The Sestius family were associated with the town of Cosa through the number of amphorae discovered in the area, all with the family stamp. At the time of my Sestius family, Cosa was going through a decline, with rich owners investing in business-like villa estates out in the countryside and the great archaeologist Andrea Carandini has found just such a villa at Settefinestre.
I wanted the Sestius family to be a little closer to Cosa than Settefinestre, so I looked along the road that joined Settefinestre to the Aurelian Way just north of Cosa, and found what looked to me to be a suitable site. When I checked the site on Google-Earth, sure enough, nearby there was a modern(ish) building, very pretty and Tuscan-looking, with its earth colours and tile roof. I was tickled that I had clearly picked on a good site and in my mind, the Sestius family villa took shape on the fields next to the building which I assumed was a farm. Later on, exploring with other maps, I realized that this building is in fact a Bed and Breakfast called Le Torrette Etrusche – “Etruscan Towers”. Its website (torretteetrusche.it) has some beautiful photos of the countryside, including the wall of little towers which was so typical of the Etruscan countryside thousands of years ago! So now I have another very important place to visit when Covid is done and I can travel freely again.
