Populonia or Populonia Alta today is a frazione of the comune of Piombino. As of 2009 its population was 17. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia. Populonia is especially noteworthy for its Etruscan remains, including one of the main necropolis in Italy, discovered by Isidoro Falchi.
Main gate of Populonia and the fortress
Detail of the fortress of Populonia.
The Tomb of the Bronze Statuette of the Offering Bearer in the San Cerbone necropolis at Casone Farm. The tomb and the entire area around it was once deep under slag. The date of the tomb is estimated at 530-500 BC.
Etruscan was the language of the Etruscan civilization in the ancient region of Etruria, in Etruria Padana and Etruria Campana in what is now Italy. Etruscan influenced Latin but was eventually completely superseded by it. The Etruscans left around 13,000 inscriptions that have been found so far, only a small minority of which are of significant length; some bilingual inscriptions with texts also in Latin, Greek, or Phoenician; and a few dozen purported loanwords. Attested from 700 BC to AD 50, the relation of Etruscan to other languages has been a source of long-running speculation and study, with it mostly being referred to as one of the Tyrsenian languages, at times as an isolate and a number of other less well-known theories.
The Cippus Perusinus, a stone tablet bearing 46 lines of incised Etruscan text, one of the longest extant Etruscan inscriptions. 3rd or 2nd century BC.
The Orator, ca. 100 BC, an Etrusco-Roman bronze sculpture depicting Aule Metele (Latin: Aulus Metellus), an Etruscan man of Roman senatorial rank, engaging in rhetoric. The statue features an inscription in the Etruscan alphabet
The Pyrgi Tablets, laminated sheets of gold with a treatise both in Etruscan and the Phoenician language, in the Etruscan Museum in Rome
Tumulus on a street at Banditaccia, the main necropolis of Caere