Populonia

In Ms. L Leonardo indicates twice, around 1502, the coastline and promontory of Populonia, the only great Etruscan city founded on the sea, with its port in the Gulf of Baratti between Piombino and San Vincenzo. Populonia reached its height of splendour in the 7th and 6th centuries B.C, although already in the 8th century the systematic exploitation of the metal mines on the nearby Island of Elba had begun. Testifying to this past splendour are the grandiose architecture of the tumuli, the funerary trappings and the archaeological finds from ancient ships wrecked in the Bay of Baratti.
The Museo Archeologico del Territorio di Populonia is located in the historic center of Piombino; it is connected to the Archaeological Park of Baratti and Populonia, and constitutes the main exhibition center of the Val di Cornia Parks System. Exceptional evidences such as the silver amphora and the Roman mosaic of fish are preserved there.