The museum is dedicated to the Etruscan civilization and is found in the splendid Villa Giulia.

It was founded in 1889 with the intention of collecting all the ancient Pre-Roman pieces belonging to the Etruscan and Faliscan civilizations originating in Lazio, South Etruria and Umbria.

Among the many safely kept treasures, the single most famous piece is the funeral monument in terracotta called the Sarcophagus of the Spouses. It shows an almost full-size couple of newly weds reclining in a luminous convivial or symposial pose.