The Terramare culture of Italy and Dalmatia is one of the world’s oldest, established in the Bronze Age around the 15th Century BC on the Apennine Peninsula. The first tribes of this civilisation were named after the 'black earth' settlement mounds found in Northern Italy. Their direct ancestors were Neolithic, and not only hunted but also raised domesticated animals. The Terramare people were metallurgists as well, casting bronze in clay molds. They were also farmers who cultivated wheat, flax and beans. This culture is one of the earliest manifestations of the Indo-European culture.

The following Villanovan culture settled along the valley of the Po River and Etruria and brought iron-forging to the Italian peninsula. Their burial traditions involved cremating their dead and placing the remains in double cone-shaped urns. Finds of this civilisation can be found at the Agro-Picentino Museum, in Pontecagnano, near Salerno, Italy.

The Etruscan culture developed in Italy around 800 BC. In the 7th Century, the culture began to become orientalised, due to Greek traders inhabiting Magna Graecia (Ancient Greece or Hellenic Civilisation from the south of the peninsula). The Etruscans spoke a non-Indo-European language and were a monogamous people, with their culture well developed and self-sufficient. The Etruscans had many centres of culture, built with great precision and beauty, as seen in the town of Viterbo and the citadel Acquarossa, which was destroyed and never to be completed rebuilt. In the 7th Century, the Greek colonies expanded down to Sicily, and many people migrated from Asia Minor and Magna Graecia.

It is said that Rome was founded in the 8th Century BC by the twin brothers Romulus and Remus, after which the city was governed by the Seven Kings. Italy, then, under the rule of the Holy Roman Empire, was known as a territory around Rome. Augustus and his heirs liked to spend their time in Rome, as it boasted roads, flourishing agriculture, handicraft and industry. The citizens of Rome, and adjacent territories, were, according to a census from the 1st Century, a population of 10 million people.

After the demise of Emperor Theodosius I, who ruled the Eastern and Western Roman Empire from AD 379 to 395, the two parts split and Italy was incorporated into the Western Roman Empire. Then, with the Great Migration of Peoples, came the years of constant Barbarian raids. Diocletian, in AD 286, moved the capital from Rome to Mediolanum. In AD 476, Romulus Augustus died and the Western Roman Empire declined. Odoacer then became the first barbarian ruler of Italy and ruled for 13 years.