Marsiliana d'Albegna

Marsiliana, hamlet of Manciano

The modern village of Marsiliana d’Albegna is in the municipality of Manciano, in the province of Grosseto. It occupies the south-eastern branch of the floodplain of the Albegna river, where the valley leaves the plains and winds into the hills. Its strategic position, overlooking one of the most important waterways of the region, and thus controlling trade and communication, together with fertile soils have favoured, since ancient times, the founding and development of numerous settlements visible in its archaeology. The oldest evidence comes from the Castle Hill, a hillock which, although modest in height, is very noticeable from the plain, being the most prominent feature in the area. The Princes of the Corsini family have had a residence, the castle, atop this hill since 1761.

In 1908, during construction work on a building to store agricultural machinery, not far from the present centre of Marsiliana, in the area called Banditella, an extensive necropolis was discovered. [2]

Map Marsiliana d'Albegna | Enlarge map

Cycling tours in the Tuscan Maremma
14. Cuore di Maremma \| The Heart of Maremma (GR5) Grosseto (Ponte Mussolini) - Magliano in Toscana - Bivio Marsiliana - Scansano - Bivio Montiano - o Grosseto (Ponte Mussolini)
16. Poggio Foco Manciano - Lago Scuro - Capriola - Bivio Capalbio - S.P. 67 - La Campigliola - Attraversamento S.P. 32 - S.R. 74 - Manciano Cicloturismo in Maremma \| Poggio Binetti e Lago Scuro
18. Sulle strade dei campioni \| Along the routes of the Champions Manciano - Pitigliano - Sorano - Sovana - San Martino sul Fiora - Saturnia - Montemerano - Scansano - Pereta - Magliano in Toscana - Marsiliana - Capalbio - La Sgrilla - Manciano
28. Le colline di Manciano e Capalbio \| The Hills of Manciano and capalbio Capalbio - Vallerana - Sgrillozzo - Marsiliana - Capalbio


[1] Foto da LigaDue, licenziato in base ai termini della licenza Creative Commons Attribuzione 3.0 Unported. [2] Source: Etruria Nova, MARSILIANA D’ALBEGNA THE SETTLEMENT AND THE NECROPOLIS The activities and projects of Etruria Nova can be seen on the website www.etrurianova.org [3] David Abulafia, The Great Sea: A Human History of the Mediterranean, Oxford University Press, USA, 13 okt. 2011
Tablet from Marsiliana d’Albegna, Etruria, seventh century BC. Probably used for teaching the alphabet, this tablet provides the earliest evidence for the importation of the archaic Greek alphabet into Etruria; the letters were written from right to left, as in Phoenician, and the alphabet contains several letters such as delta that were dropped from the Etruscan script because the sound did not exist in Etruscan speech.[3]

The earliest Estruscan abecedarium, the Marsiliana d'Albegna tablet, which dates to c. 700 VCE.