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This Etruscan festival, held in Murlo, province Siena, revisits the culture, dress and cuisine of the ancient and mysterious people that populated this area many centuries ago. Highlighting the festival is the "Banchetto Etrusco" which boasts a mighty Etruscan Table which is a big offering of typical Etruscan food, which can be consumed in rich quantities. Murlo holds an open-air "Etruscan" banquet in the main square of the little town to benefit the Archeological Museum in Murlo.

Poggio Civitate - an Etruscan enigma

The Etruscans left few written records, and nobody knows what the complex at Poggio Civitate, a hill south of Siena near the town of Murlo, was. Later it is proved to be part of a huge, fabulously decorated early 5th century building. Probably the hill was the meeting place of a North Etruscan league of some sort. This would explain the site's wealth, because each member city would have contributed to its construction, and the absence of a garrison, because there would have been no need to defend what was owned by all. It would also explain why the hill is named Poggio Civitate, the hill of the cities.

Murlo

Murlo Municipality extends over 114.79 km² and is located in the southwest of the province of Siena, among the valleys of the Merse, Arbia and Ombrone rivers. This mostly hilly territory reaches, at most, 500 meters above see level, and is covered by the characteristic Mediterranean scrub. Many brooks and rivers have deeply eroded its soil, giving it its present configuration and favoring human settlement in numerous hamlets and villages, preferably located in the highest areas.

Murlo occupies a strategic position with respect to other places of remarkable historical and artistic importance in Tuscany. Siena can be reached in only 20 minutes by car and Florence or the coast in less than one hour.

Important Etruscan sites can be found all over the territory and it is held that the DNA of this ancient population is to be find in present-day inhabitants, due to the fact that the area was cut away from trade, invasions and migrations for many centuries.

No remarkable change has taken place in over 700 years, and the area has a look of ancient times to the eyes of the contemporary visitor, preserving innumerable traces of the civilizations that inhabited the territory over the centuries.