CHAPTER FIFTEEN

ETRURIA ON THE PO AND

THE ADRIATIC SEA

Giuseppe Sassatelli and Elisabetta Govi

INTRODUCTION (GIUSEPPE SASSATELLI)

T

he ancient historical traditions, both Greek and Latin, agree that the presence and
domination of the Etruscans in the Italian peninsula extended well beyond what
has normally been regarded as their homeland, that is, (modern) Tuscany and northern
Lazio. In particular, Livy, who defi nes the Etruscans as the most important people,
well known from the Alps to Sicily, states that after setting their roots in Etruria, they
penetrated into Campania to the south and spread north, crossing the Apennines, until
they occupied most of the Po Valley with a massive colonial movement whose outcome
was the establishment of twelve cities, on analogy with Tyrrhenian Etruria (Livy
5.33.9–10). We are not in a position to recognize a true dodecapolis in the Po region,
but the stabile presence of the Etruscans in the Po Valley and their effi cient organization
on a commercial as well as political and institutional framework, thus represents a
consolidated historical fact that the ancient authors knew well. The conquest of the
fertile lands watered by the River Po is attributed by the sources to two characters:
Tarchon, the founder of Tarquinia and of the Etruscan “nation,” and Ocnus, Etruscan
king of Perugia, founder of Bologna and Mantua. This dual tradition probably refl ects
two distinct Etruscan occupations of the Po Valley, dating back to an earlier, Villanovan
stage and a more recent settlement corresponding to the sixth century bc, when the
entire area underwent a reorganization that led to the establishment of new cities and
the creation of a powerful trading system.
Etruscan interest in this area since the ninth century bc can be traced in part to
the exploitation of natural resources, but also to the enormous commercial potential
of an area that is central and convenient to the main routes linking Etruria, northern
Italy and Europe, between the Adriatic and the Tyrrhenian Sea. The Etruscan population
in the earliest, Villanovan, phase is thus concentrated in the area of the plains around
Bologna, which is the hub of manufacturing activities as well as an extensive network
of long distance contacts, and in the hilly area of Verucchio (near Rimini) overlooking
the Adriatic Sea (Fig. 15.1). While Bologna developed from the outset a widespread
occupation of the surrounding area for agricultural purposes, Verucchio was itself set up