A team of Italian archaeologists excavating at the ancient Etruscan city of Vulci has discovered a previously unknown of monumental temple near the legendary Tempio Grande sacred site.
The ancient temple was built near the Tempio Grande (grand temple) at the archaeological site of the city of Vulci . Located about 80 kilometers (49.7 miles) northwest of Rome on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea, between the municipalities Montalto di Castro and Canino, in the late 19th century archaeologists discovered thousands of ancient tombs, including the Tomb of the Sun and Moon, Then, in the 1950s, the Tempio Grande was revealed.
Since the 1950s excavations have revealed an archaeological area of around 900 hectares and every square inch is loaded with evidence of the city’s past. But nobody expected the discovery of this second temple, which in orientation, alignment and scale reflects the building dynamics measured in the Tempio Grande.
The excavation team in the field in summer 2022. (Mariachiara Franceschini / Vulci Cityscape )
An Ancient Center Of Culture And Arts
In the 6th century BC the city of Vulci was one of the twelve cities of the Etruscan federation. Developed by the people of Etruria, neighboring cultures that shared similar religious beliefs and social traits, like language, came together and formed a rich and highly-artistic culture that was bound by their federation of city-states. By the pre-Roman period, Vulci had become one of the most important trading centers in what is today…
