Necropolis of Palastreto, Etruscan necropolis in Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.

The Necropolis of Palastreto is an Etruscan cremation cemetery on the slope of a limestone hill near Santa Lucia alla Castellina. Only the lower parts of the tombs cut into the rock survive: simple pit graves and deeper shafts that held terracotta jars containing ash urns. Some shafts are paired side by side, and a few square cuts suggest stone chest tombs.

The burial ground operated from the 8th to the 6th century BCE, serving several Etruscan communities in the surrounding region. It shows how funeral practices changed and developed over generations as the culture evolved.

The name Palastreto comes from the locality near Santa Lucia alla Castellina in Quinto Fiorentino. The site is freely accessible, and the finds, including the terracotta jars that held the cinerary urns, are kept in Florence and Sesto Fiorentino rather than on site.

The site remains open to visitors, though many burial pits are now covered and mostly hidden from view. The key artifacts have been moved to museums in Florence and Sesto Fiorentino, where they can be understood more fully.

Several graves contain pairs of adjacent wells positioned side by side, suggesting that family members were buried near one another by design. This pattern helps archaeologists understand the social and kinship networks of the ancient population here.