Ricerc@Sapienza

Starting from the 7th c. BC, the Etruscan city of Caere (Cerveteri, RM) and its ports played a fundamental role as a commercial hub in the Mediterranean sea, thanks to a favorable geographical position along the maritime routes towards the mineral resources of Central Italy. Its international role was so relevant, that Caere was the only city in the Tyrrhenian area to own a "thesauròs" in Delphi's panellenic sanctuary (Strab. 5.220). The Etruscan metropolis was connected to its main military and commercial port by the monumental Caere-Pyrgi road, more ancient than the one linking Athens to the Pyreus; this highlights its early strategic ability in the regional planning. Pyrgi played different functions: harbour, settlement, sanctuary. Moreover, since it was abandoned after the Romanization period (3rd c. BC), the site is an exceptional case study because of the possibility of a full analysis of its different topographical components and a large-scale research over its territory. The excavations - whose fame contributed to the launch of the funding "Grandi Scavi Sapienza" - have brought to light a large sacred district, including the famous Sanctuary of Uni-Astarte and Leukothea, exceptionally mentioned by the literary sources (Aristot. Oec. 2.1349b; Aelian. V.H. 1.20) and a second cult place dedicated to the couple of deities Sur and Cavatha, a goddess recognized as Demeter by Greek devotees. In recent years, excavations have extended to the settlement, where a "Ceremonial Quarter", next to the terminal tract of the Caere-Pyrgi road, was discovered. Research program for the year 2022 aims to improve the knowledge of the topographical asset of Pyrgi and the relationship between the harbour and the sanctuary. The project implies a strong interdisciplinary approach (8 Depts. involved), matching different research fields in a coherent framework: archaeology, history of institutions, geomatics, remote-sensing, archaeometry, biology, restoration, landscape architecture.