Villa Giulia
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Renaissance façade by Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola. |
The
Villa Giulia is a villa built by
Pope Julius III, on the edge of the city of
Rome, in 1550–1555. Today it is publicly owned, and houses an impressive collection of
Etruscan art and artifacts.
The villa stands in an area of
Rome known as the 'Vigna Vecchia' (which was once against the
city walls) lying on the slopes where
Monte Parioli descends to the
Tiber. The current villa is only a small part of a former property, comprising three vineyards. Here a party villa or 'Villa Suburbana' was built for
Pope Julius III, who was an affable, deeply literate connoisseur of the arts. Julius assigned the design of the villa structure to
Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola in
1551-
1553. However, he commissioned the
nymphaeum and other garden structures to
Bartolomeo Ammanati, all under the watchful supervision of
Giorgio Vasari.
Michelangelo worked there too. The Pope offered direct guidance himself; Julius spent vast amounts of money enhancing the beauty of the villa, which became one of the most delicate examples of
Mannerist architecture.
Like all suburban villas, Villa Giulia had an urban entrance (on the Roman
Via Flaminia) and a formal but rural garden behind. The Villa itself was a threshold between two worlds, an essentially Roman conception that was adopted in every urbane culture of Western
Europe. A medal struck in 1553 shows the villa substantially as completed, but with a pair of cupolas that were never executed.
Vignola's urban front of the building is a sombre two storey facade, each storey given equal value. It has at its centre the triple rhythm of a richly detailed
rusticated triumphal arch flanked by symmetrical wings of two bays only. The facade is terminated at each end by
Doric pilasters. In this facade of the Villa Giulia is the germ-idea of the seven-bay
18th century Georgian villa, which was reproduced as far away as the
Tidewater region of Virginia. The rear of the building has Ammanati's large hemispherical
loggia overlooking the first of three courtyards, laid out as a simple
parterre. At its rear the visitor passes through the
casina, which again has a hemispherical rear facade, enclosing paired flights of re-entrant marble steps that give access to the heart of the villa complex - a two-storey
Nympheum for alfresco dining during the heat of the summer. This three-levelled structure of covered loggias, decorated with marble statuary, reclining river gods in niches, and balustrading, is constructed around a central fountain: here in this cool environment, sheltered from the blazing sun, daylong picnics would be held. The central fountain,
Fontana dell'Acqua Vergine, was designed and sculpted by Vasari and Ammannati: it depicts river gods and
caryatids. The fountain's source, the
Acqua Vergine, also supplies the
Trevi Fountain in Rome.
The
Casino della Vigna ("little house in the
vineyard"), as it was sometimes known, and its gardens were set in the midst of vineyards, which could be viewed from shaded arcades on the outsides of the garden walls. Papal parties embarked on a boats at the gates of
The Vatican and were transported up the
Tiber to the villa's long-gone private landing stage.
Following Pope Julius's death, his successor
Pope Paul IV confiscated all the properties he had assembled; the villa was divided, the main building and part of the gardens became the property of the
Camera Apostolica. The Villa was reserved for the use of the new pope's Borromeo nephews.
Image:Apollo-Helios, sec. IV-III a.C. - Roma, museo di Villa Giulia Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto.jpg|Apollo HeliosImage:Etruskisches Paar.jpg|Sarcofago degli Sposi : the sarcophagus of the married couple, part of the Etruscan MuseumThe Villa Giulia was restored in
1769 on the initiative of
Pope Clement XIV. In the wake of the
Risorgimento and the demise of the
Papal States, the villa became in
1870 the property of the
Kingdom of Italy. Since the beginning of the
20th century it has housed the national museum for
Etruscan Art, the
Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia.
The
Museo Nazionale Etrusco was founded in
1889 with the aim of collecting together all the pre-Roman antiquities of
Latium, southern
Etruria and
Umbria belonging to the Etruscan and
Faliscan civilizations. Its most famous single treasure is the
terracotta funerary monument, the almost life-size
Bride and Groom (the so-called
Sarcofago degli Sposi) reclining as if they were at a dinner party.
Other remains held are:
* The Etruscan-Phoenician
Pyrgi Tablets.
* The Apollo of
Veii* A reconstructed frieze displaying
Kreugas eating the brain of his enemy.
*
Villa Giulia*
Villa giulia*
Museo Nazionale Etrusco information
