Chiusi - an Etruscan treasure

We have been passing through Chiusi, on and off trains and renting cars, since 1998 but we have never been up to the historic centre. 

Chiusi has been a settlement since the late 2nd millenium B.C. It became one of the most important Etruscan cities, especilly during the reign of the King Porsenna when it had very close connections with Rome.
From the 3rd century A.D Chiusi became an important site for the expanding Christian faith. There are catacombs here as well as the cathedral with Roman foundations that attest to this.

The Cathedral of St. Secondiano was built in the 6th century. It has 18 ancient Roman columns inside, the spectacular mosaic work modelled on Ravenna is actually painted and there are many ancient features in the building. The huge stand-alone bell tower is like a fortress watch tower.

Our main focus today was to visit the Civic Museum of the Underground City, or Museo Civico la Città Sotterranea. In the museum there was a good display of artifacts and explaining some of the history of the underground tunnels which we read before being taken to the entrance to the tunnels. 

A labyrinth of tunnels runs under Chiusi and in this case the earlier section of the tunnels had been converted to a wine cellar, grain store and farm storage by the family who formerly owned the house. We continued through narrow tunnels where it was explained that the rock structure there was perfect for water gathering. A huge well is still in existence.

From this part we went to the Epigraphical Section where there was a well explained display of funery urns and grave tiles. They have over 300 urns and 200 tiles, many of which have interesting descriptions of the person whose ashes were interred. These date from the third to the first century B.C. This is the biggest and most important collection in the world for this period. 

Our guide explained how to read the inscriptions, some using a combination of Roman, Greek and Etruscan letters, and how they are read right to left giving the persons first name then father's surname, mother's surname and/or husband's surname. Some even stated that they were foreigners, for example, from Gallus (France or Germany in that period).

This was a fascinating insight into one of the most intriguing cultures of ancient times.

Chiusi has the usual interesting features of Italian hilltop towns - lots of old churches with frescoes and paintings, panoramic views, fountains and bell towers, cute street scenes, bars and a gelareria or two.

As we were enjoying a gelato at Bar Centrale (nearly every town has one of those too!) a funeral was taking place at the Cathedral. An interesting observation was that the mourners came out of the church before the coffin, and when the coffin was brought out they all applauded. 

I love observing different customs. One of my favourites was travelling on Alitalia from Australia to Rome when the plane was mostly full with Italian people - as the plane touched down they all applauded.