VULCI. - An ancient Etruscan city near the Via Aurelia, about 20 km northwest of Tarquinia.
It flourished until 280 B.C., when it was occupied by the Romans, as attested by the sumptuous tombs discovered from 1828 onward, rich in bronzes, stone sculptures, goldwork, noteworthy series of vases, and wall paintings, material now dispersed among museums throughout the world. It declined in the Roman period, although it had become a municipium. Christianity there is attested by the remains of a Christian hypogeum.
In the spring of 1834 a semicircular chamber was discovered, with a vaulted ceiling supported by a travertine pillar. Tombs were found there, the first of them built of masonry with a plastered cover on which the remains of a five-line inscription could be read, ending with the wish «(c)um san(c)is» (CIL, XI, 2949); among the rubble of an external wall, three painted heads were identified, one of which appeared to have a nimbus and to be clothed in a dalmatic. To the right of the semicircular chamber, an inscription in two lines was found incised on the plaster, the second of which contained the wish: «pax cum ang(elis)» (CIL, XI, 2950). Among the earth, coins of Costantino, Decenzio, Valentino, and Graziano were found.