Volsinii

Volsinii ( Etruscan Velsuna or Velzna ) was one of the oldest and most important cities of the Etruscan Twelve Cities. It lay near the confluence of the Tiber and Clanis on steep rocky height.

In Volsinii one suspects the central sanctuary of Voltumna, the supreme deity of Etruscan religion. The rich and powerful city repeatedly led war against Rome, so in the years 392 BC, 308 BC and 294 BC, and finally by Rome after 30 years of resistance in 264 BC under the Marcus Fulvius Flaccus, consul to be taken and destroyed, with not less than 2000 statues said to have been captured. The former residents were forced to a poor defensible location on the famous for its fish and waterfowl Lacus Volsiniensis (now Lake Bolsena ) to settle in Volsinii novi, today Bolsena.

It is not yet clear whether Volsinii is to identify with the present-day Orvieto, in the close proximity of an Etruscan necropolis lies.