Etruscan civilization, museums and archaeological parks

First, an Etruscan and then a Roman land for centuries, the Val di Cornia is rooted in antiquity, in a remote past that the area’s museums and archaeological parks recount through excavations and finds.

Baratti and Populonia Archaeological Park (20 minutes by car)

The only coastal city-state of the Etruscan Dodecapolis, Populonia dominates the Gulf of Baratti with its ancient acropolis. In the elevated part of the park are the remains of important Roman temples and the excavations of the first historic Etruscan settlement. Of great interest are the Necropolis of San Cerbone dating back to the 7th-5th centuries BC and the Necropolis of the Caves with its rock-cut tombs.

San Silvestro Archaeo-mineral Park (15 minutes by car)

In the 450 hectares of the park, behind Campiglia Marittima, there are museums, mining tunnels, a thousand-year-old medieval village of miners and smelters, as well as trails of historical, archaeological, geological and naturalistic interest. The Lanzi-Temperino tunnel, which can be travelled on board a special mining train, is very suggestive.

Volterra (1 hour 10 minutes by car)

One of the main city-states of ancient Etruria, it boasts exceptional artistic and archaeological testimonies such as the Museo Etrusco Guarnacci and the ruins of the marvellous acropolis of Piano di Castello, with a rich superimposition of structures from the Etruscan, Roman and medieval periods.