Le Tombe a Tholos

The Tholos Graves in Sesto Fiorentino are undoubtedly famous because of their amazing state of preservation. Moreover, they are an important testimony of the "orientalizing" Etruscan period dating to the VII B.C., due to the abundant trade exchanges with the Greeks.

The Hellenic influence on the Etruscan art and culture has been revealed during the last years thanks to numerous archaeological excavations regarding manufactured articles, work tools and graves. As far as the Sesto's graves are concerned it was immediately evident the use of the same architectural technique that can be found in the Mycenaean tumuli. The graves of the Mula and of the Montagnola were built with a false dome and they are peculiar because of the circular layout of their main chambers and for their unusual dimensions. The first has a diameter of more than eight metres while the other is five metres long. Such a size would have damaged their stability with time. Instead, the two graves are still there.
The Etruscans arrived in Sesto and they built the two monumental graves here around the VII century. the Grave of the Montagnola in Tholos, that was discovered in 1959, is the one that best recalls the "Atreus's Treasure", a masterpiece of the Mycenaean sepulchral art.
A huge 70-metre long earth tumulus is on top of it and it is a false-dome grave with a long corridor, called "dromos" leading to the funerary room. The objects found inside, such as pots, rests of clothes and iron objects, suggested to the scholars that the Etruscans carried out continuous commercial exchanges.
In effect, objects of an "exotic" origin, worked in ivory and bone, were found, too. The absence of Greek furnishing was explained with the numerous pillages that the Montagnola grave underwent in the course of time. The grave of the Mula is under the villa Garbi Pecchioli and it has been ascertained that it was discovered in 1481, as it can be inferred from an inscription on the inside.
Nevertheless, its structure was remarkably changed by an opening for the light that was opened when the owners of the villa used the funeral monument as a cellar. Even if it is certain that this grave belonged to an illustrious Etruscan family it does not have any kind of funeral equipment. All its goods must have been looted during the last centuries.