Bucket list experience:
The mostly wooden cities of the Etruscans have all but vanished, but they also built astonishing cities of the dead that replicated their long-lost abodes. Cerveteri has one of the best: Banditaccia, a World Heritage necropolis with more than 400 tombs from the 9th-2nd centuries BC.
Recently some of the tombs have been virtually ‘reconstructed’ with their original art, Greek vases and other grave goods (now in museums) using 3D technology.
After you’ve visited, be sure to stop by the National Etruscan Museum in Rome city centre to see many of the Etruscan treasures found at Cerveteri (and Tarquinia). The National Archaeological Museum of Cerveteri on Piazza Santa Maria in Cerveteri also houses finds.
By car, take Via Aurelia to the turn-off for Cerveteri Ladispoli and then follow signs. Otherwise catch a Cotral bus, departing from Cornelia station (line A), then walk 2km to the necropolis. Or catch a train towards Civitavecchia and Pisa, and get off at Marina di Cerveteri station. The necropolis is a 30-minute walk or five-minute shuttle bus ride from town.
If you’re driving, follow a visit to Cerveteri with a dip in Lago di Bracciano, an immaculately clean crater lake (it supplies Rome’s water) just to the northeast.
The necropolis is open all year round, Tuesday to Sunday to one hour before sunset. Closed Monday.
Cerveteri is so vast that it’s never really crowded, even in high summer. The necropolis can be a bit spooky, lonesome and bleak in the winter.
Rome, Lazio, Italy
Former pleasure palace of Pope Julius III, now houses the world’s greatest collections of Etruscan art. It includes artefacts and finds from the Banditaccia Necropolis at Cerveteri.
Best for ages: 18+ | £9
Round-ups that include this experience
Multiple countries
Throughout human history vast empires have risen and fallen into ruin, their culture and customs lost to the sands of time. Thankfully, some outstanding examples remain. Here’s our round-up of the best.
