The necropolis of the Centocamere

The archelogical site inaugurated by the major

On saturday we went to the inauguration of this interesting archeological site in Grotte di Castro, on the Bolsena Lake.

This place is called Centocamere ( the meaning is 100 rooms). The Necropolis owes its name to the large number of tombs interconnected by an intricate system of passages in the walls of the burial chambers. This necropolis is situated on the S.P. 48.

The passages were carved out by grave robbers in ordet to facilitate movement between chambers. The entire hill is affected by presence of funerary structures carved into tufa rock, wich are arranged on the least three orders for a total of more than fifty graves with multiple despositions.

Signal

Grotte di Castro - View from the Centocamere

In this valley there are three Necropolis.

Thi is the second grave site after Necropolis of Vigna la Piazza. The tombs we described so far date back to the VII th century B.C., wich makes them older in comparison of Necropoli of Pianezze, VI the century B.C..

A green promenade in the site

The burial site design is completely different from the latter too.

             

At the necropoliso f Centocamere the tombs spread out, on a perpendicular line to the entrance and excavation of chambers. The most impressive tomb discovered is 16 meters long with 5 coaxial cambers and 3 side chambers. In total 19 bodies were buried here.

Recent escavation discovered a new section of the original road the Etruscan people walked when bringing their dead for burial.

You can see this site and the Etruscan Museum and the Necropolis of Pianezze with a single ticket.

Here my video during the tour. This is one of the monumental graves you can see.

Unfortunately the site can only be reached by car or bike