Research > Excavations > National excavations > Excavations and Research at Veii: The Sanctuary of Portonaccio
Director:Laura Maria Michetti; Luana Toniolo
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Starting in 2025, based on a collaborative agreement between the Department of Classics and the Museo Nazionale etrusco di Villa Giulia, a new season of archaeological research at the Sanctuary of Portonaccio in Veii was launched jointly. The excavations, conducted by the Sapienza University team under the scientific direction of Luana Toniolo (ETRU) and Laura Maria Michetti (Department of Classics), were preceded by a campaign of geophysical surveys organized by the Department of Information Engineering, Electronics, and Telecommunications under the guidance of Fabrizio Frezza. As part of this series of non-invasive investigations, the first comprehensive mapping of tunnels and other hydraulic installations was carried out, also employing advanced equipment such as the Magellano rover. In the first campaign, research focused primarily on reconstructing the complex history of archaeological investigations at the sanctuary in the first half of the 20th century, aligning with a long-standing tradition of studies and research involving Sapienza’s Etruscologists, aimed at producing a comprehensive edition of the excavations conducted at the sanctuary during the early 20th century, which, as is well known, yielded exceptional results.
Situated just outside the city on a narrow tufa terrace overlooking the Fosso della Mola and along an important road connecting Veii to the Tyrrhenian coast, the sanctuary was among the oldest and most venerated in all of Etruria. The principal deity worshiped, from the late 7th century BCE until after the Roman conquest of the city in 396 BCE, was the goddess Minerva, the Etruscan Menerva, to whom other deities were also associated. The sanctuary’s earliest nucleus, located at the eastern end of the terrace, was directly linked to the worship of the goddess; here, around 540–530 BCE, a single-cell temple, a perforated altar for libations, a portico, and a staircase from the road were constructed over older structures.
In the western part of the sanctuary, around 500 BCE, a three-cell Tuscan-type temple was erected, adorned with an elaborate polychrome terracotta decorative program, including the famous acroterial statues of Apollo, Heracles, and Latona. The temple was accompanied by a large rectangular pool and a vast rear enclosure that enclosed a sacred grove. The cult practiced at this temple was that of Apollo/Rath in his prophetic oracular aspect, inspired by the Delphic model, associated with purification rites. Associated with Apollo were Heracles, the hero divinized and favored by tyrants, and possibly Jupiter/Tinia.
Shortly after the mid-5th century BCE, the eastern sector of the sanctuary underwent a renovation: the portico was restructured and expanded, while the sacellum and, partially, the archaic altar were demolished; in their place, a monumental altar cum antis was erected, surrounded by paving. Numerous votive offerings of notable quality were found, particularly in the eastern sector; alongside personal ornament items (such as fibule, scarab gems, and pendants in bone or ivory) and small bronze statuettes representing the worshippers themselves, the ex-votos included ceramic materials such as small containers for perfumed oils, linked to the female sphere, and, especially, monumental bucchero vessels, mainly dating to the 6th century BCE. Among these, inscriptions indicate dedications by prominent figures from Veii, such as members of the Tulumne family—who, according to Livio, even provided a king to the city in the 5th century BCE and continued to frequent the sanctuary until the 3rd century CE—or from distant cities, evidently attracted by the fame of Menerva’s oracle, such as Avile Vipiennas of Vulci (one of the brothers associated with the Mastarna–Servius Tullius saga).
Exceptional are also the splendid terracotta offerings, such as the one made around 500 BCE depicting the apotheosis of Heracles, introduced among the gods of Olympus by his protector Minerva, as well as other statue fragments representing the goddess. Remarkable too is the series of votive statues depicting children, dating to the 5th and 4th centuries BCE, as well as votive heads and statuettes of seated female figures, sometimes with a child on the lap. These finds, in some cases of exceptional artistic quality, document a particular aspect of the goddess’s cult, venerating her as protector of childbirth and of rites of passage for youth into adulthood.
Collaborators:
Alessandro Conti Manuela Bonadies Vittoria Lecce Barbara Belelli Marchesini Claudia Carlucci Carla Tulini Simone Grosso Alessandra Sorrenti Alessandra Vivona
- Bibliography
G. Colonna, Il Santuario di Portonaccio a Veio I. Gli scavi di Massimo Pallottino nella zona dell’Altare, Monumenti Antichi, 58, Serie misc., VI, 3, Roma 2002
L. Ambrosini, Il Santuario di Portonaccio a Veio III. La cisterna arcaica con l’incluso deposito di età ellenistica (Scavi Santangelo 1945 e 1946 e Università di Roma “La Sapienza” 1996 e 2006), Monumenti Antichi, 67, Serie misc., XIII, Roma 2009
C. Carlucci, L.M. Michetti, Il Santuario di Portonaccio a Veio tra committenza pubblica e committenza privata, in Artisti, Committenti e fruitori in Etruria tra VIII e V secolo a.C., Atti del XXI Convegno Internazionale di Studi sulla Storia e l’Archeologia dell’Etruria (Orvieto 2013), Annali Faina XXI, 2014, pp. 501-530.
G. Colonna, Il Santuario di Portonaccio a Veio II. Gli scavi di Maria Santangelo (1944-1952), Monumenti Antichi, 80, Serie misc., XXV, 3, Roma 2020
L. Michetti, Identità, passaggi di età e iniziazioni giovanili a Veio tra l’età arcaica e l’età ellenistica: il ruolo delle dee, in C. Di Fazio, D. palombi (eds.), Culto, Memoria e Identità. Divinità “etniche” nell’Italia antica?, Atti dell’Incontro di Studio (Roma 2024)
, Roma 2025, pp. 39-51.
L. Michetti, L. Toniolo, A. Conti, V. Lecce, Veio: nuovi scavi e ricerche nel Santuario di Portonaccio, in Scavi d’Etruria. Santuari e luoghi sacri, Atti del XXX Convegno Internazionale di Studi sulla Storia e l’Archeologia dell’Etruria, (Orvieto 2025), Annali Faina XXX, in prep.
Further details about this research:
- Research type: National excavation
- Location of the excatation: Isola Farnese (RM)
- Research topic: Etruscology
- Fundings: Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia