Tarquinia is one of the most ancient Etruscan cities. Within the context of the twelve Etruscan cities, Tarquinia has always enjoyed a certain amount of supremacy and prestige that the others did not have, which was not least due to its strategic position. It is situated on an easily defended plateau, controlling the coastal plain with access to the hinterland by the River Marta, which flows from Lake Bolsena past the northern flank of Tarquinia into the Tyrrhenian Sea and provides a natural route of penetration. Each century has left its mark upon the reality of the city. The thousand years of Etruscan Tarquinia are well illustrated in the rooms of the beautiful Renaissance palace Vitelleschi, constructed by Cardinal Giovanni Vitelleschi, the Roman Curia’s plenipotentiary and a famous strategian. Today it is the seat of the National Archeological Museum. A walk through the city is as interesting as a visit to the Eruscan Necropolis with its thousands of ancient tombs, in part painted, that are concentrated in the long and parallel hill of Monterozzi.