These shrews prefer warm and damp climates and are widely distributed in the belt between 10° and 45°N latitude stretching from Europe and North Africa to Malaysia.

[6] Near the mouth grow a dense array of short whiskers, which the shrew actively uses to search for prey, especially in the night.

[2] Due to its small size and consequent high surface-area-to-volume ratio, the Etruscan shrew is at a constant risk of hypothermia, and would quickly freeze to death if not for its extremely rapid metabolism.

In cold seasons and during shortages of food, the shrews lower their body temperatures down to about 12 °C (54 °F) and enter a state of temporary hibernation to reduce energy consumption.

[3] In Southern Europe, it has been found in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, France, North Macedonia, Malta, Montenegro, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and Turkey, with unconfirmed reports in Andorra, Gibraltar and Monaco; it has been introduced by humans to some European islands, such as Canary Islands.

[2] The shrew also occurs in North Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia) and around the Arabian Peninsula (Bahrain, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Syria, and Yemen including Socotra).

In Asia, it was observed in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, China (Gengma County only), Burma, Georgia, India, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia (Malaysian part of Borneo island), Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Vietnam.

There are unconfirmed reports of the Etruscan shrew in West and East Africa (Guinea, Nigeria, Ethiopia) and in Armenia, Brunei, Indonesia, Kuwait and Uzbekistan.

[8] It colonizes riparian thickets along the banks of lakes and rivers, as well as human-cultivated areas (abandoned gardens, orchards, vineyards, olive groves and edges of fields).

It feeds mostly on various invertebrates, including insects, larvae and earthworms, as well as the young of amphibians, lizards and rodents, and can hunt prey of nearly the same body size as itself.

[8] It kills large prey by a bite to the head and eats it immediately, but takes small insects back to its nest.

[10] The largest threat to Etruscan shrews originates from human activities, particularly destruction of their nesting grounds and habitats as a result of farming.