etruschibadiacoltibuono

Badia a Coltibuono – Gaiole in Chianti (SI)
6 September to 30 November 2009

The Sanctuary artisans Etruscan Cetamura Chianti
The legacy of Alvaro Tracchi

Cetamura Chianti dating from the Etruscan period, is a place that must be considered on the basis of all characteristics. Throughout its history it was occupied by ordinary people, mostly of humble extraction, who lived within a country. Of artifacts recovered there, 99.9% are fragments or somehow incomplete results. Consequently Cetamura should not be studied for spectacular discoveries that can tell us something or because the elites because of their famous Etruscan tombs, for monumental paintings and luxury goods imported.
The value of this place as the archaeological site, lies rather in what it reveals part of a worker population that appears to be relatively immune to external influences, and in this respect, capable of maintaining and further describe the absence of identity Etruscan.
This exhibition focuses on the relation that binds particularly evident concepts and practices resulting from the location of a neighborhood of artisans next to a shrine, with highly developed rituals of worship and at the same time, looking at the legal and historical context of Cetamura.
It’s not unknown elsewhere that artisans officiate a sanctuary, but to find that Cetamura probably were the craftsmen themselves to produce many of the simple and humble offerings. Gold and silver are almost completely Essent and, likewise, the common offerings such as small bronzes and terracotta stylized far lacking. Unlike many of the offerings seem to indicate a specific ability. The many iron nails and other iron artifacts (rings, one strigil, a hypothetical support candelabrum) are probably traces of productivity as well as the prayers that ensured the continued success of the same artisans who melt the iron and leave the remains near the shrine. The bricks should be offered in miniature specially made by craftsmen from the nearby kiln where bricks and tiles were produced …
Many of the discoveries made Cetamura during the last 45 years, since the site was explored for the first time by Alvaro Tracchi, can now be better understood by considering the fact that there is a kind of “system” on this area of the site where it is plausible that the artefacts were meant to be a witness in productivity of worship, where the tanker is supplying water for religious rites and for the production, where mere fragments with inscriptions of a container kitchen, or even a container filled with chickpeas, can suggest the current social context of a class whose main asset consisted of daily productivity, and that he needed to secure divine protection for their work.
Nancy T. de Grummond
Florida State University
(taken from the catalog)

Restoration: Roberta Lapucci, Renzo Giachetti, Nora Marosi Studio Art Centers International (SACI)

Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Tuscany
Studio Art Centers International (SACI) – Florida State University
Gaiole in Chianti (SI) – City of San Giovanni Valdarno (AR)
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