If you have time for only one Etruscan site, this is it. From the low citadel of the lovely old town you look over parapets at a countryside which, from a distance at least, has changed hardly in 2,500 years. The national museum is spread over three floors of the Palazzo Vitelleschi on Piazza Cavour. Here you see the famous stone sarcophagi with life-sized statues reclining on the lids; Greek-style red and black cups and pots, intricately decorated; painted slabs from the tombs; and the most exciting of old Etrurian sculptures, the Winged Horses, two animals harnessed together and stepping out proudly and gracefully towards you. At the museum, which is open daily except Monday, you can apply for a tour of the tombs, which lie underground beside a country road on Monterozzi Hill 4 km east.

Of about 20 large tombs, each frescoed with amazing action paintings which reveal so graphically the daily lives of the Etruscans at work and play, the guided tour allows time for about five. (You cannot enter without a guide.) Descriptions of the frescos’ vivid colouring and varied subject-matter convey very little: you must see them for yourself. The names of a few tombs suggest the noble occupants’ interests, hobbies or claims to fame: tomb of the Warrior, of Hunting and Fishing, of the Lioness, of Jesters, of Chariots, of the Bull, of the Typhoon (a mythical monster) and of the Dying Man.