Strong ice
Just outside Scansano along the SS322
The settlement of Ghiaccio Forte was an Etruscan city between the 4th century and 280 BC, the year in which it was destroyed by the Romans.
The city was probably founded in the period in which the Etruscan settlements further down the valley, such as those of Caletra (Marsiliana), and the coastal ones, felt threatened by the advance of the Romans. However, the site had been frequented by man for several centuries. The foundation of Ghiaccio Forte città is part of a process that brings together artisans, farmers and breeders in settlements, leading to the transformation of the housing model in the Albegna Valley. The advance of the Romans meant that other hills of Etruria also welcomed the inhabitants of the countryside within city walls. Naturally the position on a plateau was strategic, as was the proximity to the sea and the Albegna river.
Ghiaccio Forte is of great interest for the study of Etruscan architecture and urban planning in the Hellenistic age (4th-early 3rd century BC). Ghiaccio Forte is in fact one of the few cities that were not modified by the Romans (together with the settlements of Sesto Fiorentino and that of Lago dell’Accesa), therefore some structural characteristics remain that are not visible in other Etruscan cities, which were modified with the Roman conquest. The four-hectare settlement was built, like other Etruscan cities, on two hills, above the Albegna river, and consisted of an area dedicated to the acropolis and another occupied by the metallurgical area. The city has a wall and three access gates. The walls were made up of a base made of pebbles and raised bricks, but today the walls, which surround the town for about a kilometre, are only partially visible. From the discovery of a deposit of votive offerings, it is thought that there was also a temple or place of worship on the site. Statuettes of warriors and animals were found buried in a votive deposit. The findings in this sense are bronzes and statuettes, reproductions of human anatomical parts in terracotta, male and female genital organs. Among the small bronzes was the statuette depicting the Etruscan divinity Selvans, a rural divinity who protected borders and brought prosperity. An important area was dedicated to metallurgy: numerous iron objects and slag from iron processing, blacksmith tongs, weapons and tools were found. It is thought that the blocks of travertine and nenfro, some decorated, which were used for the construction of the north-west door, belonged to the monumental structure of an ancient temple.
In the settlement it was possible to explore some of the inhabited areas inside, built with limestone stones bonded with clay and raw clay mixed with shrubs, in which it was possible to distinguish the areas dedicated to the kitchen, bathroom and pantry. Numerous ceramic table utensils, amphorae, jugs, black-painted pottery and gray buccheri were found.
The settlement was reported for the first time in 1970 by Zelindo Biagiotti, a native of Scansano, a lover of archeology and a profound connoisseur of the area. Since then numerous excavation campaigns by the Archaeological Superintendency of Tuscany, the University of Santa Barbara, in California, and the Municipality of Scansano, have led to the discovery of interesting materials and important information for the study of Etruscan settlements in this Hellenistic historical period.
The findings from the Ghiaccio Forte site are preserved in the Archaeological Museum of Scansano.
