ORBETELLO

   A coastal settlement at the head of a tombolo connecting to Monte Argentario, next to an internal lagoon. The earliest occupation is late Iron Age and the earliest nucleated settlement probably dates to the seventh century BC. From the sixth century BC, the settlement may have taken on a port role when it had a period of economic prosperity. A second period of economic prosperity was in the fourth century BC, when the town walls, some two kilometers in circumference, were probably constructed. The settlement declined in the third century BC, particularly with the fall of Vulci and the placing of the Roman colony at Cosa nearby. The settlement is assumed by many to be subject to Vulci, but its position in the boundary zone of the Albegna Valley probably gave it at times a role of some independence, in common with other similarly placed settlements such as Marsiliana d’Albegna and La Doganella.