About the Etruscan Foundation

The Etruscan Foundation is dedicated to the study and understanding of the cultural and material history and heritage of the Etruscans, their neighbors and ancestors, by supporting research, education, conservation, and publication. The foundation’s activities shall include:

• The dissemination of new discoveries and developments in Etruscan Studies.
• The study of the cultural and material history of the Etruscans and their predecessors and successors in Tuscany.
• The documentation, conservation, and restoration of characteristic examples of the built architectural form in rural Tuscany.

Foundation history

The Etruscan Foundation was established in 1959 by Ferdinand Cinelli as a non-profit organization to promote research and scholarly study of ancient Etruria, the region of Italy known today as Tuscany. Headquartered in Michigan, this American foundation sponsored its first archaeological campaign in 1958 at the ancient Etruscan city of Vetulonia, now recognized as a site of major historic and archaeological importance. Since that campaign, over sixty programs, co-sponsored by a series of American universities have excavated Paleolithic, Etruscan, Roman, and medieval sites.

Some of the more extensive field projects funded by the Etruscan Foundation since 1959 have been: