Tumulus Castellina in Chianti

Also called Tumulo di Montecalvari.

Montecalvario (hill of the cavalry) is a small round hill with a diameter of more than 50 meters. It is so called because at the top of the hill there was a chapel that was the last stop of a Via Crucis.
In the early 1800s, an accidental discovery revealed that the mound was an imposing Etruscan funerary monument and that beneath it were four burial chambers arranged according to cardinal points. In each tomb there is a long corridor (dromos) leading to the hall, from which access was gained to one or more rooms: the southern and western tombs have a more complex three-chamber layout.
The burial artifacts may have been looted in antiquity, but gold, bronze, iron, bone and ivory fragments (perhaps from cascets?) remain. Among the found metal objects are parts of two chariots and plates with relief decorations that embellished the wooden structure of chariots. The monumental size of the burial mound and the remains of the funerary objects give a good idea of the royal wealth of the deceased, who were laid to rest in these tombs and who probably belonged to the families to which the lords of this area belonged in the period 7-6th century BC.

Willem Vandenameele