- Stefano Bruni –
south of the epineion of San Piero a Grado, in the inlet between the present-day mouth
of the Calambrone, Santo Stefano ai Lupi; and the promontory of Livorno develops what
Roman tradition will remember by the name of Portus Pisanus, an infrastructure that,
since the third century bc, has played a leading role in the fi eld of trade that was directed
toward Rome, whether in relation to commercial developments and especially in the
realm of political policy surrounding the confrontations with Sardinia, Gaul and the
Iberian region (see Polybius 2.27.1; 28.1; Livy 21.39; Polybius 3.56.5; and also 3.96.9),
this being the only port to the north of Populonia before the foundation of Luni in 177
bc (even though a landing certainly existed here by the end of the third century bc).
The Tyrrhenian coast was thus marked by a complex series of ports and docks. If a
passage of Dionysius (3.44.1) observes that the mouth of the Tiber did not present port
inlets, a port of call should rather be found at the mouth of the river, as suggested by the
tradition that attributed to Ancus Martius (fourth king of Rome, seventh century bc) the
foundation of Ostia and the organization of the salt pans on the left bank. From there the
course of the river went up, marked by a thorough and widespread series of docks and
vital river harbors ever since the fi rst Archaic phase. Further north it was the port at the
mouth of the Arrone, near modern Fregene, in connection with the city of Veii. Then,
after the landings in the territory of Cerveteri, the ports of Tarquinia were developing,
Graviscae and further north, Martanum on the right bank of the Marta, near the mouth of
the ditch of Bandita di Pian di Spille, where a dock has been identifi ed that is certainly
related to an artisanal workshop of the Late Hellenistic period. In connection with Vulci
there was the port of Regae/Regisvilla, identifi ed in the area of Le Murelle on the coast of
Montalto di Castro, while further north, after the port of Telamon and various smaller
landings were found the ports of call of the Argentario, whose function corresponds to
the actual route to the Island of Giglio, then the port of Umbro at the mouth of the
Ombrone associated with Roselle, while for Vetulonia there must have been a dock on
Lake Prile. After Populonia and the system of ports and landings on Elba, in the area to
the right of the mouth of the Cecina was found the port of Vada Volaterrana and then,
after the course of the Fina, the series of ports of the Pisan territory, from Quercianella to
the mouth of the Rogiolo, to which are added, at the beginning of the Hellenistic period,
Castiglioncello and some minor landings in the various coves along the coast of Livorno,
to the settlement at the tip of Livorno, and up to the coast of Versilia, studded by a dense
and varied series of coastal settlements ever since the full Archaic period.
In the absence of concrete remains of the various docks and infrastructure of the ports
of call very little is known of the port facilities. The issue of archaeology of the ports of
the Etruscans remains, in essence, an irritating problem, to repeat the expression used
over fi fty years ago by Le Gall referring to navigation on the Tiber, and only recently has
it seen a revival of research on the subject; still, the little that is known offers a glimpse of
a very complex and articulated situation, even on a purely architectural level. While the
uncertainty of their history remains, there is the realization of impressive architectural
works, perhaps dating to the Late Archaic period in the docking basin of Gravisca, and
reported in the zone of Porto Clementino at Tarquinia, while investigations in the urban
cove area of Pisa showed that already at the turn of the fi fth century bc, probably in
relation to the changing techniques of naval engineering, the functional structures for
dry-docking ships come to be remodeled, when the wooden ramps made in the manner
of the moorings of the Archaic period, which functioned to draw boats out of the water
for dry-docking, are replaced with quays made of stone and wood, which were to moor