Top 10 Things to do in Cerveteri, Lazio

Necropolis of Cerveteri A major centre of Etruscan civilisation that was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004, the Necropolis stretches for more than two kilometres. This certainly makes it the most imposing in all Etruria and one of the most magnificent monuments of its kind anywhere in the Mediterranean basin. These monumental tombs are located inside tumuli, partly cut into the tufa rock and partly built over it. The purpose of theseedifices was to illustrate the desire of a handful of aristocratic families to make a statement about their wealth and to perpetuate a lifestyle of the highest quality also after death. This may explain the abundance of luxury goods found in these tombs, such as tableware made of precious metal, goldsmith’s work, illustrated vases, bronzes and pieces imported from Greece and the Near East, as well as weapons, belts, razors, buckles and jewellery. The interiors are eerily evocative, imitating the houses where their occupants spent their lives, with several rooms, shaped doors and windows, columns and pillars, beamed and coffered ceilings, furnishings, funerary beds and sometimes grave goods. It is also interesting to visit the tombs known locally as a dado(like dice), which describes how they line the streets of the necropolis in regular patterns, looking uncannily like a modern housing estate. Discover how the tombs come to life!

It is hosted in the fortress of the 1200, which was converted into a castle by the Orsini family in the 1400. There are displayed some of the artifacts from the Etruscan Necropolis of Monte Abatone, Banditaccia, Bufalareccia and Sorbo. In 2013 the new media path has been opened, and it is developed in four sections. Thanks to the installation of four 3D projectors it is possible to understand the history of the most famous art crafts of the collection. At the beginning the visitor is welcomed by a introductory video with the voice of Piero Angela describing the peculiarities of the museum. The works of art have a time spanning over nine centuries. Thanks to the multimedia animation, we can see the decorations of vases better and renewed, ancient myths, everyday life scenes, sport and religious cults are easy to be understood, the history of the object is understandable. it is the concept of the "Alive Museum" where the interaction between the visitor and the object is inverted, the museum is describing itself relating to the public in a unique new way, using new technologies and an easier accessible language.