Most of the peoples who populated the Apennine Peninsula in Roman times were Indo-Germanic. Due to their linguistic affinity, two Indo-Germanic populations can be distinguished: Italian and non-Italian peoples (Messapians, Sikeler, Veneti, Lepontii).
Apart from the Indo-Germanic peoples (Italians and others), there lived in Italy some non-Indo-Germanic peoples (ancient Mediterranean peoples), of which the Etruscans were the most important politically and culturally. The Italic peoples can be grouped according to the close relationship of their cultures and languages as follows:
- Latins and Falisci;
- Osker and Umbrians and peoples closely related to them (Aequer, Marser, Samnites, Sabeller, Pikener, Volsker).