The city’s heritage, the region’s wealth
In the Archaeological Museum’s atmospheric underground rooms, visitors can explore the story of Montalcino’s earliest days from prehistory to the Etruscan era. The finds in the museum’s chiefly Etruscan collection include bowls, amphoræ, oinochœ and kylikes, most of which were unearthed at the fortified site of Poggio Civitella or in the larger tombs in the region such as the so-called “Treasure Pit” tomb at Sant’Angelo in Colle or the Buca di Sant’Antimo.
The Etruscan hill fort known as Poggio Civitella, which is within easy reach of the town centre, stands on the highest point of a hill whose strategic importance can still be grasped today thanks to the sweeping view to be had from it, stretching from the Appennines to the Mediterranean Sea. Digging both inside and outside the three circles of walls erected between the 6th and 2nd centuries BC, a group of local enthusiasts unearthed houses and everyday items that are now on display in the Archaeological Museum.
