Pittura funeraria etrusca: un’indagine tra realtà e rappresentazione

he painted tombs of Tarquinia (a UNESCO heritage site since 2004) are one of the most investigated phenomena of the Etruscan funerary context. Despite this, the role of monuments in the cultural panorama is still under debate. In this paper the interdisciplinary study about the specific founding principles of the spatial conception of Etruscan funerary rituals will be explained. The study demonstrates that the qualities that characterise the city seem to be extremely peculiar. This suggests the existence of specific beliefs at the heart of the local design of the funerary space. The paper discuss the choices and the motivations at the root of the formation and development of the painted tombs, considering each local characteristic. For the first time, this brings together all the graphic, architectural and descriptive information: the result is a system of tools created for the specific needs of the district. As a result, it is now possible to observe the distribution of the hypogea over time, in order to interpret the reasons, goals, social value and role of the monuments within the community.