Before the empire and the republic there were the Iron Age huts of the Palatine and the Etruscan cities of west-central Italy - the two worlds whose meeting shaped Rome's first centuries.
Last updated August 23, 2026
In a nutshell: the Palatine is where Rome was born - the hill where legend places Romulus and Remus and where archaeology has found huts from the ninth century BCE - and the Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia tells the story of the Etruscans, who dominated west-central Italy before the Romans and left a lasting mark on them. The history overview sets the scene; the empire's golden age follows in Ancient Rome, and the city under the popes in Christian Rome.
Roman legend insists this is where it happened. Romulus, so the story goes, slew Remus, his twin brother, on this hill and founded Rome in 753 BCE. The hard evidence is more mundane but just as thrilling: excavations have turned up traces of Iron Age dwellings on the hill, going back to the ninth century BCE. By the closing centuries of the Republic, from the 200s to the 100s BCE, the Palatine had become the most fashionable residential address in the city. Augustus was born on the hill and later put his principal residence there, setting a pattern that a long line of emperors followed, each one commissioning ever grander palaces for the site.
The Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia sits inside an elegant villa built in the 1500s, and its collections offer a captivating glimpse of that mysterious civilisation, the Etruscans. In the centuries before Rome's rise, the Etruscans held the upper hand across west-central Italy, controlling the land from the Arno down to the Tiber from the 8th century BCE to the 4th. Rome finally brought them to heel in the third century BCE, folding them into the Republic - yet their influence never faded. The conquerors eagerly adopted Etruscan ways:
The Romans took up the Etruscan love of gladiatorial combat, their temple architecture and their skill with sewers with real enthusiasm.