Conférence
By Carlotta Cianferoni, exhibition curator, former director of the National Archaeological Museum of Florence
The Etruscans, defined by their contemporaries as “ancient, different to all the others”, were a civilisation of both the land and sea, capable of holding significant power over trade in the ancient Mediterranean region, much like the Phoenicians and Greeks, for a very long time. The role of the Etruscans on the sea was therefore particularly significant from the Villanovan era (9th -8th centuries BC) when the coastal areas of Etruria were already active in terms of trading and cultural exchange in the Mediterranean, to the 6th century when their active participation in these trading activities reached its peak.
