Dec 15, 2009
Old cemetery stones? Roman settlement stones? Fill us in! They were incorporated into a wall on the main street through Montepulciano, Italy. Please comment below!
Posted on Tuesday, December 15, 2009
In Articles, Italy, Photo Essay, Tuscany
Tags: couple, Italy, Montepulciano, romantic, Tuscany
I did some digging (no pun intended) and discovered that these are photos of the Palazzo di Bucelli, with a foundation built of carved Etruscan burial urns filled with cement and stacked like bricks.
Nicely done, Kevin. While I’ll have to take your word for it since we truly don’t know what they were…Sounds plausible. In your research did you find how recently the locals scavanged the Etruscan urns? Lisa’s next book will have some Etruscan history so this is really interesting.
I found the answer at
http://www.girosole.com/italy-travel-info/sights-…
Also, here's an excerpt from
http://www.frommers.com/destinations/montepulcian…
In lieu of an Etruscan museum, Montepulciano has the Palazzo Bucelli (no. 73), the sort of place that makes archaeologists grit their teeth — the lower level of the facade is embedded with a patchwork of dozens of Etruscan reliefs and funerary urns. Most probably came from the Chiusi area, and they represent the collection of 18th-century antiquarian scholar and former resident Pietro Bucelli.