Travel to Tarquinia, one of the most important Etruscan cities, to visit the Etruscan Museum and the tombs of the Necropolis. This once-powerful city was an important economic and political center, which played an influential role in the development of Rome . Burial places indicate that the first permanent settlement developed during the Iron Age. The discovery of funeral paintings dating from the 6th century has also helped historians fill in the gaps of the Tarquinia story. That Tarquinia was once an important center is still evident in its narrow streets, which spill into quaint squares and lovely palaces. One of these, the beautiful 15th - century Palazzo Vitelleschi, houses the National Museum of Tarquinia, our first stop. The museum's wealth of Etruscan treasures include gold jewellery; black vases with carved and painted bucolic scenes, and the celebrated, almost life-size, Winged Horses. Also displayed are some of the sarcophagi found from nearby necropolis - our next stop. Thousand of tombs have been discovered here, some of which have not been explored even today. The paintings on the walls of the tombs depict fishing couples in vivid colours mixed from iron oxide, lapis lazuli dust, and charcoal. One of the oldest tombs (from the 6th century BC) depicts young men fishing while dolphins play and colourful birds fly high above. These paintings have helped historians reconstruct the life of the Etruscans, a heretofore-impossible task without a written history