GTL 14 Lazio From Vetralla to Tarquinia

 VETRALLA / TARQUINIA

The fourteenth track of the GTL is still immersed in the Etruscan lands, and the hills of Tuscia are the masters in this inexorable descent towards the sea. This inexorable descent, however, hides many small ups and downs that make this stage a little more lively, until it reaches an accumulated difference in altitude of about 600 meters. From Vetralla we exit avoiding the busiest roads, to take the provincial road towards Tuscania: the trend is slightly downhill, the panorama that of the typical countryside of central Italy. Farms, rustic villas and rows of trees frame this first stretch of road without any particular crossings, except for a few herds of grazing cows.The somewhat monotonous wait, however, is rewarded halfway along the route, when we enter the beautiful village of Tuscania: with its medieval walls and churches in Romanesque and Gothic style, closed between the Marta and Capecchio rivers, it is leaning against a tuffaceous block like many villages in the area, and while flaunting a timeless dimension it has known various historical eras: from the Etruscan settlements from which it takes its name (Tuscum) to the Roman ones, up to the Middle Ages of the Aldobrandeschi fiefdoms and the era of the Communes.After Tuscania, the trend becomes a bit fluctuating, although it retains a negative difference in height towards sea level: a nice stop along the way is also the Abbey of San Giusto However, we have to reach Tarquinia, which is leaning against gentle hills that partially block the Tyrrhenian wind: to do so we avoid the most direct road, which is a two-lane provincial road, deviating onto secondary roads in the direction of San Giuliano and then falling back before Montalto di Castro. The destination of GTL14 is universally recognized as the capital of the lands of Etruria, one of the largest necropolises and one of the most important Etruscan museums in the world