Umbri
![Ethnic groups within the Italian peninsula, 9th to the 4th centuries BC. Subsequently the invasions of the Gauls and the defensive activities of the Roman Republic made large changes in the map.
Ligures
Veneti
Etruscans
Piceni
Umbrians
Latins
Samnites
Messapii
Greeks](/Images/godic/202502/18/Italie_-8003720.png")
The Umbri were an Italic tribe of ancient Italy. A region called Umbria still exists and is now occupied by Italian speakers. It is somewhat smaller than the ancient Umbria.
Most ancient Umbrian cities were settled in the 9th-4th centuries BC on easily defensible hilltops. Umbria was bordered by the Tiber and Nar rivers and included the Apennine slopes on the Adriatic. The ancient Umbrian language is a branch of a group called Oscan-Umbrian, which is related to the Latino-Faliscan languages (Buck, 1904).