Blera, Italy a wonderful little out-of-the way Italian town some 1 hour north of Rome is situated right in the middle of the Etruscan countryside. Blera is surrounded on three sides by river canyons and literally thousands of Etruscan tombs are burrowed into the hillsides of the canyon walls. The business of grave robbing must have started here, with over 7,000 tombs robbed over the 2,000+ years since the Etruscans disappeared into the haze of time.

Blera remains a quiet agricultural based economy and in the evening the farmers and townsmen gather at the ancient overlook in the main piazza for discussion and an occasional drink together. The rhythm of the seasons drives the lifestyle but alas like many of the small Italian towns Blera is mostly populated by older citizens with children drifting off to larger cities.

My intention with this painting is to feature the town on the hill. I'll leave it up to you if I succeeded. The painting has the same problems that have cropped up in past attempts and I'm beginning to appreciate how difficult it is to get those deep colors needed in watercolor paintings sometimes. It's hard to see how dark your values will remain since when wet they appear two to three times darker than when dry.