The Lazio region is celebrating its ancient forebears with a major new exhibition devoted to its four best-known Etruscan settlements. The exhibition at Palazzo delle Esposizioni showcases some of the extraordinary artefacts uncovered in Veio, Cerveteri, Vulci and Tarquinia over the centuries. It also features a series of miniature and life-sized reconstructions of the most important temples and burial sites.

The four settlements shared common roots but over the course of the centuries they gradually developed their own character in most fields, including art, religion, culture, trade and lifestyle.

The exhibition places a particular emphasis on the art produced by these ancient towns, much of which is on public display for the first time. Veio, just north of Rome, was famous for its production of terracotta which was used to decorate the roofs of buildings and create religious sculptures. In addition to a selection of such pieces, the exhibit also features a papier-mache reconstruction of part of the Temple of Apollo, complete with reproductions of statues of Apollo, Latona and Heracles that once adorned the roof. Visitors will also be able to admire the original statues in detail, thanks to a loan from the National Museum of Villa Giulia.

Cerveteri is famous among archaeologists for its elaborate necropolises, and the exhibit will feature a life-sized reconstruction of an entire burial chamber from the settlement. This is designed to give a sense of the pomp involved in Etruscan funerary rites, in which ancestor worship played a large role.

Vulci, near the city of Viterbo, is best known for its massive sculptures of local stone but the exhibit will also feature several large vases, considered masterpieces for their stunning Greek decoration. The influence of Greek culture on Vulci is of particular interest as it reveals the major trade ties the settlement enjoyed with Greece, which brought Corinthian, Greek and Attic pottery to the area. Tarquinia is home to 100 tombs decorated with frescos in the early Etruscan and Greek style. The tombs are today considered the most important ''galleries'' of ancient art. The Etruscans lived mainly between the rivers Tiber and Arno in modern-day Umbria, Lazio and Tuscany, in the first millennium BC.

By the sixth century BC they had become the dominant force in central Italy, but repeated attacks from Gauls and Syracusans later forced them into an alliance with the embryonic Roman state, which gradually absorbed Etruscan civilization.

Most of what is known about the Etruscans derives from archaeology as the few accounts passed down by Roman historians tend to be hostile, portraying them as gluttonous and lecherous.

This problem is compounded by the fact that Etruscan cities were built almost entirely of wood and so vanished quickly, leaving little for archaeologists to investigate. The Rome exhibit runs until January 6, 2009.