In Italy's marshy delta of the Po stands the small, bedraggled town of Comacchio. Noted chiefly for poverty, tuberculosis, and eels caught in the nearby lagoons, it had a period of illicit prosperity in the 1920s. When the Valle Trebba was drained by a reclamation project, its muddy bottom proved to be an ancient necropolis. Out of 1,250 tombs came bronze vases and candelabra, gold and silver jewelry and a wealth of beautiful pottery. Part of it was of Etruscan manufacture dating as far back as the 5th century B.C. Much of the rest was Greek of...
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