Montegiovi

Description

Montegiovi represents the main mountain relief dividing Valdarno from Val di Sieve. In 1972 a votive bronzetto was found during road work, and by the end of the decade two archaeological sites were identified, one in the middle and one at the top of the mountain. At the first site some two thousand iron arrowheads were found, as well as two other votive bronzes, this suggests that Montegiovi was an important place of worship, perhaps open-air, like Lake of the Idols on the Falterona, clearly visible from the summit. As on this mountain, a lake basin was also present at Montegiovi. The three bronze statuettes, dating from the fifth and fourth centuries B.C., have a schematic manly structure, with a posture tilted to the left, an oval head, and large, open hands probably reiterating the offering character of the figure. The setting of the statuettes suggests a Late Archaic tradition, but the absence of anatomy in the volumes could link the statuettes to specimens from northern Etruria datable to Early Hellenism.