9/26 Fri – Populonia
This morning we head for the Piombino docks to check out the ferries to Elba. Maggie takes us right there but not much to see. A typical seaport town, kind of dirty but we now know how to get to Elba; back to see the ancient Populonia.
Populonia (Pupluna or Fufluna) one of the more ancient and prestigious settlements in all of Tuscany – the only Etruscan town to have been founded right on the sea. It has been confirmed the area was inhabited from the Neolithic era. It was also the largest ancient centre on the Mediterranean specializing in the smelting of iron extracted from the Island of Elba. Populonia was still an episcopal See in the 6 C but was destroyed in 570 by the Lombards. Serious destruction of the town was during the roman civil war against Mario.
The castle is situated on the top of a hill at the north end of the peninsula of Monte Massoncello, north of Piombino, overlooking the Tuscan archipelago and the Bay of Baratti. The castle built in the 14 C, during the Seignory of the Appiani family for defensive purposes was made of stones belonging to the ancient etruscan walls of Populonia. The walls which are of medieval origin were built for defense against the Barbary pirates. The statue known as the Apollo of Piombino, now in the Louvre in Paris, was found in the waters of the Gulf of Baratti.
Near the castle is an archeological dig , closed by the time we discovered it, has made Populonia famous. Tombs some of which range from the Villanovian period (9th C. BC) to the middle of the 3rd C. BC ) were explored in 1908.
The castle and surrounding area was most interesting, got lots of pictures but didn’t realize all the history attached to it until we got home and looked it up on the internet.
The views of the Bay of Baratti way down below and looking northward toward San Vincenzo were really something. Luckily we took a lot of pictures because seeing how large the bay is for the Etruscan seaport and its strategic location you can kind of put the history together. When we got down to the bottom of the hill again we took a lot of pictures of the marina, bay and surrounding area too.
Heading back to San Vincenzo we took surface roads taking us thru a small town, (which could be either Venturina or Campiglia Marittima) rural countryside; took a picture of a very impressive gate entry with a narrow road lined with huge umbrella shaped pine trees leading to a vineyard. We were to see many of these pine trees lining long driveways all over Tuscany.
Tomorrow is our big trip over to the center of Italy to Montepulciano which is near Chiusi and on theway to Perugia.
Tags: Travel
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