Belmonte is an interesting archaeological area located in a dominant position overlooking a valley on the left of the Via Flaminia. This narrow, elongated plateau hosted a flourishing fortified colony of the Etruscan town Veio, which was settled here in the 4th C. BC, to take advantage of the numerous springs, the fertility of the soil and the abundant game. What’s left of the settlement are the civic walls, the remains of a “Scea” type gate, built on a diagonal with one doorpost further forward than the other for defensive purposes, with access paths hewn in the tufa rock, and finally a vast rupestrian necropolis with chamber tombs with short ‘dromos’ (access paths), arranged on four levels.
Even more charming are the ruins of the medieval village which grew up slightly to the south of the Etruscan settlement: a tower made out of tufa bricks (13th C.) still soars on the highest terrace, defended on the sides by the castle walls (now mostly collapsed) and by three wide moats. There is also a series of rectangular or quasi-elliptical hut bases, with grooves and holes in the floor where the load baring wooden posts would have been fitted to support the roof of the structure.