Cerveteri stands in the area where the ancient city of Agylla stood, for the Greeks, later called Caere by the Etruscans.
Archaeological findings testify to human presence already in the early Iron Age.
According to historiographical tradition, the city was founded by the Pelasgians under the name Agylla, and then conquered by the Etruscans, who changed its name to Caere.
The events of Caere are first linked to the conflict between the Greek and Etruscan cities for the dominance of trade in Italy, and more generally in the Tyrrhenian Sea, and then between the Etruscan cities and Rome.
Following the submission of the Etruscan cities to Roman rule in the 4th century BC, Caere became part of the Roman world as Municipia sine suffragio.
Between the 8th and 11th century Caere was ruled directly by the papacy and later the population moved to nearby Cere Novum.
In the following centuries, it declined as an agricultural centre and, only in the 20th century, as a tourist and archaeological centre.
The Cerveteri necropolis, together with Tarquinia, were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2004, because they constitute a unique and exceptional testimony to the ancient Etruscan civilisation, the only urban civilisation of the pre-Roman era in Italy.