L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2022 www.italoamericano.org 4 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS A small Pompeii e m e r g e s f r o m the mud. A dis- covery reminis- c e n t o f t h a t o f the Riace Bronzes, many said. And it is with the same surprise we felt when the two warriors were found in the depths of the Calabrian sea fifty years ago, that we receive the news, from Tuscany, of an amazing archaeological discovery. A discovery that l e f t t h e w o r l d s p e e c h l e s s because of its importance. Perhaps it isn't only the 24 statues we will soon be able to see in a museum, splendidly restored, to strike us, it's also the idea that such discoveries keep on happening in Italy: something amazing, and not only to the eyes of archaeolo- gists and classicists. Finding them is just like opening up a chest filled with history, and returning to the beauty and wealth of a civi- lization. It's just like being surrounded by an ancient life made of prayers, arts, and day-to-day life. T h e 2 4 b r o n z e s t a t u e s were found, intact, at the bot- tom of a large sacred pool dating back to Roman times. Mud and thermal waters pro- t e c t e d t h e m f o r o v e r t w o thousand years. When they emerged, perfectly preserved, they didn't only reveal their beauty but also shed light on a little-known page in the social and religious history of both the Romans and the Etruscans. These master- pieces are among the most significant findings in the his- tory of classical Mediter- ranean archaeology and are " a d i s c o v e r y b o u n d t o rewrite history, on which more than 60 international experts are already working," as discussed by archaeologist Jacopo Tabolli, who's been supervising the digs in San Casciano, a village in the province of Siena located between Montepulciano and Orvieto, since 2019. I t i s a t r e a s u r e l i k e n o other because, so far, we had only terracotta statues from that specific time in history. But also because, Tabolli explains, "This is not only the largest deposit of statues from antiquity ever discov- ered in Italy but also the only one we can fully reconstruct the context of." The statues present sever- al votive inscriptions in both Latin and Etruscan, a sign that "in these pools and on these altars two worlds, the Etruscan and the Roman, cohabited together," Tabolli, who is also a lecturer at the Università per Stranieri di Siena, continues. These stat- ues belonged to the most prominent Roman and Etr- uscan families in the area, and date from the 2nd centu- ry BC to the 1st century AD: it was a time characterized by conflict in Etruria, due to the passage from Etruscan to Roman rule. D e s p i t e i t , T a b o l l i e x p l a i n s , t h e t w o p e o p l e would gather together in front of the altars dedicated to the divinity of the local water spring. All around the San Casciano Great Bath sanctuary, there was insta- bility, political tensions and war but within it, in the mul- ticultural and multi-lingual context of the temple, peace and prayer were sovereign. "With its statues, the sanctu- a r y a l m o s t l o o k s l i k e a r e s e a r c h h u b o n c u l t u r a l diversity in antiquity, and it bears witness to Etruscan and Roman mobility," Tabol- li, who specializes in Etr- uscan history and archaeolo- gy, continues. "There have been other important discov- eries of this type, but what we found here represents an e x c l u s i v e o p p o r t u n i t y t o rewrite a portion of ancient history of art and, with it, also that of Etruscan and R o m a n p r e s e n c e i n T u s - cany," Tabolli further clari- fied. The San Casciano bronzes r e p r e s e n t t h e g o d s w o r - shipped there: Hygieia - god- Continued to page 6 " A small Pompeii:" San Casciano's incredible archaeological discovery One of the 24 statues recovered from thermal muds in San Casciano dei Bagni (Photo courtesy of Ministero della Cultura) BARBARA MINAFRA

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