ARCH. ANDREA MADDALENA

ETRUSCANS & LANDSCAPE – UMBRIA AND TUSCANY

A landscape with deep roots

Alongside my research on Northern European cities, I have for many years studied the historical landscape of Central Italy, particularly Umbria, Tuscany and Northern Lazio.

My connection with this area is not only academic. I have been coming here all my life and part of my family history is linked to this region. For this reason my research on the Etruscan landscape is based not only on study but also on long personal experience of the territory itself.

Landscape and civilisation

In this region the Etruscan civilisation developed, a culture that cultivated a deep relationship between landscape, religion and urban organisation. For the Etruscans the territory was not a neutral space, but a living structure in which nature, cosmology and human community were interconnected.

Their tradition of agrimensura – the ordering of land and city according to cosmic and religious principles – shows how closely urban form, landscape and worldview could be intertwined.

Landscape as a bearer of human experience

Cities, sanctuaries, water sources and landscape lines formed part of a broader vision of the relationship between human beings and their environment. Landscape was seen as a space in which human community, nature and cosmic order were connected.

My research and lectures on this subject therefore focus not only on the history of the Etruscans themselves, but also on the broader idea of landscape as a carrier of cultural memory and human experience.

By combining these Mediterranean perspectives with my work in Northern European cities, a comparative view emerges of how different cultures have read, organised and experienced their territory.

Landscape thus appears as a historical archive in which traces of ancient civilisations are still present.