Teaching History in Italy

Villa Giulia, Etruscan Museum in Rome 

Rome is definitely  one of the best place to be a history student….or teacher.

Many years ago when teaching at international schools in Rome, 

vintage  photo with students 

the history books supplied from the USA practically ignored the Etruscans and Romans thus an ad hoc curriculum was created. Rome was our campus, our library, our textbook: Rome's Villa Giulia museum and Tarquinia and Cerveteri’s museums and necropoli  became extensions of the classroom for on site learning.

Etruscan bucchero  - reproduction by Mastro Cencio 

At Villa Giulia the  kids sat on the floor and spread  themselves out with notebooks, pens and pencils  to sketch artifacts  and fill in study sheets about the Etruscan civilization. 

The stern guards  were quite taken aback  then, but nowadays  this up close and familiar  way of  learning at  a museum is considered acceptable.

Palazzo Vitelleschi, Tarquinia's Etruscan Museum

For  Tarquinia  the best plan was to start on the  top floor of the museum  and work down to the entrance, skipping the “boring” rooms where   hundreds of black and red figure vases  were set in glass cases, including an entire room of  vases decorated with very graphic  erotic scenes.   

erotic vases  at Tarquinia Museum

Teaching youngsters about Roman civilization  involved difficult choices: should we go to  Castle Sant’Angelo, Ostia Antica or the Museum of Roman Civilization in EUR? 

model of the Flavian ampitheatre  Museum of Roman Civilization, EUR

 Lucky students who  visit the Colosseum, Pompeii and  Herculaneum at 10-15 years of age understand history in a deeper way and remember  it for the rest of their lives. A  fascination for  the past developed as a youngster occasionally becomes a life choice, a former student, now history professor at  Oxford, has told me.  

cut away of Castle Sant'Angelo 

The best season for visits to Etruscan, Roman and medieval sites  in the Italian countryside  is  the winter  while the vipers are still hibernating and the sun’s rays are lenient. 

Cerveteri, one of  the top 10   Etruscan sites 

Independent travelers, students and teachers can find  more  practical tips for visiting  Etruscan sites in central Italy in the   several books  I have published. 

the painted tombs of Tarquinia

Happy exploring!

rock hewn tombs of Norchia (ph. J.F.Sims)

 Doric  facade, Norchia 

little known Etruscan necropolis of Norchia, Vetralla

Have you visited  any of the above places as a student or independent traveler?   

UNESCO World Heritage site of Cerveteri

two colors of tufa for this  tomb  

Last week  we invited  young American archeologists  Tim and Erika  to describe their visit to  Tarquinia, one of the area’s  two UNESCO  World Heritage  sites. 

beehive shaped  funerary mounds 

The other is   Cerveteri, further south in the province of Rome,  which I visited  this week for the first time  in over  40 years, when it was  a favorite field trip for  my  international school students  back  in  the  60s and 70s . I hope  some of them who read this will  leave a comment, here below. 

entrance  drive to Banditaccia necropolis 

carved rings   decorate the tomb mounds 

my book on the area is available at the bookshop

cart ruts   dating from  300 BC

columns  with  carbon inclusions 

path among  the tombs 

Not much has changed  at the Banditaccia necropolis  since that time,  only the  majestic pines   which flank  the entrance drive  have grown and their roots have made  the  road  bumpier , but  visitors are even  more welcome thanks to the new   snack bar and  bookshop.

Isabella at the snack bar 

taking a break at the snack bar 

When  I visited  with student groups years ago  a packed lunch  was imperative and  we had to be sure to bring our own flashlights   in order  to see anything in the dark tombs.

Another change is that the Tomb  of the Reliefs , the most important,  is now  sealed off  with a glass door, like Tarquinia’s painted tombs, for protection. 

walking among  the tomb mounds 

dromos  entrance  to tombs

Tomb of the Reliefs 

below the tree, the Tomb of the Reliefs

The atmosphere felt in the necropolis  is still  awe inspiring,  mysterious and lush.  

This “City of the Dead” is a  peek into how the Etruscans  lived, what they found important and   how they perceived life after death.

closeup  of the  tufa stone blocks 

The   tombs, excavated in  tufa  stone, have   rooms  and funerary beds  to  recreate what the Etruscan homes looked like.

Outside the dromos  entrance way there are often  phallic symbols or cippi  for male occupants, or  house shaped   cippi  for female burials. 

Have you visited  either Tarquinia or Cerveteri ?  Which is your favorite Etruscan site?