Etruscan settlement with many surprises
La Castellina is the recent name of a hill, previously known under the toponym San Silvestro, about five kilometers south of Civitavecchia and just over a kilometer from the sea. Easily reachable by car from the motorway junction for Civitavecchia Sud. Reaching the hill it will be possible to visit a protohistoric and then Etruscan settlement that arose on the left of the Marangone torrent from the 14th to the 3rd century BC.
A visit to the hill can be a precious break from the frenzy of the port of Civitavecchia. The archaeological evidence, although very extensive, is difficult to identify. Only a particularly trained eye will be able to detect it. The remains scattered across the slopes and along the coastline belong to the Castellina. Among the most important tombs are some orientalizing and archaic tumulus monuments. Almost all the finds from the first discoveries on the Castellina were destroyed during the bombing of Civitavecchia in 1943. Finally in 1995 a Franco-German research program began in collaboration with the Archaeological Superintendence for Southen Etruria. The results of this research highlight the main characteristics of the settlement: the architecture and urban planning attributable to the orientalizing, archaic and Hellenistic periods, the Etruscan and imported ceramics, the inscriptions and graffiti from the 7th to the 3rd century BC
