Discover Monterozzi Necropolis

Last updated on October 8, 2026

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Introduction

The Monterozzi necropolis lies on a hill east of Tarquinia and holds about 6,000 graves, the oldest of the seventh century BC. What makes it singular is underground: roughly 200 of its tomb chambers are painted, and together they form the largest surviving body of Etruscan painting anywhere. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004 alongside the Banditaccia necropolis at Cerveteri, cited for frescoed tombs that are often copies of Etruscan houses and stand as a unique record of a vanished culture.

Architecture

Some of the tombs are monumental, cut into the rock and covered by tumuli, reached down an inclined corridor or a stair. The subjects of the paintings range widely: rituals and ceremonies, animals, magical themes, dancing and musical instruments. The best known chambers are the Tomb of the Leopards, of Hunting and Fishing, of the Augurs, of the Triclinium, of the Blue Demons and of the Bulls.

The short history

Six thousand graves on the Monterozzi hill, and in two hundred of them the Etruscans painted their own lives.

Read the full historical timeline guide →

How it was built and evolved over time

The tombs are cut, and the sequence of cutting is a social history. The Monterozzi burial ground runs from the Iron Age, the Villanovan period of the ninth century BC, up to Roman times. From the Villanovan phase there are simple round tombs carved from rock for cremation burials.

The family chamber arrives with an aristocracy. Towards the end of the eighth century BC the first funerary chambers appear as family tombs, and the article is explicit about why: the rise to power of an aristocracy. On the surface they appear as tumuli, sometimes at impressive proportions deliberately chosen to enhance the power and prestige of the nobles, as in the so-called King and Queen tombs.

What is underneath is the real building. The tumuli usually covered subterranean chambers carved into the rock, holding sarcophagi and the possessions of the dead, many of them painted. Access is by inclined corridors or stairways, also cut.

Sarcophagus production industrialised. During the second half of the fourth century BC sculpted and painted sarcophagi of nenfro, marble and alabaster came into use, deposited on rock-carved benches or against the walls of chambers that had by then become very large. They continue into the second century and are found in such numbers at Tarquinia that they must have been manufactured locally -- their reliefs carrying symbolic or mythological content often derived from Tarentine models.

The nineteenth century took the mounds down. About 600 tumuli were still visible in the 1800s; many were razed after excavation. The landscape of the necropolis is therefore substantially a product of how it was dug rather than how it was built.

And the twentieth took some of the paintings off the walls. Many artifacts from the necropolis and some of the frescoes have been moved to the neighbouring Tarquinia National Museum in order to preserve them.

Frequently asked questions

How many tombs are painted?

About 200 of roughly 6,000, and together they are the largest documentation of Etruscan pictorial art that exists.

Can I see all the painted tombs?

No. Only a portion is open at any one time, and many of the frescoes have been moved to the neighbouring Tarquinia National Museum in order to preserve them.

What is painted on the walls?

Many different subjects: rituals, animals, magical themes, dance and musical instruments. The best known tombs are those of the Leopards, of Hunting and Fishing, of the Augurs, of the Triclinium, of the Blue Demons and of the Bulls. In the late period the walls show underworld demons escorting the dead, scenes in the nether world, and processions of magistrates marking a family's rank.

What is the Tomb of Orcus known for?

It holds the only known pictorial depiction of the Etruscan daemon Tuchulcha.

How old is the necropolis?

The burial ground runs from the Iron Age or Villanovan period, the ninth century BC, up to Roman times; the oldest of the roughly 6,000 graves dates to the seventh century BC.

How does it compare with Cerveteri?

They were inscribed together by UNESCO in 2004 and they divide the subject between them. Monterozzi is painting; the Banditaccia at Cerveteri is architecture -- tombs laid out as streets and houses.

See Monterozzi Necropolis through traveler photos →

Sources & verification Covers the sourced claims on this page.

Checked against Wikipedia — The painted tombs of the Monterozzi necropolis are the largest documentation of Etruscan pictorial art and are singular testaments to Etruscans' quotidian life, ceremonies and mythology; some of the tombs are monumental, cut in rock and topped by tumuli, accessible by means of inclined corridors or stairways, and many different subjects are shown in the frescos including rituals, animals, magical themes, dance and musical instruments, the best known tombs being the Tomb of the Leopards, of Hunting and Fishing, of the Augurs, of the Triclinium, the Blue Demons and of the Bulls, The Monterozzi burial ground dates from the Iron Age or Villanovan period of the 9th century BC up to Roman times, with simple round tombs carved from rock for cremation burials visible from the Villanovan period; towards the end of the 8th century BC the first funerary chambers appeared as family tombs due to the rise to power of an aristocracy, appearing on the surface as tumuli, sometimes assuming impressive proportions to enhance the power and prestige of the nobles as in the so-called King and Queen tombs, and there were about 600 tumuli still visible in the 19th century following which many were razed after excavation, The tumuli at Monterozzi usually covered subterranean chambers carved into the rock, containing sarcophagi and personal possessions of the deceased, many of which have wall paintings, The earliest sarcophagi at Monterozzi are carved with the image of the deceased supine on the lid, while the later and more numerous types show him or her reclining on the left side facing the spectator and frequently holding a libation vessel, occasionally with a man displaying an inscribed scroll listing his ancestry and the magisterial offices he occupied; during the second half of the 4th century BC sculpted and painted sarcophagi of nenfro, marble and alabaster came into use, deposited on rock-carved benches or against the walls in the now very large underground chambers, decorated with reliefs of symbolic or mythological content often derived from Tarentine models and found in such numbers at Tarquinia that they must have been manufactured locally, while the walls of the late tomb-chambers are painted with underworld demons escorting the dead on their journey to the beyond, scenes in the nether world and processions of magistrates (October 2026).