Saturday, May 30th at 16.00 the archaeological area of Rocca Frassinello on the Etruscan necropolis of San Germano openned in Rocca di Frassinello, Giuncarico - City Of Gavorrano (GR), while the winery designed by Renzo Piano will host an experiential exhibition about the archaeological artefacts found out in the necropolis, which inspired a narrative focused on the use of wine in the Etruscan age designed by the architect Italo Rota, creator of Wine Hall at the Expo in Milan. The exhibition enables the experience of tasting the wine, the way the Etruscans used to.
The project, focused on the discovery of the Etruscan necropolis of San Germano (one of the most important archaeological remains in the area of the ancient Etruscan city of Vetulonia) is born as a collaboration between the Archaeological Superintendence of Tuscany, the department of Etruscology and Italic Antiquities of the University of Florence and Paolo Panerai who has conceived Rocca di Frassinello as an art and culture aggregator, under the sign of wine and with the sponsorship of the municipality of Gavorrano.
The Etruscan necropolis of San Germano, extended on both sides of the valley of Sovata, an important road in the territory of the Etruscan city of Vetulonia, consists of burial mounds built between the second half of the seventh century B.C. and the first half of the sixth century B.C.: three monumental tombs have been recovered and restored, creating a guided tour for the public.
The exhibition of the artefacts has been curated by Biancamaria Aranguren and Luca Cappuccini and displays many objects from the tombs of the archaeological area of Rocca di Frassinello. The tombs, already violated in the past, have returned some elements of the grave goods that accompanied the deceased in the afterlife. These are mainly painted ceramic and "bucchero" vases (Etruscan-Corinthian), ointment jars of various shape, used for the storage of perfumed oils for the body, and chalices and goblets for wine consumption. There are also some rare personal ornaments such as brooches and earrings, often made in bronze but also in precious metals.
The mound number 9 and the "stamnos": adjacent to the archaeological site of Rocca di Frassinello, in the grounds of Poggio Olivo, the Archeological Superintendency of Tuscany in collaboration with the department of Etruscologia of the University of Florence investigated another large mound of the necropolis of San Germano, with a more complex structure than the others, which reminds the great aristocratic mounds of Vetulonia. Plundered in ancient times, the tomb has nonetheless returned many exhibits testifying the prolonged use of this tomb, from the late VII to the III century BC, and the Etruscan passion for wine.
The high rank of the owners of the tomb is underlined by the presence of two axes of iron, some elements of a "currus" (a chariot comparable to the Roman "biga"), of rare egyptian vases of alabaster, as well as pottery imported from the eastern Mediterranean and Greece.
The stamnos, the large jar found in fragments in the northern cell of the mound, and subjected to a careful restoration, was built and painted in Athens around 480 BC. Its use as a container for the wine is made evident by the Dionysian procession decorating it, a tribute to this precious drink.
The idea of Italo Rota, to extract the characters from the stamnos, making them out of the two-dimensionality of their original support, recreating garments and ornaments of the protagonists of the Dionysian procession, has allowed, thanks to the 3D technology, to bring out the volumes and the movements of the characters included in the bond of the circular path represented by the stamnos.
Inspired by the decoration of the stamnos, a short story on wine is told. Wine, in Etruscan age, was already a status symbol: members of the local aristocracy were imitating the noble citizens, devoted to the pleasure of eating and drinking.
Wine consumption occurred mainly in special occasions and according to specific rituals. Before the arrival of the Greek habit, which introduced the use of a large vessel for dilution of the wine with water and pouring in large cups (the kylikes), typical jars of the local tradition were used Vetulonia. This is evidenced, for example, by the vessels found in the tomb number 5 of the necropolis of Santa Teresa, a town located a few kilometers from San Germano; dated around 630 BC, the monumental "kantharos" was probably used to contain the wine which was then drank through the bowls found around the big pot.
At the end of the exhibition route, it will be offered the experience to taste wine from jars whose shape reproduces that of the ancient etruscans bowls.
"The collaboration between Rocca di Frassinello, the Archaeological Superintendence of Tuscany and the University of Florence has allowed to make visible an important part of the history of the Etruscans and their relationship with the wine, "said Paolo Panerai, president of Rocca di Frassinello. "This confirms that in the land of our winery, wine was cultivated and loved already 3000 years ago. The collaboration has enabled Rocca di Frassinello to be a place of art related to wine, not only for contemporary art, with the performance by David Lachapelle, but also ancient art illustrating the culture of our ancestors. "