Prehistoric Italy

Bell Beaker Culture in Italy

The Bell Beaker culture, which spread across much of Western and Central Europe during the late 3rd millennium BCE, is also attested in various parts of the Italian Peninsula. Archaeological evidence shows that Bell Beaker materials appeared primarily in the northwestern and southwestern regions of Italy, including Liguria, Tuscany, and parts of Sicily.^[54]

In Italy, the Bell Beaker phenomenon is characterized by distinctive pottery forms, archery-related grave goods, and metallurgy. Burial practices tend to follow individual inhumation patterns often accompanied by wristguards, copper daggers, and bell-shaped vessels, although regional variations exist.^[55] Sites such as Fontanella Mantovana and Ponte San Pietro in northern Italy have yielded diagnostic Beaker-style ceramics and associated metal artifacts.^[56]

Genetic studies suggest that the Bell Beaker expansion in Central and Western Europe was associated with significant population movements linked to Steppe-related ancestry, particularly carriers of the Y-DNA haplogroup R-M269.^[57] However, the demographic impact in Italy appears to have been more complex. Recent archaeogenetic research shows more continuity with earlier Neolithic populations in central and southern Italy, with a modest influx of Steppe ancestry, particularly in northern regions.^[58][59]

This pattern suggests that while the Bell Beaker culture in Italy shared material traits with broader European Beaker networks, its spread was shaped by a combination of cultural diffusion and selective migration, rather than a large-scale population replacement seen in other regions.^[60]

Polada Culture (Northern Italy)

The Polada culture (named after a locality near Brescia) extended from eastern Lombardy and Veneto to Emilia and Romagna, formed in the first half of 2nd millennium BC perhaps from the arrival of new people from the transalpine regions of Switzerland and Southern Germany.^[61]

The settlements were usually made up of stilt houses; the economy was characterized by agricultural and pastoral activities, hunting and fishing were also practiced as well as the metallurgy of copper and bronze (axes, daggers, pins etc.). Pottery was coarse and blackish.^[62]

It was followed in the Middle Bronze Age by the facies of the pile dwellings and of the dammed settlements.^[63]

Palma Campania Culture (Campania)

The Palma Campania culture took shape at the end of the third millennium BCE and represents the Early Bronze Age of Campania. It is named for the locality of Palma Campania where the first findings were made.

Many villages belonging to this culture were buried under volcanic ash after an eruption of Mount Vesuvius that took place around or after 2000 BCE.^[64]

Early Nuragic and Castelluccio Cultures (Islands)

The earliest phase of the Nuragic civilization in Sardinia emerged during the Early Bronze Age from the Bonnanaro culture, building on the megalithic traditions of the Copper Age.

In Sicily, the Castelluccio culture characterized the Early Bronze Age, particularly in the southeastern part of the island. This culture shows influences from the Helladic civilization of the Aegean Sea.^[65]

Terramare Culture

The Terramare culture flourished in the Pianura Padana (especially along the Panaro river between Modena and Bologna) during the Middle and Recent Bronze Age.^[66] In the early period they lived in villages with an average population of about 130 people living in wooden stilt houses with square layouts, generally built near streams, with roads that crossed each other at right angles.

Their total population probably reached an impressive peak of more than 120,000 individuals near the beginning of the Recent Bronze Age.^[67] Over time, these settlements developed hierarchical organization with larger centers (15-20 hectares, approximately 1500-2000 people) surrounded by smaller satellite villages.

Apennine Culture

The Apennine culture dominated central and southern Italy during the Middle Bronze Age. In its broadest sense (including the preceding Protoapennine B and following Subapennine facies), it spans the Bronze Age, though in the narrower sense more commonly used today, it refers primarily to the Middle Bronze Age in the 15th and 14th centuries BCE.^[68]

The people of the Apennine culture were, at least in part, cattle herdsmen grazing their animals over the meadows and groves of mountainous central Italy, including on the Capitoline Hill at Rome, as shown by the presence of their pottery in the earliest layers of occupation. The primary picture is of a population that lived in small hamlets located in defensible places. There is evidence that herdsmen, when traveling between summer pastures, built temporary camps or lived in caves and rock shelters.

However, their range was not confined to the hills, nor was their culture confined to herding cattle, as shown by sites like Coppa Nevigata, a well-defended and somewhat sizeable coastal site where a variety of subsistence strategies were practiced alongside advanced industries such as dye production.

Hierarchy among social groups developed during this period according to the evidence from tombs. The two-tier grave found at Toppo Daguzzo exemplifies elite group formation. On the top level, nearly 10 fractured skeletons were found without grave goods, while at the lower level eleven burials were accompanied by valuable objects: 6 males with bronze weapons, 4 females with beads, and a child.^[69][70]

Castellieri Culture

The Castellieri culture developed in Istria during the Early and Middle Bronze Age, later expanding into Friuli, Venezia Giulia, Dalmatia and neighboring areas.^[71] It lasted for more than a millennium, from the 15th century BC until the Roman conquest in the third century BC. It takes its name from the fortified boroughs (Castellieri, Friulian cjastelir) which characterized the culture.

The ethnicity of the Castellieri civilization is uncertain, although it was most likely of Pre-Indoeuropean stock, coming from the sea. The first Castellieri were indeed built along the Istrian coast and show a similar Cyclopean masonry which is also characterizing in the Mycenaean civilization at the time. The best researched Castelliere in Istria is Monkodonja near Rovinj. Hypotheses about an Illyrian origin of the people are not confirmed.

The Castellieri were fortified settlements, usually located on hills or mountains or, more rarely (such as in Friuli), in plains. They were constituted by one or more concentric series of walls, of rounded or elliptical shape in Istria and Venezia Giulia, or quadrangular in Friuli, within which was the inhabited area.

Some hundred Castellieri have been discovered in Istria, Friuli, and Venezia Giulia, such as that of Leme, in west-central Istria, of Elerji, near Muggia, of Monte Giove near Prosecco (Trieste) and San Polo, not far from Monfalcone. However, the largest castelliere was perhaps that of Nesactium, in southern Istria, not far from Pula.

Thapsos Culture and Island Developments

The Thapsos culture characterized the Middle Bronze Age in Sicily, particularly in the southeastern region. Like the earlier Castelluccio culture, it shows influences from the Aegean, where the Helladic civilization was flourishing.

The nearby Aeolian Islands hosted the flourishing of the Capo Graziano culture during this period.^[72]

In Sardinia, the Nuragic civilization was developing its characteristic architecture, with early nuraghe towers beginning to appear across the landscape.

Nuragic Civilization

The Nuragic civilization of Sardinia (with ramifications in southern Corsica) reached its height during the Recent Bronze Age, lasting from the early Bronze Age (18th century B.C.) to the second century A.D. when the island was already Romanized. It evolved from the preexisting megalithic cultures that built dolmens, menhirs, more than 2,400 Domus de Janas and also the imponent altar of Monte d'Accoddi.

It takes its name from the characteristic Nuraghe. The nuraghe towers are unanimously considered the best-preserved and largest megalithic remains in Europe. Their effective use is still debated; while most scholars considered them as fortresses, others see them as temples.

A warrior and mariner people, the ancient Sardinians held flourishing trades with the other Mediterranean peoples. This is shown by numerous remains contained in the nuraghe, such as amber coming from the Baltic Sea, small bronze figures portraying African beasts, oxhide ingots and weapons from Eastern Mediterranean, Mycenaean ceramics. It has been hypothesized that the ancient Sardinians, or part of them, could be identified with the Sherden, one of the so-called People of the Sea who attacked ancient Egypt and other regions of eastern Mediterranean.^[73]

Other original elements of the Sardinian civilization include the temples known as "Holy wells", dedicated to the cult of the holy waters, the Giants' graves,^[74] the Megaron temples, several structures for juridical and leisure functions and numerous bronze statuettes, which were discovered even in Etruscan tombs, suggesting a strong relationships between the two peoples. Another important element of this civilization are the Giants of Mont'e Prama,^[75] perhaps the oldest anthropomorphic statues of the western Mediterranean sea.

Canegrate Culture

The Canegrate culture developed from the mid-Bronze Age (13th century BC) until the Iron Age in the Pianura Padana, in what is now western Lombardy, eastern Piedmont and Ticino. It takes its name from the township of Canegrate where, in the 20th century, some fifty tombs with ceramics and metal objects were found. It represents the first migratory wave of the proto-Celtic^[76] population from the northwest part of the Alps that, through the Alpine passes, had already penetrated and settled in the western Po valley between Lake Maggiore and Lake Como (Scamozzina culture). They brought a new funerary practice—cremation—which supplanted inhumation.^[77]

Canegrate terracotta is very similar to that known from the same period north to the Alps (Provence, Savoy, Isère, Valais, the area of Rhine-Switzerland-eastern France). The members of the culture have been described as a warrior population who had descended to Pianura Padana from the Swiss Alps passes and the Ticino.

Terramare Collapse

Around the 12th century BCE, the Terramare system collapsed, with settlements abandoned and populations moving southward, where they mingled with the Apennine peoples.^[66] The influence of this population abandoning the Po valley and moving south may have formed the basis of the Tyrrhenian culture, ultimately leading to the historic Etruscans, based on a surprising level of correspondence between archeological evidence and early legends recorded by the Greeks.^[66]

Sicily and Aeolian Islands

In northeastern Sicily, the late Recent Bronze Age shows signs of cultural osmosis with peninsular cultures that led to the appearance of Proto-Villanovan elements at Milazzo, possibly linked to the arrival of Sicels.^[78]

In the Aeolian Islands, the Milazzo culture developed during this period, followed by the Ausonio I culture.^[79]

Proto-Villanovan Culture

The Final Bronze Age is the period during which the majority of the Italian peninsula was united in the Proto-Villanovan culture. This culture (12th-10th century BC) was widespread throughout most of the Italian peninsula and northeastern Sicily (including the Aeolian Islands), characterized by the funeral ritual of incineration. The ashes of the deceased were placed into biconical urns decorated with geometric patterns. Their settlements were often located on hilltops and protected by stone walls.^[80]

Pianello di Genga is an exception to the small cemeteries typical of the Proto-Villanovan culture. More than 500 burials were found in this cemetery, which was used by different communities for two centuries.^[69][81]

In the Aeolian Islands, the Ausonio II culture developed during this period.

Luco-Meluno Culture

The Luco-Meluno culture emerged during the transitional period between the Bronze Age and Iron Age, and occupied Trentino and part of South Tyrol. It was succeeded in the Iron Age by the Fritzens-Sanzeno culture.

Este culture

The Este culture (10th–1st century BCE) developed in the modern region of Veneto, evolving from the Proto-Villanovan culture and associated with the paleo-Venetic peoples.^[82] It is especially noted for its decorated bronze situlae depicting scenes of daily life and ritual.

Golasecca culture

The Golasecca culture (9th–4th century BCE) flourished in the northwestern Po plain, between the Po, Sesia, and Serio rivers. It developed from the earlier Canegrate and Proto-Golasecca cultures and maintained extensive trade networks with the Etruscans, Hallstatt culture, and the wider Mediterranean.^[83]

Alpine and Camunian cultures

The Fritzens-Sanzeno culture developed in Trentino and South Tyrol (6th–1st century BCE), with distinctive alpine adaptations and metalworking traditions, and is associated with the people of the Rhaetians. Its influence extended into the Engadin.

In nearby Val Camonica, the Camuni produced one of Europe’s largest concentrations of prehistoric rock art—about 300,000 engravings—spanning from the Palaeolithic to the Middle Ages.^[84] Classical authors variously linked them to the Euganei or Rhaetians. By the Iron Age, their economy included agriculture and local iron production.

Villanova and Etruscan culture

The Villanova culture (c. 950–750 BCE) marks the earliest phase of the Etruscan civilization. Named for discoveries near Bologna, it arose from the Proto-Villanovan culture and spread through Emilia, Romagna, Tuscany, northern Lazio, and parts of Campania.^[85]

Villanovan burials employed cremation in bi-conical urns, with geometric motifs reflecting continuity with the Urnfield culture.^[86] The culture transitioned to the fully urban Etruscan city-states by the 8th century BCE, characterized by planned settlements, monumental architecture, and complex social organization.^[87][88]

The Etruscans’ origins have long been debated, with their non-Indo-European language standing apart from surrounding Italic groups,^[89] but the consensus among more recent studies is that they were an autochthonous population.^{[90][91][92][93]}

From their base in Etruria, their influence expanded across central and northern Italy.^[94]

Latial culture

The Latial culture developed in Old Latium during the early Iron Age, roughly contemporaneous with the Villanovan horizon. It is associated with the arrival of Old Latin speakers and represents the archaeological footprint of the early Latin tribes.^[95] Material culture continuity with Bronze Age traditions suggests a gradual cultural evolution. The Latins eventually coalesced into a distinct polity under the early Roman Kingdom.

Southern Italian cultures

In the early Iron Age, southern Italy was home to several indigenous cultures with distinct material expressions. In Apulia, the Daunian culture developed sophisticated painted pottery traditions and created distinctive funerary stelae with geometric and anthropomorphic decorations.^[96] Archaeological excavations at sites like Ordona, Arpi, and Canosa di Puglia have revealed complex settlement patterns evolving from village communities to more centralized proto-urban centers during the 9th-6th centuries BCE.^[97]

The Messapic peoples of the Salento peninsula developed a distinctive culture characterized by fortified settlements, chamber tombs, and eventually an epigraphic tradition in a non-Italic language.^[98] Their material culture shows both indigenous innovations and influences from across the Adriatic.

In Basilicata and Calabria, the Oenotrian culture evolved from Bronze Age foundations, gradually adopting iron technology and developing distinctive burial practices. Excavations at Francavilla Marittima and Torre Mordillo have revealed rich evidence of social differentiation and early contacts with Greek traders before formal colonization.^[99] The famous Tomb of the Rich Lady of Braida di Vaglio shows the emergence of elite burials with rich assemblages of metalwork combining indigenous and Greek-influenced elements.^[100]

Sicilian Iron Age

In Sicily, the transition to the Iron Age saw the continuing development of three major indigenous groups: the Sicels in the eastern part of the island, the Sicani in the center-west, and the Elymians in the northwest.^[101] These populations had distinct settlement patterns and material cultures while also engaging with maritime traders from the eastern Mediterranean.

The Sicels developed a distinctive Iron Age culture with significant settlements at sites like Morgantina, Monte Finocchito, and Pantalica, where rock-cut chamber tombs number in the thousands.^[102] Their pottery incorporated both indigenous traditions and influences from Italy and the Aegean.

The Elymians, who according to classical sources had connections with Troy, established important centers at Segesta, Eryx, and Entella. Archaeological evidence shows that they developed a distinctive cultural identity while remaining open to external influences, particularly from Phoenician settlements on the western coast.^[103]

Before large-scale Greek colonization began in the late 8th century BCE, these groups had already established complex settlement hierarchies and trading networks. The changing material culture of indigenous sites reveals both resistance to and selective adoption of external influences, creating distinctive hybrid cultural expressions.^[104]

Nuragic Sardinia

In Sardinia, the Iron Age saw the continued evolution of the Nuragic civilization, which reached its peak of complexity between the 9th and 7th centuries BCE. While rooted in Bronze Age traditions, Iron Age Nuragic culture developed distinctive new features in settlement patterns, metallurgy, and artistic production.^[105]

Settlement patterns show increasing complexity, with earlier nuragic towers often incorporated into more elaborate architectural complexes featuring meeting halls (once called "federal nuraghi") and sacred well temples. Sites like Su Nuraxi di Barumini exemplify this architectural elaboration and social complexity.^[106]

Metallurgy flourished with the production of elaborate bronze votives, including the famous bronzetti figurines depicting warriors, chiefs, and ritual scenes, providing unique insights into Nuragic society, costume, and religious practices.^[107] The Giants of Mont'e Prama, life-sized stone sculptures discovered in central-western Sardinia, represent a remarkable artistic achievement dating to the early Iron Age (9th-8th centuries BCE).^[108]

During the 9th-8th centuries BCE, evidence shows increasing contact with Phoenician traders, who eventually established coastal settlements like Sulcis, Tharros, and Nora. Unlike in Sicily, however, Phoenician and later Carthaginian presence remained largely limited to coastal zones, with Nuragic culture persisting in the interior, though gradually incorporating external influences.^[109] This dynamic interaction between indigenous traditions and Mediterranean influences characterizes the Sardinian Iron Age and contributed to its distinctive cultural expressions.