Villa
Giulia Museum was originally destined to house
pre-Roman antiquities from Latium. Following the
several excavation campaigns in Vulci, Cerveteri,
Veio and Faleri, a large number of finds started
to be housed in the museum, and the Barberini,
Castellani and Pesciotti Collections were purchased.
Today, Villa Giulia is the most representative
Etruscan museum in Italy. The pieces on display
are arranged according to a topographic criterion
and grouped by their place of origin, except for
some collections which are exhibited according
to a typological viewpoint. The Hall of Venus
is devoted to the material from Pyrgi including
remarkable evidences from the great Etruscan sanctuary
of Leucotea-Ilizia; among the numerous sculptures
from the precious polychrome terracotta decoration
covering the wooden structure of the two temples
of the sanctuary, remarkable are the famed pediment
high relief portraying the Greek legend of the
Seven against Thebes, and the late 6th-century
B.C. gold leaves with Etruscan and Phoenician
inscriptions. New exhibition rooms displaying
ceramics, bronzes and gold-works from the Castellani
Collection as well as a section devoted to the
Villa of pope Julius III and the history of the
museum are being arranged. |
