The weather has been pretty bad here in NYC for the past few days - light slushy snow and now some rain to hopefully wash everything away. I've been thinking about Mt. Acuto and the Etruscan temple at its summit. So, instead of eating too much, I started to do some research (which is so easy on the Internet now-a-days).
I have become fascinated by the question:
Just what’s so important about the Etruscans?
Here is what I have gleaned:
The Etruscans date back to the 11th -10th centuries BC (Notice how the numbers go backwards!).
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| Mt. Tezio viewed by me and our guests from our pool (Lucky us!). |
And, that is way, way back. That's more than 2,000 years before Il Convento Mincione was started.
The Etruscan city of Perugia, which is no more that 24km from Mincione, just to the other side of Mt. Tezio .
We have a comprehensive book of circular walks, which has been custom tailored for the Umbertide area, available in our guest library. Mt. Tezio, which you can climb easily, is featured in the book. To let you know how gentle the climb to Mt. Tezio is, I even climbed half way up with my very good and very patient friend Penny and her beloved dogs. Penny has been living in the area for a long time. She is the spearhead of the enormously successful Umbrian dog rescue program, "Books for Dogs" .
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| Penny and her faithful dogs mid-way point Mt. Tezio. |
Back to the Etruscans - Perugia sits high on a hill overlooking the Tiber River, and dates back to the 8th century BC. The Etruscans coveted this hill top position as strategic point for military and commercial reasons, and built walls made of blocks of travertine marble to fortify it. These walls, which still stand proudly today as a testament to the Etruscans engineering prowess, were later incorporated into the medieval defense system of the city and now have become an important tourist attraction, since the only thing that menaces the citizens of Perugia today are drugs and there seems to be little defense against them - they are dapertutto (wherever you go).
Okay, so you know that the Etruscans left defense walls. They also left necropoles (Greek plural: necropoleis; Latin plural: necropoles) dapertutto. The brochure from which I 'lifted' all this information, can be accessed by clicking on the History link found on the under our INFO section on Activities Page look for: More of what Umbria has to offer to visitors. (And, I encourage you to do it, because clicking around our website boosts our rankings on search engines).
One of the necropoli mentioned, Tomba del Faggeto, can be found directly across the valley from Il Convento Mincione (The brochure says it is in San Giovanni del Pantano, which is on the road that leads you to us, but the map indicates the position that is seen in the image below. I know the people who own the property on which the tomba is located.)
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| View towards Tomba del Faggeto from the terrace of apartment DIECI (Lucky them!) |
Gloria Steinem - FYI (directed to some of my younger readers) - one of those women who burned their bras in the 1960's, must have been impressed to know that Etruscan women enjoyed higher social status than their ancient contemporaries. Not only were Etruscan women included in festivals and taught to write, those of the aristocratic class were often buried with objects that conveyed the same symbols of power as those of the men, including scepters, thrones, belts, nuptial carriages, horse adornments and shields, as well as precious jewelry, hairpieces and clothing accessories. So, what's new? They sound just like me and some of my friends, before I simplified my life at Il Convento Mincione. And, according to what I read about them in the article cited below, Etruscan women made our women's liberation movement look like child’s play. I don’t want to quote anything from it because this is a “G” rated blog, but you can go to the website where I found the info using the link below. (And, by the way the comparison with me and Etruscan women stops with the material stuff. And, I never burned a bra, either.)
The title of this entry is "Yesterday's Umbria... and the Inception of the Mediterranean Diet", I had better get to the diet part, before I lose you, my faithful audience. The concept of an Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) emerged in the 1990s, as a counterpart to the World Heritage that focuses mainly on tangible aspects of culture. In November of 2010, UNESCO added 'The Mediterranean Diet' to their list of ICHes.
On pages 23-24 of the History article they talk about Etruscan Cooking, which includes all of todays Umbrian favorites; Torta al testo, Strangozzi (thick pasta of flour and water rolled with a special technique),
Lamb...
...Wild Boar (proof of popularity is the "Oggi Porchetta" sign that hangs in the mini market window 365 days a year),Wine, Chestnuts (venerated every autumn at our very own festival in Preggio nearby - you remember the Luigi story! ( You see how you have to keep up with the blog or you'll feel like you missed something?); Olive Oil (Everybody still makes their own and is really proud of the color); and pulses. A Pulse ( in Latin "puls" - I hadn't heard of them either) is an annual leguminous crop harvested solely for the dry seed. Pulses are an important food crops due to their high protein and essential amino acid content. Pulses also play a key role in crop rotation due to their ability to fix nitrogen; and, spelt. Honey was their only sweetener. It has taken us very modern people 2,000 years to figure our what they knew back then.
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| Same night sky viewed by Etruscans more than 2,000 years back. |
Ciao for now,
Joan
References:
Etruscan society:
Etruscans: An Emancipated Society - The role of woman
1 comment:
Amazing post Joan. I took a health break (work break) as well as a glimpse back in time without ever leaving my laptop!
Linda
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