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THE ETRUSCAN CITY OF MARZABOTTO
The Etruscan city of Misa in Marzabotto (about 10 Km. south, on the Porrettana road) was discovered in 1865 by the Bolognese Giovanni Gozzadini, in the estate of Count Giuseppe Aria.
Misa was founded ex-novo at the beginning of 5th century according to rigorous urban criteria: still intact in its structures, it constitutes an ideal place for the study of urban planning and Etruscan architecture and, in general for the study of the history and the life of the Etruscans.
The city articulated on a net of four main axes, three having an east-west line and one north-south. The main roads were 15 m wide, of which only 5 were carriage roads; the remaining ones, were used on each side as sidewalks flanked by water drains.
Many secondary roads, 5 m wide, existed forming a regular net that divided the city in "islands" in which there were blocks of buildings , according to the Greek urban model.
The houses, with inner courtyards and wells, had often handicraft activities, with shops that faced the road.
Among other activities a large foundry for bronze fusion and workshops for the process of ceramics were found.
In peripheral position at east and north with respect to the buildings, two necropolis with travertine tombs marked by onion shaped cippus were discovered.. On the small height, beyond the Porrettana road , was situated the acropolis: a sanctuary and three temples of which only a few ruins remain.
For about a century Misa was the last stop before the Apennine mounts, but then it decayed after the Celtic invasions of 4th century A.C.. The decline of the ancient Etruscan colony was so quick and inevitable that when the Roman took the territory they did not even try to re-establish the urban order, also somewhat unbalanced by the river erosion; in the 1st century A.C. a large rustic villa existed of which now there are only the foundations, the well and the ruins of a tile furnace.
For information tel. 051/932353
Archaeological National Museum "Pompeo Aria": open every day 9,00-12,00 and 15.00-18.30
Excavations : open every day from 7,00 to 19.00
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