Rome, Villa Giulia

I visited the Villa Giulia for the first time in 1982, a couple of days before my eighteenth birthday. I had read the first five books by Livy and had become fond of early Roman history, which naturally drove me to a museum devoted to the art of ancient Etruria and archaic Latium. I still have some of the slides I made back then, but I do not remember much of my visit, except the double surprise that there was a picture of an elephant and that the building itself was a monument from the Renaissance.

Two years later, I returned with my father, and I remember (a) the excellent coffee and (b) that the museum was very, very big. It was too much to comprehend. On later visits, I started to recognize some system, and it seemed as if the size of the museum was, after all, limited. Still, I overestimated it; when I visited the Villa Giulia in 2009, I believed I needed several hours, but in the end, a couple of hours were sufficient to see everything and take photos.

The collection itself is beautiful, and explanatory notes are really good. I was impressed by the Pyrgi temple façade and the gold tablets, the statues from Veii, and the finds of Satricum. The only object I did not see, was the elephant, which happened to be on loan to another museum.

This museum was visited in a/o 1982, 1984, 2009.

25 pictures related to this museum

Praeneste, Ivory of a warrior	Veii, Portonaccio Sanctuary, Statue of Aplu (Apollo)	Caere, Bucchero pottery	Veii, Portonaccio Sanctuary, Relief of a horseman
Veii, Antefix (Maenad)	Helmet from Central Italy	Veii, Head of a young man, nicknamed "Malavolta"	Falerii, Sassi Caduti, Temple of Mercury, Menrva
Falerii, Falling Satyr	Veii, Portonaccio Sanctuary, Statue of Uni (Juno)	Veii, Portonaccio Sanctuary, Antefix (Maenad)	Veii, Statue of an official
Falerii, Sassi Caduti, Temple of Mercury, Apollo	Caere, Hunter on horseback	Veii, Statue of a lady	Caere, Etruscan kylix with Menrva
Praeneste, Ivory of a warrior	Veii, Portonaccio Sanctuary, Statue of Hercle (Hercules)	Pyrgi, Gold Tablets (copy)	Veii, Portonaccio Sanctuary, Antefix (Gorgo)
Veii, Head of Turms (Mercury)	Veii, Statues of Aplu and Menrva	Veii, Antefix (Silenus)	Satricum, Temple II, Relief of an Amazon
Veii, Statue of an official