Ancient Etruscan city, northwest of Rome .
It grew out of a number of Villanovan villages and flourished chiefly in the 6th4th centuries BC, largely as a result of trade and the manufacture of bronze objects, including jugs and tripods. The important centre of a large city-state, after the 6th century BC it gradually came under Roman rule. The site, excavated in the 1950s, is noted for its bronze and pottery, much of which has been found in a huge necropolis. There also are Roman ruins.