Stefano loved that place.
He had always believed in it, even when no one seemed to care.
That morning, he had his head immersed in his thoughts, while he was walking along the dirt road that went along the big valley of the San Lorenzo stream, a small tributary of the Tiber.
He had been going there since he was a child, even more so since he decided to become an archaeologist.
At that age, Stephen was reading the adventures of King Arthur and his Sword in the Stone. Now he did not have a sword, but many, many tombs carved into the rock! Finally, in Montecchio, a small village in the Tiber Park, someone was beginning to wonder what was on those hills. Even official archaeology was beginning to wonder what such thriving city could exist nearby ..
Stefano wanted to check the damage done to the path by the torrent, which was about to flood due to the heavy rains of the previous days. He had left his old dusty Multipla at the entrance of the archaeological area, full of boxes for excavation materials, maps, tools, hurriedly written notes and was observing the edges of the stream … wedging into a gorge.
He had to bring some hikers there soon and didn’t want any surprises. The water was still cloudy and the foliage of that early autumn was ready to give pictures full of colours between yellow and orange.
He walked careful not to fall into the water and not to get too caught up in that colourful spectacle. The sun was peeping through the vegetation: “Everything is fine” – he told himself – “I can go and take a look at the tombs”. He began to climb the small escarpment and paused for a moment in front of that rock wall which once, about 2 million years ago, was part of the Sea and which now housed a very rich Umbrian-Etruscan necropolis. There, the unknown inhabitants of this fabulous city had decided to bury their dead: it seemed to find oneself in Etruria, with tombs preceded by an entrance corridor and rooms where unknown artists of more than 2000 years ago had carved the wooden roof. Stefano sometimes sat imagining a funeral ritual, with the quays full of objects and vases that belonged to the dead.
He had already visited and checked a dozen graves when he noticed a landslide: the earth, dark because still soaked in water, immediately attracted his attention. We, who have known him for years, know that when he thinks, he begins to caress the short beard that he had decided to let grow.. The entrance to the corridor had collapsed and you could only see the large travertine slab of the closure. This time he didn’t even think about it for a moment: the slab was moved, and Stefano entered the narrow hole between the earth and the rock. Damn: it was not an intact tomb, it had already been looted, perhaps in ancient times. He decided to work with a trouwle, you know that kind of archaeologists’ trowel, blessing the idea of having it always with him. He set out to free the right wall from the earth, heedless of the cold and humidity and almost in the dark. And a miracle happened: little by little he realized that those well-preserved signs formed an inscription in the Etruscan alphabet. It was the name of the owner of the tomb: he read, from right to left, Marce Camit and then nothing more .. Damn! For the excitement, it came out in a second .. Marce Camit … and .. if it were Marce Camitinas … one of the companions of Aulus and Celio Vibenna conquering Rome in the sixth century? The saga of the famous Francois tomb of Vulci would have a train here too! (to be continued …)
The reconstruction is fictional, but who knows that one day, a name can be given to the hidden, but visitable wonder situated in the San Lorenzo valley. The funerary equipment can be seen today at the Municipal Antiquarium in the nearby village of Tenaglie, within the municipality of Montecchio.
Info and reservations:
+39 349 06 42 786
montecchiostorianatura@gmail.com
www.montecchiostorianatura.it
