Claustrophobics may want to steer clear of the lower dining levels at Antica Osteria da Divo, which are housed in Etruscan tombs.

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Tuscany is more famous for its inland hits, but the Costa degli Etruschi (Etruscan coast) is where this most beautiful region meets the Mediterranean.

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Finally, housed in ancient, arched basement tunnels, is the Museo Archeologico containing a vast collection of pieces found near Siena, including elaborate Etruscan alabaster funerary urns and gold Roman coins.

BBC: Two days in Siena, Italy

As evidence, they cite the inscription on the beast's right foreleg, which translates as "for Tinia, " who sat at the top of the Etruscan pantheon, the equivalent of Zeus and Jupiter.

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That effort and his support to restore nearby Perugia's Etruscan arch hasn't quite earned him inside access to the club of old-family wealth in Italy, but it is a way to connect his past to the future.

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Like the legendary ancient Roman hero, Publius Horatius Cocles (Horatius to his friends) - who legend has it saved his city and made possible its future glory by singlehandedly holding off an army of Etruscan warriors at a bridge over the Tiber River - he has not been dissuaded from fighting for what he believes in by long odds or intense political pressure.

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