Roman gladiators were actually, initially, a foreign import to the Roman world, possibly from the Etruscans (at least according to some Roman historians). The Tuscany region would later be seen as firmly Roman, but it's important to understand that the kings of the Roman Kingdom were largely Etruscan in origin, and were seen as foreign entity; their imposition on Latin society was what prompted the overthrow of the kingship and the establishment of the Republic.