Pompeii e gli Etruschi opens in the Palestra Grande in Pompeii to illustrate how local Etruscan elites interacted with the original inhabitants of Campania and communities of Greek settlers here.

The exhibition looks at early Etruscan influences in the area prior to Pompeii before focusing on Etruscan Pompeii set in the multiethnic Campania region until its decline, and the echoes of Etruscan customs that survived.

Roughly 800 exhibits from Italian and European museums are displayed in 13 rooms in the north portico of the Palestra Grande. These include bronze and silver artifacts, together with terracotta pottery and ceramics from tombs, sanctuaries and private homes, all of which help to understand the controversial dynamics of the Etruscan presence in Campania.

Exhibits also include funerary objects from the magnificent princely tombs in which the most important members of great aristocratic families were buried, coming from the Artiaco 104 tomb at Cuma of a cosmopolitan prince; from that of a princess from Montevetrano (tomb 74), near Pontecagnano; and from the extravagant tomb of a prince from Lazio (the Barberini tomb of Palestrina).