The best guide to the Etruscan antiquities of Viterbo and its neighbourhood, is Ruggieri, a caffetière of that city who, though a master-excavator himself, will condescend, for a consideration, to act the cicerone. As he happened to be on his travels, we provided ourselves with the secondbest guide Viterbo could afford, in the person of a meagre barber, Giuseppe Perugini by name, with none of the garrulity and vivacity of Figaro, that type of tonsorial excellence, but taciturn, solemn, and grave as a cat, if there be truth in the proverb—

Under his auspices we made several excursions to Castel d' Asso, an Etruscan necropolis, which has already been made known to the English public by the lively description of Mrs. Hamilton Gray. It is about five miles to the west of Viterbo, and can be reached by the light vehicles of the country, though more easily on horseback.

From the gate of Viterbo, the road descends between low cliffs, here and there hollowed into sepulchres. At the extremity of this cleft is a large cave, called Grotta di Riello, once a sepulchre, and a spot long approached with mysterious awe, as the depository of hidden treasure guarded by demons.