CORNETO TARQUINIA (anc.

Tarquinii)  , a town of Italy, in the province of Rome, 62 m . N.W. by rail from the town of Rome, 490 ft. above sea-level . Pop . (1901) 5273 . Corneto probably arose after the ancient town had been destroyed by the Saracens . In the loth century it began to acquire importance, and for some time was an independent commune . It is picturesquely situated, and commands a fine view . It possesses medieval fortifications, and no less than twenty-five towers are still standing in various parts of the town, which thus has a remarkably medieval appearance . The castle on the N. contains the Romanesque church of S . Maria in Castello, begun in 1121, with a fine portal of 1143, a ciborium of 1168 and a pulpit of 1209, both in " cosmatesque " work: the' pavement in marble mosaic also is fine . There are several other Romanesque and Gothic churches in the town more or less restored . The oldest parts of the Palazzo Comunale date from about Imo .

The Gothic Palazzo Vitelleschi (1439) contains remarkably

rich windows . The municipal museum (which is to be transferred to this palace) and the Palazzo Bruschi, contain fine collections of Etruscan antiquities from the tombs of Tarquinii . Four miles to the S.W. is the Porto Clementino (perhaps the ancient Graviscae, the port of Tarquinii), with government saltworks, in which convicts are employed . ' See L . Dasti, Notizie storiche archeologiche di Tarquinia e Corneto (Rome, 1878) ; for the cemeteries, Notizie degli Scavi, 1906, 1907 .