Villa Giulia

Coordinates: 41°55′06″N 12°28′40″E / 41.91833°N 12.47778°E / 41.91833; 12.47778
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the building in Rome. For the museum itself, see National Etruscan Museum. For the Villa Giulia in Naples, see Villa Giulia (Naples). For the Villa Giulia in Palermo, see Villa Giulia (Palermo).
Villa Giulia
Bartolomeo Ammanati, Giorgio Vasari

The Villa Giulia is a villa in Rome, Italy. It was built by Pope Julius III in 1551–1553 on what was then the edge of the city. Today it is publicly owned, and houses the Museo Nazionale Etrusco, a collection of Etruscan art and artifacts.

History

Location

The villa was built in an area of Rome known as the 'Vigna Vecchia' (which was once against the city walls), lying on the slopes of Monte Parioli, as a 'Villa Suburbana' and a place of repose.

Design

The pope, a highly literate connoisseur of the arts, assigned the initial design of the building to

Mannerist architecture
.

Only a small part of the original property has survived intact, comprising three vineyards which extended down to the Tiber, and to which the pope traveled often by boat. The villa, as was customary, had an urban entrance (on the Roman Via Flaminia) and a formal but rural garden entrance. The villa itself was on the threshold between two worlds, that of the city and that of the country, an essentially Roman concept. A medal struck in 1935 shows the villa as substantially complete, but with a pair of cupolas which were never executed.

Vignola's urban front of the building is a somber two-story facade with each story being given equal value. It has at its centre the triple rhythm of a richly detailed

Tidewater region of Virginia
.

View of the nimphaeum loggias

The rear of the building has Vignola's large hemispherical loggia overlooking the first of three courtyards, laid out as a simple parterre.

At its rear the visitor passes through the

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, day-long 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 boats at the gates of the Vatican and were transported up the Tiber to the villa's long-gone private landing stage.

Later history

Following Pope Julius' death, his successor

Camera apostolica. The Villa was reserved for the use of the new pope's Borromeo nephews. It was restored in 1769 on the initiative of Pope Clement XIV, confiscated by the new state of Italy
in 1870, and given over to the National Etruscan Museum in the early 20th century.

In popular culture

In the third season of

Lorenzo Medici, and Caterina Sforza's wife of Girolamo Riario, that takes place in what would appear to be the palace of a fictitious “Cardinal Bianco.” The meeting scene is filmed in the courtyard of the hemicycle of Villa Giulia in Rome (now home to the National Etruscan Museum).[1][2][circular reference
]

Gallery

  • Villa Giulia façade, Giorgio Vasari
    Villa Giulia façade, Giorgio Vasari
  • Villa Giulia court, Giorgio Vasari
    Villa Giulia court, Giorgio Vasari
  • Semicircular portico at the rear of the Casino, Vignola
    Semicircular portico at the rear of the Casino, Vignola
  • Semicircular portico at the rear of the Casino, Vignola
    Semicircular portico at the rear of the Casino, Vignola
  • Nymphaeum loggia, detail, Bartolomeo Ammanati
    Nymphaeum loggia, detail,
    Bartolomeo Ammanati
  • Nymphaeum loggia, Bartolomeo Ammanati
    Nymphaeum loggia,
    Bartolomeo Ammanati
  • A 1935 medal at the British Museum
    A 1935 medal at the British Museum

See also

Further reading

  • Coolidge, John. (1943) Art Bulletin 25.
  • David R. Coffin. (1979) The Villa in the Life of Renaissance Rome

References

  1. ^ Redazione (November 23, 2019). "Medici 3: ten locations where the series about Lorenzo the Magnificent was filmed". Finestre sull Arte. Retrieved 2023-03-19.
  2. ^ "List of Medici Episodes Season 3 (2019)". Wikipedia. December 3, 2019. Retrieved 2023-03-18.

External links

Media related to Villa Giulia (Rome) at Wikimedia Commons

Preceded by
Villa Farnesina 		Landmarks of Rome
Villa Giulia 		Succeeded by
Villa Madama
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