Etruria—usually referred to in Greek and Latin source texts as Tyrrhenia—is a region of Central Italy, located in an area that covers part of what now are Tuscany, Latium, Emilia-Romagna, and Umbria.

The ancient people of Etruria are labeled Etruscans, and their complex culture is centered on numerous city-states that arise during the Villanovan period in the ninth century BC and are very powerful during the Orientalizing and Archaic periods.

The Etruscans are a dominant culture in Italy by 650 BCE, surpassing other ancient Italic peoples such as the Ligures, and their influence may be seen beyond Etruria's confines in the Po River Valley and Latium, as well as in Campania and through their contact with the Greek colonies in Southern Italy (including Sicily).

Indeed, at some Etruscan tombs, such as those of the Tumulus di Montefortini at Comeana (see Carmignano) in Tuscany, physical evidence of trade has been found in the form of grave goods—fine faience-ware cups are particularly notable examples.

Such trade occurs either directly with Egypt, or through intermediaries such as Greek or Etruscan sailors.Rome, buffered from Etruria by the Silva Ciminia, the Ciminian Forest, is influenced strongly by the Etruscans, with a series of Etruscan kings ruling at Rome until 509 BCE when the last Etruscan king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus is removed from power and the Roman Republic is established.

The Etruscans are credited with influencing Rome's architecture and ritual practice; it is under the Etruscan kings that important structures such as the Capitolium and Via Sacra are realized.The Etruscan civilization is responsible for much of the Greek culture imported into early Republican Rome, including the twelve Olympian gods, the growing of olives and grapes, the Latin alphabet (adapted from the Greek alphabet), and architecture like the arch, sewerage and drainage systems.