[notorandit]

That doesn't sound to me as any news. Etruscans settled a lot of colonies in the southern part of the peninsula, down to Pompeii (which was founded by Etruscans and taken over by Samnites) and Melfi. And they were ahead of all other local cultures by far, especially in the metallurgic technologies and writing. They were not a single kingdom but a group of city-kingdoms.

So I can think of Rome more like a colony that took over the mother city-kingdom first, then the whole peninsula.

Moreover, the names of the first traditional kings of Rome are Etruscans too.

[Eric_WVGG]

When I was a kid, there was a traveling museum thing about the Etruscans. I will never forget the slogan: “Rome wasn’t built in a day. And it wasn’t built by the Romans.” Genius.

[ramraj07]

A lot of times what's kinda obvious to experts can take a while to be proven definitively. Like the presence of exo planets for example.