In the vicinity of modern-day Cerveteri , on a tuff hill northwest of the city, lies the Banditaccia Necropolis : the main burial site of ancient Caere , one of the most powerful and richest Etruscan cities in the Mediterranean. The name derives from a 19th-century event: the land was put "al bando," that is, leased to the local population.
The tombs, dug into the tuff and built to imitate the dwellings of the living, span a chronological span of approximately a thousand years: from the first shaft burials of the Villanovan period ( 9th century BC ) to the cube tombs of the Hellenistic-Roman period ( 3rd-1st century BC ). What makes Cerveteri unique is precisely this: not isolated tombs, but a complete urban fabric, with streets, squares, and neighborhoods, crossed by the Via degli Inferi, the main burial route, over two kilometers long.
The first systematic excavation campaigns date back to 1906-1936, conducted by archaeologist Raniero Mengarelli , who is responsible for the recovery of the Via degli Inferi . Research continues today: in 2025, the PACT conducted new excavations among the "Painted Tile" and "Shields and Chairs" mounds, and in 2026, sacred furnishings from the Etruscan sanctuary of Ercole Cerite , in the Sant'Antonio district, were reassembled.
In Rome, a visit to the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia in Rome is absolutely worth it, as it houses the famous Sarcophagus of the Spouses — a masterpiece of Etruscan art from the 6th century BC — and the most important collection of Etruscan vases and funerary objects in Italy.
Source: Ministry of Culture
The Etruscan world
A civilization open to the Mediterranean: who were the Etruscans and how did they live?
A people of city-states
The origins of the Etruscans are still a matter of debate among historians: as early as antiquity, the Greek historian Herodotus claimed they came from Lydia, in Asia Minor, while another Greek historian, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, believed them to be an indigenous population of central Italy. Regardless of their origins, what is certain is that the Etruscans never formed a single, centralized state, but rather a collection of independent city-states, each led by its own ruler, the lucumone.
The most important cities, including Cerveteri itself (Caere for the Romans, Caisra for the Etruscans, Agylla for the Greeks), Tarquinia, Veii, Vulci, and others, periodically gathered in a religious and political confederation known as the dodecapolis, the twelve cities: a loose alliance, more useful for strengthening a common cultural and religious identity than for establishing a truly unified government. It was probably also due to this lack of political cohesion that Etruria, although extremely rich and powerful, gradually succumbed to Roman expansion between the 4th and 3rd centuries BC.
Caere: a maritime and commercial power
Between the 7th and 5th centuries BC, Cerveteri was one of the richest and most cosmopolitan Etruscan cities. At its peak, in the 6th century BC, according to the Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus, it had more inhabitants than Athens itself at the time. Its fortune rested on three active ports on the Tyrrhenian Sea—Pyrgi (present-day Santa Severa), Punicum (Santa Marinella), and Alsium (Palo)—which allowed it to trade throughout the Mediterranean, first with the Phoenicians and Egyptians, and then directly with the Greek cities.
Caere skillfully navigated the great powers of its time: it forged a solid commercial and military alliance with Carthage, the Phoenician colony in North Africa, as an anti-Greek alliance, while simultaneously maintaining cultural ties with the Hellenic world, from which it imported fine ceramics and artistic talent. An exceptional testament to these international ties are the famous Pyrgi Plates, three gold plates from around 500 BC, inscribed in Etruscan and Phoenician. They document the dedication of a sanctuary by the ruler of Caere, Thefarie Velianas, and constitute one of the very rare bilingual documents from the Etruscan world to have survived.
Customs and Traditions: A Society Different from the Greeks and Romans
One of the aspects that most struck ancient observers was the status of Etruscan women, remarkably more liberal than that of their contemporary Greek and Roman counterparts. Etruscan women attended public banquets alongside men, sitting or lying next to them on the same convivial couches—a custom that shocked Greek visitors, accustomed to a rigid separation of the sexes in social life. Sources also indicate that Etruscan women were educated, could be publicly identified by their mother's name as well as their father's, and participated fully in the community's social life.
Banqueting, after all, was a central moment in Etruscan life, so much so that it became one of the most frequently depicted subjects in funerary art: a Greek historian, Posidonius, described the Etruscan table as lavishly laid twice a day, with embroidered tablecloths and precious tableware. The luxury of the table, and the music and dance that accompanied it, were not merely a private pleasure, but a public sign of social prestige, which the Etruscans wished to carry with them into the afterlife, reproducing these same banquet scenes on the walls of their tombs.
The necropolis as a mirror of the city of the living
It is precisely within this culture, strongly oriented towards the continuity between life and death, that the Banditaccia Necropolis should be placed. The Etruscans did not conceive of the tomb as a simple burial place, but as an authentic home for the afterlife, built in the image of those of the living: hence the streets, squares, and organized neighborhoods that make the Banditaccia unique in the funerary landscape of the ancient world, more similar to a miniature city than a cemetery.
Sources used for this study
- Treccani — Italian Encyclopedia, entry for "Etruscans" — treccani.it/enciclopedia/etruschi_(Italian-Encyclopedia)
- Wikipedia (IT) — entry "Etruscan Dodecapoli", "Caere" and "Etruscan daily life" — it.wikipedia.org
- Etruschi.eu — "The Female Condition and the Etruscan Woman" — etruschi.eu
- Virgil Wizard / Etruscan Civilization — "Life and Customs," edited by Giovannangelo Camporeale — etruria.xoom.it
- Accademia.edu — "Pyrgi, Port and Maritime Sanctuary of the Etruscan City of Cerveteri" (materials for visiting the archaeological area, 2025)
What to see — Main tombs
| Tomb of the Reliefs (4th century BC) — The most famous: polychrome stucco depicting everyday implements, weapons, tools, and animals. The most complete vision of Etruscan life in a single room. |
| Great Tumuli — The symbols of the necropolis. Monumental circular structures with burial chambers accessible from a dromos. The Maroi Tumulus and the Mengarelli Tumulus are among the most impressive. |
| Via degli Inferi — The main road of the necropolis, 2 km long, crosses the Enclosure Area with the most representative tombs of each historical period. |
| Tomb of the Five Chairs (7th century BC) — Five thrones carved from tuff stone for deities or ancestors. A family ritual crystallized in stone. |
| Cube tombs — From the 6th century BC, cube tombs progressively replaced tumuli: organised in orderly rows along straight streets, they precisely reproduce the facades of Etruscan houses. |
How to get there
- Train + bus (recommended): From Rome Termini → train toward Civitavecchia/Pisa/Grosseto, get off at Ladispoli-Cerveteri or Marina di Cerveteri. From the station square: take the Line D bus to Cerveteri center (€1.10), then a 15-minute walk or taxi (about €5) to the necropolis. Trains run every 30–40 minutes.
- By car: A12 Rome–Civitavecchia → Cerveteri-Ladispoli exit → Via Settevene Palo → Via della Necropoli 43/45. Free parking at the entrance.
- From Fiumicino: FM1 → Roma Trastevere → train towards Civitavecchia, get off at Marina di Cerveteri.