BETWEEN THE UMBRIAN AND ETRUSCAN PERIOD

The Etruscan penetration of Umbria, occurred during the IX/VIII centuries BC, and many important archaeological finds have been made, now conserved at the Archaeological Museum in Florence. Also in the museum, other finds include rare and wonderful archaic bronzes that were discovered in the Trestina area, south of Città di Castello, and an Etruscan mirror from the Hellenistic age, decorated with the images of Hercules, Aphrodite and Minerva.
The Italic town of Samnite and Umbrian-Sabellic line, of which Tolomeo talked of, Città di Castello always preserved its own independence from the neighbouring Etruscans. But since the VII cent. BC, when the valley became connected with the Adriatic regions through the Apennine passes and with the Etruria coast, it became the central crossing point for the commercial roads from South-West to North-East up to the Centre of Europe.