National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia

The National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia, established in 1889, showcases artifacts from the Etruscan civilization, including sculptures, pottery, and jewelry. Housed in a Renaissance villa built for Pope Julius III, the museum offers a serene environment to delve into ancient history. Notable exhibits include the Sarcophagus of the Spouses and the Apollo of Veii. The museum is located at Piazzale di Villa Giulia, 9, 00196 Rome, Italy.

Planning your visit

Villa Giulia holds the best Etruscan collection anywhere, in a building that is itself a Renaissance masterpiece — the summer villa built for Pope Julius III in the 1550s, with a nymphaeum descending in terraces below the courtyard, worked on by Vasari, Vignola and Ammannati.

The Etruscans preceded and shaped Rome, spoke a language still only partly understood, and left almost no literature, so what is known of them comes largely from tombs. The Sarcophagus of the Spouses is the emblem of the civilisation: a terracotta couple reclining together on a banqueting couch, the woman's status equal to the man's, smiling in the archaic manner, made around 520 BC. The Apollo of Veii, a striding painted terracotta figure from a temple roof, is the other landmark.

Alongside sit bronzes, gold jewellery of astonishing fineness, painted pottery and the Pyrgi gold tablets, inscribed in both Etruscan and Phoenician.

The museum is in the Villa Borghese area and consistently uncrowded compared with Rome's better-known sites.

Bookable options include tickets with app audio guides and private tours. Guides help considerably given how little most visitors know about the Etruscans arriving. Current availability is listed below.