This is one of the greatest and most spectacular of rocky necropoli in the whole of Etruria and Italy. The tombs are either cubed or not (from IV-I cent. B.C.) and are positioned in terraces in the osprey slopes facing the urban centre. Those that are at a superior level have high facades with various mouldings decorated around the top, with the Finta Porta (fake door) sculptured in the centre above plain areas or porches that have been dug out in the tuff where there are traces of plaster and different colours. The numerous unadorned hegemonic burial graves are in a much lower postion containing plain sarcophaguses or ones that have a sculptured image of the deceased or even, as is more often the case, containing wide benches with an uninterrupted sequence of ditches on both sides of a meagre central corridor. The lower parts of the cubed rock tombs, that are often built whole or in parts, are much more plain and consist of the adorned facade of the Porta Finta that towers the modest burial chamber. The most visible of necropoli is that of the ditch Pile, where we can find the tomb of Ciarlanti (with the sub facade chamber that is divided into three rooms), the Camino tomb, the great tombs of Smurinas, the Prostila tomb, the Caronte tomb with the sculptured image of this demon outlined on the front. Then there is the Gemina tomb and up river the tomb of the Tre Teste (the three heads), their faces perhaps of infernal divinity that protrude over the architrave of the Finta Porta. The most spectacular tombs are to be found in the necropolis that is situated along the ditch of Acqualta at the top of the urban centre. These two great tombs have facades depicting Dorian temples (III cent. B.C.), with pediments, friezes, identatons, protoms, and sculptured acroteriums. Within the left fronton, (half of which is missing because it is at the Archological Museum in Florence), a large group of armed men converge towards the centre, while on the right hand side there are only three figures underneath the top. The area underneath that joins the two monuments together is highlighted by a sculpture even though it has eroded over the years. It is a funeral procession in the presence of a winged demon with a panoply of arms in the background. It was plastered and painted using various colours creating an extraordinary effect to those who saw it at the beginning of the third cent. B.C. In the Biedano valley near the Cava Buia (Dark Quarry) surrounded by thick undergrowth is the monumental tomb Lattanzi, belonging to the Churcle family, with a double columned porch on a platform with side steps, friezes and sculptured lions.
The urban centre, perhaps Orcla, where many burials originated from, is situated on a long and narrow tuff plain between Biedano and the Pile ditch; today the remains of a medieval castle are evident. It belonged to the Vico family and the Romanesque church of Saint Peter (XIII cent.). Although the presence of man was evident during the Bronze Age, Norchia reached its peak during the IV and III cent. B.C. The plain was inaccessible due to a lateral rockfall in the southern part where there was a high wall but was reinforced by the Etruscans (III cent. B.C.). It was the most powerful in the whole of Etruria, as it had many water flows and the urban perimeter was reinforced by a tuff curtain wall. Halfway through it there is an arched entrance where the Via Clodia went through, the traces of which are well preserved. The consular road, crossed the urban centre and became the main artery on turning towards Tuscania after having gone past Biedano over the bridge (the remains are still visible). After which we find at the top of the opposite plain a deep and suggestive quarry that is over 400 m long with walls that are over 10m high thus constituting the umpteenth attraction to see in Norchia.