Vetulonia: a small village surrounded by Etruscan tombs

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Vetulonia continues to be excavated — so much so, in fact, that it's just about impossible to visit: green metal fences and locked gates everywhere. In January 1997 I did, however, get to see this Etruscan tomb about 500m N of town: named by archaeologists the Tomba della Fibula d'Oro, because they found a gold fibula in it.

The serious student with an interest in the Etruscans will not want to miss the chapter of George Dennis's Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria. It's a fairly detailed account of what we would call today a salvage excavation, of a large Etruscan settlement. The account is also of particular interest to students of historical archaeology, since the site in question, by modern lights, is not Vetulonia at all, rather a necropolis SW of Magliano in Toscana! You'll therefore have to read carefully, untangling information about Vetulonia from information about that site.