Monterongriffoli

The Etruscans

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Numerous archeological finds in Monterongriffoli and the surrounding area attest to its Etruscan past.

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The most important of these was in around 1538, when, according to historical accounts, an elaborate underground tomb was discovered at Monterongriffoli containing a niche with a sarcophagus surmounted by a sculpture of a recumbent figure. Arrayed on shelving around it were 16 smaller urns with inscriptions, each one accompanied by the tools of each deceased person's trade. The inscriptions revealed that the tomb belonged to the Haprni family.

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A surviving mid-16th Century description of the find (in Italian) is remarkable for its detailed account of the contents of the burial chamber (scroll down for English translation):

"Intorno al 1538 si trovò a Monterongrigffoli una stanza sotterra, tutta tagliata e incorniciata nel tufo, non senza grandissima diligenza. La lunghezza era di circa 10 braccia; larghezza 5. Intorno v’erano i murelli, dove per ordine si stendevano l’urne, piene di cenere, sotto le quali si vedevano varie forme di strumenti, già corrotti dal tempo, li quali mostravano qual arte avesse esercitata ciascheduno in vita.

Nella testa v’era un nicchio col suo posamento alquanto più alto, dove si vedeva un’urna assai maggiore, nel cui coperchio, fatto a modo di letticciolo, giaceva una donna vecchia, la quale posto il gomito nel guanciale, a una mano appoggiava la testa, con l’altra porgeva una tazza. Pensano alcuni che da questa donna descendessino tutti gli altri d'intorno ; e che, o per non macchiare la passata felicità con alcuna miseria, vivendo più oltra, o per liberarsi del tutto dell'infelice vita presente, deliberasse morire, pigliando il veleno, secondo il costume dei Marsiliesi. Il che facilmente potrebbesi credere considerando che la maniera dello stare di questa donna non è differente da quella che fu descritta da Valerio Massimo nel primo libro al capitolo II quando parla delle due arche, le quali erano innanzi alla porta di Massilia.

Di rincontro v’era la porta tutta di travertino, larga 2 braccia, alta poco più di due e mezzo. I canti erano colonne striate, fatte in quadro da piè e da capo con i suoi ornamenti. Sopra v’era l’arcotrave con il fregio, la cornice e il frontispizio, nel mezzo del quale era intagliata una rosa, la quale era insegna di quel casato, perché intorno alla stanza scolpite nel tufo e in alcuna delle urne si vedevano le rose, nelle quali ancora appareva una certa tentura di minio. Questa porta si serrava e apriva con tavole del medesimo travertino, acconce talmente né suoi cardini che agevolmente si potevano muovere. In queste tavole v’erano impiombati alcuni ferramenti con i quali si serravano.​

Innanzi alla detta porta vi si trovarono tavole di pietra grandi e altri sassi e mattoni abrostinati, con assai carboni. Si giudica che in questo luogo solessino abrusciare i corpi. Si trovarono ancora varie sorti di vasi di terra. Una parte dell’urna era di mistura simile al gesso, d’odore assai grave, e molto durevole, si come si è veduto per prova, essendo state sotterrate più di 1400 anni e poi fuora alle piogge, a’ caldi e al ghiaccio."  [Excerpt from an anonymous manuscript of Etruscan inscriptions with Italian decipherings sent by Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, the Spanish plenipotentiary in Rome, to the Bishop of Arras in 1552. Formerly in the Sloane Collection and now at the British Library in London, Sloane MS 3524 ff. 59-67. The passage translates as follows:]

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"In around 1538 an underground chamber was discovered at Monterongriffoli, entirely hewn out of, and enclosed within, the tufo. Fashioned with the greatest of care, it was around 10 cubits ["braccia"] in length, and five wide [one Sienese braccio was the equivalent of about 60 cm].  Along the low walls that bordered the chamber was a line of urns filled with ashes. Below them could be seen various kinds of tools, degraded by time, revealing what trade each person had exercised in life.

At the far end was a niche set somewhat higher, where a much bigger urn could be seen. On its lid, shaped like a small couch, reclined an elderly woman with her elbow propped on a pillow, supporting her head with one hand and holding out a cup with the other.  Some are of the view that all the others were the progeny of this woman; and that either to avoid tarnishing past happiness with any misery by living any longer, or to escape entirely a wretched present life, she had resolved to die by taking poison in the manner of the Massilians [inhabitants of the ancient Greek colony of Massalia, Latin Massilia, present-day Marseille]. That is easy to believe considering that the woman's posture is no different from that described by Valerius Maximus in Book I, Chapter II, where he writes about the two coffins kept before the gate of Massilia.*

Situated at the other end was the entrance, made entirely of travertine, two cubits wide and just over two and a half high [see above note on the Sienese cubit or braccio]. At its sides, from top to bottom, were square fluted columns with their ornamentation, surmounted by an architrave with a frieze, cornice and a pediment in the middle of which a rose had been sculpted. It must have been the family crest given that roses could be seen carved out of the tufo around the chamber and on some of the urns. A faint trace of red pigment still clung to them. The entrance was opened and closed with slabs of identical travertine, which fitted so smoothly into their sockets that they could be moved with ease. Set into the slabs and sealed with lead were iron fittings employed for closing the doors.

In front of this entrance were large slabs of stone and other charred stones and bricks, with a large quantity of charcoal. It is believed that bodies used to be cremated on the site. Various kinds of earthenware pottery were also found. An urn fragment was made of a paste similar to gypsum with a very strong smell and very durable, as was seen by testing: having been buried for more than 1,400 years it was subsequently exposed to the outside rain, heat and frost." 

*The reference is to Memorable Deeds and Sayings by the first-century AD Roman author Valerius Maximus. In an account of the customs of Massilia, he describes how two coffins were kept at the gates of the city, one for the bodies of free men and the other for slaves, and how it was customary for a minimum of grieving to be displayed at funerals. A poison mixed with hemlock was available in the city for citizens who had experienced bad or good fortune and wanted to die "lest the former persists or the latter ceases". 

In an adjacent passage, the Roman author relates how, in Ioulis on the island of Kea in the Cyclades, a woman of high rank cheerfully took a cup of poison in her ninetieth year after a lifetime enjoying "fortune's favour". The passage describes how, taking to her death bed, she leant on her elbow and told family and witnesses that she preferred a "happy conclusion" now rather than living on to see her fortunes change for the worse later. 

The manuscript's interpretation of the scene depicted in the Monterongriffoli burial chamber and the reference to the writings of Valerius Maximus are today regarded as somewhat fanciful.