The First Pearl

For a short weekend getaway, we traveled with new friends to the Amalfi coast.  Vietri sul Mare, or just Vietri, is the 'first pearl' of the coast.  Many more towns dot this beautiful part of Italy.

Bucket list check point: staying in one of those hotels that hugs the cliffside.

This was our first view of the town and the water from the hotel, upon our arrival just as dusk was closing in.

Good morning!

Obligatory panorama

This guy needed a break from the workweek.  He looks...anticipatory. 

The walk into town is mostly downhill.  

I don't know why, but a lot of these Amalfi coast towns have little miniature vignettes of themselves somewhere.

When it became apparent that the bus into the upper part of town was not going to appear for some time, we hoofed it.  Note the local resident, in her 4 inch wedge heels, walking with no apparent effort up the long slog to the main thoroughfare. She'd already bypassed us, and quickly overtook our friends up ahead.
Show-off.

Once in town, we poked around. Every one of the Amalfi coast towns is known for locally made ceramics.  You can buy plenty of it for yourself, and you can see how the town itself incorporates it into buildings, here and there.

The local church.

It has a ceramic tiled dome.  Beautiful.

He finally looks relaxed.

'Yeah, seafood for dinner would be nice. Whenever.'

A tiny church closer to the hotel - with a beautifully tiled floor.

And, I'm sorry to say, a slightly cross-eyed Madonna.

So maybe I liked the view a lot. Sue me.

The return to the hotel.  Steps down to terraced landings.  

Nisa Blackmon alert:  what is this?

Will this help with identification? 

The primary building of the hotel.  

Which even has tiled steps.

Rain rolled in...sadly.

So that meant that we had to have breakfast from a tray on our balcony.  Shucks.
Do you think the The Spouse looks torn up about this?

Even paradise needs rain. 

Tusci

Horrors!  I've been away from this for what feels like a long time. 

Life - and work - in Rome can be consuming.

How about a trip to Villa Giulia, site of the famous Etruscan Museum?

Let's go, then.

The Spouse and I visited this place on a Friday evening, which for us makes a perfect date night. 

Because we are bonafide geeks, of course.

I would heartily recommend visiting museums on the weekends or Thursdays when they have extended hours. One thing is for sure:  there are no school or big tourist groups to contend with.

Aside from maybe a dozen or so other patrons, it was empty.

The interior courtyard of a Renaissance villa converted into an award-winning museum with a LARGE number of artifacts.

A Neptune-themed pavement in the grotto below

Who were the Etruscans?  The forerunners of the Romans.  The last two kings of the beginnings of ancient Rome were Etruscan (my favorite being Tarquinius Superbus - because saying 'soo-PUR-bus' is fun and because it means 'arrogant.'  Now go call your arrogant friend '(Name)-us Superbus').

We call the middle region of Italy - the lovely hills and mountains where grapes and olives are grown in abundance, and the Renaissance later flourished - Tuscany, because this is where the Etruscans lived...the Romans called them 'Tusci.'  

And the Romans, ever fond of adopting forms, materials and motifs from neighbors, incorporated a lot of Etruscan structures, funerary art forms and the like from these neighbors, who lived mostly north of Rome. Mostly. 

A cinerary urn.

Another cinerary urn - of a very wealthy woman, we can surmise:  look at her couch with its relief carvings, her jewelry and her palm frond-fan...

A re-creation of an Etruscan temple.  None exist today, because they were principally made of wood. This is a lovely courtyard, by the way.

Case after case after case...and not one visitor obstructing our view.  Lovely. 

The Etruscans were in contact with Ancient Greeks, clearly.  Note the similarities of style on this vase. 

I can't help but think about Minoan bull-leaping frescos and sculptures when I see this.  But this is in bronze, a metal that the Etruscans were known for working with.

The most famous Etruscan piece of all, probably:  the husband and wife sarcophagus.  There is one other example of this in the Louvre.  Art historians ascribe their archaic smiles to the ancient intent to portray someone as 'alive.'  

Made of terracotta and lifesize, this piece illustrates something that the Greeks found disturbing about the Etruscans:  their women.  To be specific:  their 'audacious' women. Etruscan women were very visible in society; they were literate, they kept their surnames after marriage, they could own their own property, and they (gasp!) partied in the same social gatherings with their husbands.. Greek women didn't do this.  Roman women didn't do this. 

I adore her pointy shoes and the ruffle of her dress.

Aside from this awkward back side of the piece (textbooks and websites so rarely show us the back sides of sculptures - so here is one!), let's consider how intimate the feeling is.  These two seem to be very engaged with one another, as they recline on their couch that doubles as their sarcophagus. 

                                       One day I'll get the chance to visit Cerveteri, where their tombs are located, in which everything you                                                                                  would need in the afterlife would be carved in relief in the soft volcanic rock. 

Let's not forget, too, that is is made of baked clay.  Hence, the hole in the top of his head. 

So much ceramic statuary and vessels!

And lots of bronze.  Etruscans mined various metals and created gorgeous bronzes.

The incised images on this mirror - one of many - make me think of Picasso drawings, stylistically.

Art history students of mine will remember that we begin discussing Etruria with a gold fibula.  This one is not that one.  Here is another one.
A wealthy people, deeply invested in trade with Mesopotamian cultures.

Bronze laurel wreaths, anyone?

Why not capture a tale involving an unusual (true) sighting of an elephant?

Etruscan temple fragments

Note that affinity for the Greek key, or 'meander' pattern

Apulu - or Apollo - life-size and in terracotta.  He would have graced a temple roof.

Along with some other friends in the Etruscan pantheon. Note how they stride forward with purpose.

A gold jewelry collection!

Hair pins  - for those elaborate 'dos.

The lovely, much maligned Juno (or Uni, actually), goddess of the hearth. She actually comes from a sub-culture that is not, technically, Etruscan, even though it was situated in Etruria.  She is Faliscan.  

So, you find yourself in Rome.  You've seen the Roman Forum, you've walked ancient pavements, and you've wondered 'who came before them?'

This is your answer.   GO see this museum.