundary as well as a line of communication, and the settlements and related necropolises that in one way or another depended on the course of the river. As a result, the river defined the location of settlements as well as the means of transportation in ways that can only be made apparent to us through a careful study of the waterways, the terrain, and the archaeological remains ranging in time up to the Medieval period.
Although the chapters focus primarily on archaeological sites and their location, there are also notes on the theoretical context of a landscape, beginning with the text by Lucia Bottarelli and Franco Cambi which emphasizes the importance of an ‘ideational landscape’ by combining features of nature (Monte Amiata, river Paglia) with vegetation (forests) and settlements around Abbadia San Salvatore and Radicofani that, although sometimes scarcely preserved, provide evidence of continuity from prehistory forward, further documented with historical place-names throughout the area around the Orcia and upper Paglia valley.
Focusing on the river, Mariachiara Franceschini introduces the concept of the ‘flowscape’ of the Paglia which emphasizes the role of rivers in creating a symbiosis between nature and human presence in the form of habitations and roads. The theoretical basis presented aims to propose a change of perspective, one which sees rivers as active co-protagonists in the historical and social events of ancient communities.
Edoardo Vanni focuses on the importance of the Paglia river as an example of ‘Microecologies’ and ‘Microeconomies’ within its territory whereby the liminal nature is a defining feature. Throughout history it has played a role in the interaction between humans and the environment, documented even as late as the Lombard and Byzantine period. The Paglia valley was not only a primary corridor of communication between the Tiber valley, the Orvieto area, and the entire Chiusi-Amiata area, but rather a place of crossing, arrival, rest, and electrification of connectivity and fragmentation.
As can be expected, the methodology for evaluating sites differs depending on the time of discovery and subsequent research. Maria Letizia Arancio focuses on the territory between the Paglia, the Tevere, and Lake Bolsena, suggesting the administrative reasons for previous limited documentation of the archaeological remains and connections between neighboring sites with Orvieto as a central point.
Although many sites have been explored in the last twenty or thirty years, some reflect the history of early discoveries that for one reason or another have not been incorporated in the overall history of Orvieto and its territory. The chapter by Luca Pulcinelli, Paolo Binaco, Rachele Budelli, and Chiara Cesarini takes us to the site of Bardano, northwest of Orvieto. It is located on an elevated plateau, flanked by the Paglia to the east and the Romealla to the west and south. Known from early excavations of tombs in 1877 and later, the tombs discussed here include the Tomb of Poggio Ginestra and the Corno necropolis.
Another example is the article by Francesco Pacelli on the harbor community at Pagliano where some evidence for a bridge, ‘Pontone’ is reported already by Gianfrancesco Gamurrini.
As highlighted by Simonetta Stopponi, the river Paglia, like other water courses, served as a link of communication rather than as a barrier, a role carried out by the mountains. As a result, we see the Paglia and its tributaries as incorporated into the network of roads, water crossings, and settlements during different periods of the history of the territory. These sites include the now famous Bagno Grande at San Casciano dei Bagni, presented by Jacobo Tabolli and Emanuele Mariotti.
The chapter by Jacopo Tabolli introduces the sanctuary site Bagno Grande at San Casciano dei Bagni which has produced an astonishing amount of votive objects including bronze statues and coins. Thanks to the network of streams and rivers, including the Paglia, the site has a strategic location which allowed for communication with Chiusi and the Val di Chiana. By combining the location of mountains such as Cetona with the Fossalto and Elvella streams, it is now possible to appreciate the number of small sites that were part of a system of communication.
With Bagno Grande as a point of departure, Emanuele Mariotti highlights the importance of the river Elvella, tributary to the Paglia. Regarded as a ‘via dell’acqua’, the water sources include a set of thermal springs, including the Bagno Grande, and the river itself which passed by farmhouses and other structures. Although the area is considered rural, the elaborate architectural features of Bagno Grande would suggest that these thermal baths were recognized by outsiders and reached by roads connecting them to major settlements.
Francesco Di Gennaro, Paolo Binaco, and Elisa Paolini discuss the Bronze and Early Iron Age in the lower Paglia valley. Although rivers are often considered to serve as boundaries rather than means of transportation, sites on either side of the Paglia/Tevere (Rocca Ripresena, west of Orvieto, and Corbara, across the Paglia from Castellonchio) show that the interaction between communities could depend on many different factors.
The chapter by Claudio Bizzarri, Paolo Binaco, and Gilda Giancipoli illustrates the relationship between the ancient road network and river crossings in the territory of Orvieto. Prior to the Roman roads (via Cassia and Via Traiana Nova), the main Etruscan land routes that can be identified served to connect the city with Lake Bolsena to the south and west and crossing the Paglia to the east.
Alain Chartrain includes the site of Pagliano as part of a study of millstones produced in the area of Orvieto. These were made of gray lava and have been found in the area of Sugano, southwest of Orvieto and other sites from which they were transported to Pagliano to be shipped on the Tiber or used on site.
As can be expected, evidence of settlements comes primarily through individual tombs or tomb groups. In the paper by Luca Pulcinelli, tombs from two sites are discussed, both belonging to the Archaic period. Mossa del Palio (Massa di Paglia) is located at Ciconia east of the Paglia at Orvieto, and Tordimonte, south of Orvieto, west of the Paglia. Mossa del Palio preserves tombs with rich grave gods, whereas the site of Tordimonte is documented by grave goods, now in a private collection.
Alessandro Mattioli takes us to the Etruscan necropolis of Caldane, just west of Castel Viscardo, in a valley leading to the Paglia. Although the site had been plundered, a number of chamber tombs with grave goods has been preserved, most dated to the Archaic period, and one Hellenistic fossa tomb. The habitation to which the necropolis belonged has not been securely identified but it was in all likelihood part of the territory governed by Orvieto.
Alessandra Sileoni presents the excavations of a late Repubblican farmhouse at the site of Fontana near Torre Alfina, west of Castel Viscardo. Remains of walls of a rectangular structure and a variety of coarse ware and other pottery suggest that it represents a type of small farm mentioned by Livy and Cicero that indicate an increase of the rural population linked to a settlement pattern and a road network that connected Torre Alfina with Orvieto and Bolsena.
Francesca Letizia Rizzo reports on a Roman villa and extensive warehouses at Campo la Noce (Graffignano VT), located on a plain below Sipiccano close to the Tiber. The building complex consisted of a villa founded in the 2nd c. BC and was later occupied in the 4th-6th c. AD. Several ports have been identifed at the river suggesting a road system, including the via Cassia, with intense trade.
Silvia Simonetti presents the history of the site of Coriglia, northwest of Orvieto, at Monterubiaglio. Althoug the evidence for an Etruscan settlement is sparse, the proximity to the Paglia and the presence of thermal springs made the site an important center for communication in the Roman period (via Cassia and via Traiana Nova) as well as the creation of elaborate bath complexes that were continuously rebuilt until the 4th c. AD.
Marcello Spanu presents the evidence for tracing the course of the Via Nova Traiana and its relation to the Paglia. The discovery of milestones allows us to follow the road from Bolsena across the territory of Orvieto to the crossing of the river at Podere Molino, northwest of Monterubiagio. The traditional hypothesis for the course of the Via Nova Traiana is that that it was created as a shortcut for the via Cassia, but it is more likely that it was caused by flooding that affected the crossing of the via Cassia at the Colonnacce bridge.
Emanuela Borgia introduces the late Roman and early Medieval necropolis at Castel Sozzo (Civitella d’Agliano), south of Orvieto and the confluence of the Paglia and the Tiber. The large number of burials (100) suggests a flourishing rural settlement, with an idenfiable number of ‘foreigners’. Remains of an ancient road would indicate the route to the ferry crossing at the Tiber.
Damiano Paoletti presents the documentation of the convent of Sant’Agostino at Acquapendente in the 13th-14th century AD. The archaeological remains, now in the courtyard of an elementary school, pertain to the cloister of the convent, and the site has been shown to include six phases, ranging from the 7th century AD to the present, based on pottery as well as the stratigraphy of the remains.
Simonetta Stopponi highlights the importance of the long history of the site Campo della Fiera, southwest of Orvieto. The area serves as a link between northern and southern Etruria first established as a modest sanctuary c. 585 BC. Its expansion at the end of the 6th c. BC can be linked to Porsenna, the ruler of Chiusi as well as of Orvieto. In addition to a major road, the features of the sanctuary included buildings as well as altars, and a variety of small finds that suggest its role as an ‘open city’ that welcomed outsiders. Its role as a sanctuary continued during the Roman era; it later functioned as a Christian oratory and a church, which concludes the history of the site.
This volume presents a treasure of information on known Etruscan and Roman sites such as Orvieto and San Casciano dei Bagni but also includes important documentation of less known or otherwise unpublished sites, set within the historical context of this area of ancient Italy. Each chapter provides essential illustrations but from a reader’s point of view, it is unfortunate that the many important maps and plans are difficult to read and would benefit from being made available online by the publisher.
Authors and Titles
E. Vanni, J. Tabolli– Nota dei curatori
L. Botarelli, F. Cambi- Tra il monte Amiata e la valle del Paglia. La natura polisemica di un paesaggio marginale
J. Tabolli- Osmosi territoriale di un accesso all’alta valle del Paglia: verso e da San Casciano dei Bagni
E. Mariotti- Dal santuario etrusco-romano del Bagno Grande al Paglia: la via dell’acqua lungo l’Elvella
A. Mattioli- La necropoli etrusca in località Caldane presso Castel Viscardo (TR): un sito volsiniese tra l’altopiano dell’Alfina e il fiume Paglia
S. Sileoni- Forme di insediamento tra la tarda età repubblicana e la prima età imperiale lungo il bacino del Paglia. La fattoria in loc. Fontana nel territorio di Torre Alfina (Acquapendente, VT)
D. Paoletti- Le dinamiche insediative nell’area del Convento di S. Agostino ad Acquapendente alla luce delle indagini più recenti
M.L. Pulcinelli, P. Binaco, R. Budelli, C. Cesarini- Bardano: un insediamento dell’agro volsiniese nel VI secolo a.C.
L. Pulcinelli- Insediamenti etruschi minori nella bassa valle del Paglia: Mossa del Palio e Tordimonte
M.L. Arancio- Vèlsena, Bisenzio e il territorio tra il Paglia, il Tevere e il lago di Bolsena. Riflessioni e spunti di discussione
F. di Gennaro, P. Binaco, E. Paolini- La bassa valle del Paglia prima della formazione di Vèlsena
C. Bizzarri, P. Binaco, G. Giancipoli- Il rapporto tra viabilità antica ed attraversamenti fluviali in territorio orvietano
S. Simonetti- Il sito di Coriglia: una mansiolungo il fiume Paglia
S. Stopponi- Etruschi, Romani e Cristiani a Campo della Fiera di Orvieto
F. Pacelli- Pagliano e il suo territorio: emporio commerciale, scalo portuale o villa?
A. Chartrain- La produzione di macine a Orvieto nell’Antichità
M. Franceschini- Il flowscapedel Paglia – Ecologia e impatto culturale di un fiume etrusco
M. Spanu- La Via Nova Traianae la viabilità della valle del Paglia in età romana
E. Borgia – Archeologia funeraria e mobilità nella media valle del Tevere: la necropoli tardoromana e altomedievale di Castel Sozzio (Viterbo)
F. L. Rizzo- Dinamiche di occupazione e produzione nella media valle del Tevere: la villa romana di Campo La Noce (Graffignano – VT)
E. Vanni- Microecologie e microeconomie di un paesaggio Mediterraneo. La strutturazione di un’interfaccia produttiva nella valle del Paglia