Villa Giulia
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 Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola in 1551–1553. The nymphaeum and other garden structures, however, were designed by Bartolomeo Ammanati, all under the supervision of Giorgio Vasari. Michelangelo also worked there. Pope Julius took a direct interest in the villa's design and decor and spent vast amounts of money on enhancing its beauties. Villa Giulia became one of the most delicate examples of 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 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 genesis 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 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 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-story 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 Pope Paul IV confiscated all the properties he had assembled; the villa was divided, and 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. 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 Medici (TV Series), it is the site of the first meeting between Clarice Orsini, wife 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 court, Giorgio Vasari
- 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, Bartolomeo Ammanati
- A 1935 medal at the British Museum
See also
- Valle Giulia
- The Sol Wurtzel House in Bel Air, Los Angeles, designed by Wallace Neff and modelled on the Villa Giulia
Further reading
- Coolidge, John. (1943) Art Bulletin 25.
- David R. Coffin. (1979) The Villa in the Life of Renaissance Rome
References
External links
Media related to Villa Giulia (Rome) at Wikimedia Commons
- Official website
- Villa Giulia
- Villa Giulia plan
Preceded by Villa Farnesina | Landmarks of Rome Villa Giulia | Succeeded by Villa Madama |
- v
- t
- e
landmarks
Triumphal arches | |
---|---|
Aqueducts | |
Sewers | |
Public baths | |
Religious |
|
Fora | |
Civic | |
Entertainment | |
Palaces and villae | |
Column monuments | |
Commerce | |
Tombs |
|
Bridges |
basilicas
- Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran
- Basilica of Saint Mary Major
- Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls
- Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican
- S. Lorenzo fuori le mura
- S. Agnese fuori le mura
- S. Agostino
- S. Anastasia al Palatino
- S. Andrea delle Fratte
- S. Andrea della Valle
- S. Antonio da Padova in Via Merulana
- S. Apollinare alle Terme
- Ss. Apostoli
- S. Balbina
- S. Bartolomeo all'Isola
- Ss. Bonifacio ed Alessio
- S. Camillo de Lellis
- S. Carlo al Corso
- S. Cecilia in Trastevere
- Ss. Celso e Giuliano
- S. Clemente
- Ss. Cosma e Damiano
- S. Crisogono
- S. Croce in Via Flaminia
- S. Croce in Gerusalemme
- S. Eugenio
- S. Eustachio
- S. Francesca Romana
- S. Giovanni a Porta Latina
- S. Giovanni dei Fiorentini
- Ss. Giovanni e Paolo
- S. Lorenzo in Damaso
- S. Lorenzo in Lucina
- S. Maria Ausiliatrice
- S. Marco
- S. Maria degli Angeli
- S. Maria in Montesanto
- S. Maria in Cosmedin
- S. Maria in Domnica
- S. Maria in Aracoeli
- S. Maria del Popolo
- S. Maria sopra Minerva
- S. Maria in Trastevere
- S. Maria in Via
- S. Maria in Via Lata
- S. Maria della Vittoria
- S. Martino ai Monti
- Ss. Nereo e Achilleo
- S. Nicola in Carcere
- S. Pancrazio
- Pantheon
- S. Pietro in Vincoli
- S. Prassede
- S. Pudenziana
- Ss. Quattro Coronati
- S. Saba
- S. Sabina
- Sacro Cuore di Maria
- Sacro Cuore di Cristo Re
- Sacro Cuore di Gesù a Castro Pretorio
- S. Sebastiano fuori le mura
- S. Silvestro in Capite
- S. Sisto Vecchio
- S. Sofia a Via Boccea
- S. Stefano Rotondo
- S. Teresa
- S. Vitale
- Arx
- Casa dei Cavalieri di Rodi
- Castel Sant'Angelo
- Domus Internationalis Paulus VI
- Palazzo Aragona Gonzaga
- Palazzo Barberini
- Palazzo Barberini ai Giubbonari
- Palazzo Borghese
- Palazzo della Cancelleria
- Palazzo Chigi
- Palazzo Colonna
- Palazzo della Consulta
- Palazzo Farnese
- Palazzo Fusconi-Pighini
- Palazzo Giustinani
- Lateran Palace
- Palazzo Madama
- Palazzo Malta
- Palazzo di Giustizia
- Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne
- Palazzo Mattei
- Palazzo del Quirinale
- Palazzo Pamphilj
- Palazzo Poli
- Palazzo Riario
- Palazzo Ruspoli
- Palazzo Spada
- Palazzo Valentini
- Palazzo Vidoni-Caffarelli
- Palazzo del Viminale
- Palazzo Wedekind
- Palazzo Zuccari
- Villa Farnesina
- Villa Giulia
- Villa Madama
- Api
- Acqua Felice
- Acqua Paola
- Babuino
- Barcaccia
- Il Facchino
- Marforio
- Moro
- Nasone
- Navicella
- Neptune
- Nettuno
- del Pantheon
- Pianto
- di Piazza d'Aracoeli
- di Piazza Colonna
- di Piazza Farnese
- della Piazza dei Quiriti
- di Piazza Nicosia
- in Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere
- di Ponte Sisto
- Quattro Fiumi
- Quattro Fontane
- Tartarughe
- Trevi Fountain
- Tritons
- Tritone
- Altare della Patria (Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of Italy)
- Campo Verano
- Capocci Tower
- Column of the Immaculate Conception
- Conti Tower
- Hospital of the Holy Spirit
- Milizie Tower
- Sisto Bridge
- Spanish Steps
and public spaces
- Appian Way
- Campo de' Fiori
- Clivus Capitolinus
- Piazza Colonna
- Piazza d'Aracoeli
- Piazza del Popolo
- Piazza della Minerva
- Piazza della Repubblica
- Piazza Farnese
- Piazza Navona
- Piazza San Pietro
- Piazza di Spagna
- Piazza Venezia
- Via dei Coronari
- Via del Corso
- Via della Conciliazione
- Via dei Fori Imperiali
- Via Sacra
- Via Veneto
and zoos
art galleries
- Boncompagni Ludovisi Decorative Art Museum
- Capitoline Museums
- Casa di Goethe
- Doria Pamphilj Gallery
- Galleria Borghese
- Galleria Comunale d'Arte Moderna
- Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica
- Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna
- Giorgio de Chirico House Museum
- Galleria Spada
- Jewish Museum of Rome
- Keats–Shelley Memorial House
- MAXXI
- Museo Archeologico Ostiense
- Museo Barracco di Scultura Antica
- Museo Civico di Zoologia
- Museo delle anime del Purgatorio
- Museo delle Mura
- Museo di Roma
- Museo di Roma in Trastevere
- Museo nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia
- Museo Nazionale Etrusco
- Museo Nazionale Romano
- Museo Storico Nazionale dell'Arte Sanitaria
- Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome
- Museum of Roman Civilization
- Museum of the Ara Pacis
- Museum of the Liberation of Rome
- National Museum of Oriental Art
- Palazzo Colonna
- Palazzo delle Esposizioni
- Pigorini National Museum
- Porta San Paolo Railway Museum
- Santa Cecilia Musical Instruments Museum
- Venanzo Crocetti Museum
Seven Hills | |
---|---|
of Rome Capital