credited with playing a leading role in developing ancient culture. The artist and antiquarian G.B. Piranesi created a polemic atmosphere by asserting the superiority of ancient Italy over Greece.

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Etruscan Archaeological Sites

Of considerable significance was the founding in 1726 at Cortona of the Accademia Etrusca, which sponsored meetings, lectures, and publications on the Etruscans (Barocchi and Gallo 1985). The work of one of its members, Anton Francesco Gori (1691–1757), is remarkable in that he undertook purposeful excavation (1728 and following) at Volterra for the sake of knowledge rather than for the acquisition of antiquities,