Necropoli delle Pianacce Sarteano

The necropolis of Pianacce has been investigated for the first time in 1954 by the archaeologist William Maetzke that there unearthed two graves. Subsequently, the Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Tuscany interrupted searches and between the 70s and 80s of last century, the area suffered a heavy looting by grave robbers who brought to light at least 5 more underground, as reflected by a subsequent survey of ' apporrere area for the archaeological restrictions, indicating 7 graves. Then the area was again abandoned. In the summer of 2000, thanks to the willingness of landowners and the request of one of them, the Archaeological Museum of Sarteano with volunteers from the local Archaeological Group has resumed excavations unearthed another 20 structures including 15 made visited. The cemetery is only a limited part of a vast burial ground excavated in the rocky ridge that bounds the plateau Sarteano, with tombs already in late-Orientalist and archaic. The magnificent view over the Val di Chiana, which shows the closeness with the then hegemonic center of Chiusi and with today Città della Pieve, and that opens the valleys leading to Orvieto in Umbria, which show the position control was selected for burials, but surely the place definitely lived nearby.

The area of ​​Pianacce present in the south-west are the tombs of the earliest phase, dating between the second half of the sixth and fifth century. a. C., with medium to small structures, all carved in travertine, while in the central monumental tombs are large, with enormous access corridors, each with a different plant and the other with different architectural features. They belong to a period from the second half of the fourth and early second century. a. C. and have the highest quality materials that show the richness of the client that made them realize. Between them stands the tomb decorated with paintings called "Tomb of the Infernal Quadriga" the most significant scene that it represents, which is one of the major findings dell'etruscologia decades.