Official Information
Official website: https://cultura.gov.it/luogo/necropoli-della-banditaccia
Online tickets: https://www.museiitaliani.it/
Address: Necropoli della Banditaccia, Via della Necropoli, 00052 Cerveteri (RM), Italy
Google map: View on Google Maps
Opening Hours
The Necropoli della Banditaccia is usually open every day except Monday, with opening from the morning until late afternoon or early evening depending on the season. Last entry is set before sunset. Some tomb interiors follow more limited hours or rotation. Because schedules and accessible areas change with conservation work and daylight, always confirm the current timetable on the official MiC or PACT pages before your visit.
The Banditaccia necropolis at Cerveteri offers an extraordinary open-air walk through centuries of Etruscan funerary architecture. Unlike Tarquinia, where painted chamber interiors are the highlight, Cerveteri impresses with its three-dimensional tomb structures laid out as a true “city of the dead.” Along its lanes you pass large tumuli and cube-shaped tombs carved out of tufa, arranged in blocks that resemble urban streets. Each tomb reproduces, in stone, the plan of an Etruscan house: an entrance corridor, central hall, and side chambers with rock-cut beds and benches where the deceased were laid out with their grave goods.
The earliest monumental tombs, dating to the 7th to 6th centuries BC, are often mounded tumuli with circular dromos passages. Later, in the 5th to 3rd centuries BC, more regularized “block” tombs appear, reflecting changes in social structures and urban planning. Visitors follow signed routes of varying length, some equipped with audiovisual points or augmented reality to help interpret the spaces. Inside selected tombs you can still see carved ceiling beams, imitation doors, and other architectural details that mimic domestic interiors. Information panels explain burial rituals, the symbolism of the tomb plans, and the relationship between the necropolis and the nearby plateau of the living city.
The site’s inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage list underlines its importance as a rare, large-scale example of Etruscan landscape design and mortuary practice. Because the necropolis is extensive, it is worth allowing several hours to explore the main sectors at a relaxed pace; paths are mostly level but involve some steps and uneven ground. A combined ticket can be used for the Museum in Cerveteri and for Tarquinia, and online purchase through Musei Italiani is encouraged on busy weekends and free-entrance Sundays. The nearby historic center and the Tyrrhenian coast beaches make Cerveteri a pleasant base for travelers interested in archaeology, countryside, and seaside in the same short trip.