Monte Casoli di Bomarzo Nature Reserve

Historical Notes

The geographical area in which the Park and the attractive historic centre of Bomarzo are situated is at the centre of important ancient communication routes.
In Etruscan times, this route connected the Tyrrhenian coast and the powerful city of Tarquinia with the Tiber valley, a trading road since prehistory. Cultural and political influence on the territory would seem to have been exerted by another powerful city-state of the Etruscan federation, Volsinii (today's Orvieto). The archaeological digs begun in the nineteenth century brought to light three main necropolises, presumably belonging to three different Etruscan settlements: they are situated in the localities of Monte Casoli, Pianmiano and Pian della Colonna.
With the Roman conquest of Volsinii in 264 BC and the deportation of its population to Volsinii Novii (in the vicinity of what is today Bolsena), the Etruscan centres of the area began to decline in importance, since they were off the main routes created by Roman re-organisation of the road network.