Ancient States of Italy: Map & History

Those who subscribe to a Latin foundation of Rome followed by an Etruscan invasion typically speak of an Etruscan "influence" on Roman culture – that is, cultural objects which were adopted by Rome from neighboring Etruria. The prevailing view is that Rome was founded by Latins who later merged with Etruscans. In this interpretation, Etruscan cultural objects are considered influences rather than part of a heritage. Rome was probably a small settlement until the arrival of the Etruscans, who constructed the first elements of its urban infrastructure such as the drainage system.

From Wikipedia: Etruscan civilization · Legend and history: Possible founding of Rome (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Governments in ancient Mediterranean societies were explicitly interwoven with the religious practices of the contemporary. The Etruscan King lucomo (plural: lucumones), was considered the supreme authority and under the Etruscans' theocratic governmental approach acted as the connection between god and people. The royal title was not just limited to hereditary succession but was also given due to elite lineage, divine sanction and also wealth. This prominence of divine sanction is reflective of the importance of religion in Etruscan governments and as such, all Etruscan kingship was also believed to be under divine approval and held the final word. Roman historian Titus Livius records the story of Lucomo which reflects how the divinity was revered and understood in the Etruscan era as captured by Roman historians.

From Wikipedia: Etruscan civilization · Society: Importance of religion in the government (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Roman authors repeatedly praised the fertility of Etruria and its abundant grain, in particular spelt (farro), as well as its vineyards, olive groves and figs; according to the ancient sources, cities such as Cerveteri, Roselle, Volterra, Chiusi, Perugia and Arezzo supplied large quantities of grain to Rome, both during the famines of the fifth century BC and to the army of Scipio during the Punic Wars. Irrigation and drainage were specialities of Etruscan engineers: networks of rock-cut underground channels (cuniculi), reached through vertical shafts, drained waterlogged land and carried water where it was needed, as in the territory of Veii, and such works were later continued by the Romans.

From Wikipedia: Etruscan civilization · Economy: Agriculture (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Etruscan texts, written in a space of seven centuries, use a form of the Greek alphabet due to close contact between the Etruscans and the Greek colonies at Pithecusae and Cumae in the 8th century BC (until it was no longer used, at the beginning of the 1st century AD). Etruscan inscriptions disappeared from Chiusi, Perugia and Arezzo around this time. Only a few fragments survive, religious and especially funeral texts, most of which are late (from the 4th century BC). In addition to the original texts that have survived to this day, there are a large number of quotations and allusions from classical authors. In the 1st century BC, Diodorus Siculus wrote that literary culture was one of the great achievements of the Etruscans.

From Wikipedia: Etruscan civilization · Culture: Literature (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The site of the founding of the Roman Kingdom (and eventual Republic and Empire) included a ford where one could cross the river Tiber in central Italy. The Palatine Hill and hills surrounding it provided easily defensible positions in the wide fertile plain surrounding them. Each of these features contributed to the success of the city.

From Wikipedia: Roman Kingdom · Origin (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Mamertine presence did not go unchallenged forever. In around 270 BC, the Mamertine exploits came to the attention of Syracuse, by word of the refugees from the settlements. Hiero II, tyrant of Syracuse, began to gather an army of citizens with which to rid the land of the destroyers of the peace and rescue his Greek kinsmen. Hiero met with the Mamertines when they were nearing Syracuse. Marching out his troops, he first sent his unruly mercenaries forward and allowed them to be butchered by the Mamertines. The faithless part of his army disposed of, Hiero marched his citizen soldiers back to the city where he drilled them until they were in better fighting condition. Leading his confident army north, he found the Mamertines again at the Longanus River on the plain of Mylae, where he easily defeated them and proclaimed himself king.

From Wikipedia: Mamertines · Decline (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Once the scale of the conflict had escalated beyond them, the Mamertines were lost to the historical record and their fate is lost, swallowed up in the larger events of the Punic wars. After the First Punic War, however, their name was not quite forgotten in the ancient world since "Mamertine wine" from the vineyards of north-eastern tip of Sicily was still known and enjoyed in the 1st century. It was the favourite of Gaius Julius Caesar and it was he who made it popular after serving it at a feast to celebrate his third consulship.

From Wikipedia: Mamertines · Legacy (CC BY-SA 4.0)