“Of the most remarkable things to see in Rome, I remember a house with a large garden called the ‘Vigna di Papa Giulio’ where one can see the most famous antiquities of the Roman realm that exist throughout Rome, and a fountain that is so wonderful that it would be worth going back and forth just to see it.”
Thus described Villa Giulia Cristóbal de Villalón in his work “Del Viaggio in Turchia”. Commissioned by Pope Julius III during his papacy between 1550 and 1555, the villa is now home to the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia.
The Villa Giulia Museum is part of the over 350 museums that have joined the family of Artsupp, and we absolutely agree with the Spanish writer who stated that among the many things to see in Rome, one of them is certainly Villa Giulia.
Villa Giulia, “the eighth wonder of the world”
Built by Pope Julius III as a country residence across the Tiber, Villa Giulia is a splendid example of a Renaissance villa. Like the suburban villas of Roman times, Villa Giulia features a vast garden characterized by terraces connected by scenic staircases, nymphaea, and fountains.
It is said that the layout of the villa was designed by the Pope himself and that, as Giorgio Vasari recounts, its construction involved the greatest artists of the time: from Michelangelo to Vasari, Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola, and Bartolomeo Ammannati.
The beauty and grandeur of this complex, immersed in greenery and articulated in corridors, porticoes, flower beds, lawns, and terraces that extend behind the “palace,” made the villa so enchanting that it earned the nickname “eighth wonder of the world” in the nineteenth century.
The entire villa is adorned with frescoes by Pietro Venale da Imola, Taddeo Zuccari, and Prospero Fontana. The hemicycle is decorated with frescoes inspired by the grotesques of the Domus Aurea. In the rooms, one can admire an extraordinary cycle of frescoes depicting the Seven Hills of Rome.
From Papal Residence to Archaeological Museum
Following the death of Pope Julius III, the Villa fell into a state of total abandonment. During this period of decline, many of its artworks were transferred to the Vatican and in the 19th century, after having changed countless uses, it even became a veterinary clinic.
Can you believe that the wonderful Nymphaeum was even transformed into a watering trough for horses!
The birth of the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia is attributed to Felice Bernabei, an Italian archaeologist and politician, who, based on an ambitious and innovative museographic project, in 1889 brought together all the objects discovered in the Roman province: Etruria near Rome, the Faliscan and Capenate Agro, Sabina, southern Lazio, to which Umbria was later added.
The National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia is today the most representative museum of Etruscan civilization and houses not only some of the most important creations of this civilization but also high-level Greek products.
In the museum’s garden, there is a life-size reproduction of the Etruscan-Italic temple of Alatri, specifically commissioned for the inauguration of the Museum.
Among the masterpieces preserved in the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia, you cannot miss The Sarcophagus of the Spouses, The Apollo of Veii, and the Gold Tablets of Pyrgi, a finding of extraordinary importance for enhancing the understanding of the Etruscan language.
