Parco urbano dell'antichissima Citta' di Sutri, Regional park in Sutri, Italy
The Parco urbano dell'antichissima Città di Sutri is a protected area on the edge of Sutri, a small town in the province of Viterbo in central Italy, combining volcanic tufa rock, gardens, and woodland. The park runs along a natural ravine that exposes the rock and links several archaeological sites along a single route.
Sutri was an important settlement along the Via Cassia in ancient times, used first by the Etruscans and later by the Romans, both of whom left marks carved into the tufa rock. The park was set up in 1988 to protect these remains and make them accessible to visitors.
The park sits next to the ancient amphitheater of Sutri, carved directly into the rock and still open to visit today. Walking through, you pass caves, tombs, and niches cut into the soft tufa stone that show traces of the people who lived here long before.
The park is within easy walking distance of Sutri's town center, making it simple to combine with a visit to the town itself. Sturdy footwear is a good idea, as some sections of the path run over uneven tufa rock and dip into shaded, sometimes slippery stretches.
The church of the Madonna del Parto replaced a sanctuary of Mithras that had been installed in a group of three joined Etruscan tombs. In the floor of the earlier mithraeum, the baptismal font where believers were initiated into the cult's mysteries with a water baptism is still in place. The central slab of the Mithraic taurobolium was removed and is now set into the wall of a farmhouse on the Via Cassia at La Botte, a few metres from the road.
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