Populonia: the only Etrurian city by the sea
It extends between the mountainsides of Piombino's headland and the Gulf of Baratti, where the Etrurian and Roman city called Populonia - the only Etrurian city founded near the sea - rose. A network of itineraries connects the city of the houses and temples - that is the acropolis - to the industrial city and to the necropolis of Saint Cerbone with its barrows, tombs in the shape of aedicules and sarcophagi (7th-4th century before Christ) and to the necropolis of the Grotte with its chamber tombs dug into the rock (4th-3rd century before Christ). Today, as well as in the ancient times, the routes develop along roads paved with flagstones, they cross the woods and the Maquis opening into unexpected patches facing the Elba. One of these routes enter the woods in the headland to finally reach the ruins of the benedictine monastery of St. Quirico. Archaeology also shows itself in the creative ceramic workshops realized in the Center for Experimental Archaeology.
