The ETRU spaces

ETRU Museum, an oasis of peace in Rome

The ETRU National Etruscan Museum is housed in two magnificent Renaissance villas, surrounded by greenery and featuring an abundance of open-air spaces. These are temples of culture, but also oases of peace where visitors can experience the splendour of one of the most distinguished periods of Italian history and architecture.

The Museum Buildings

Villa Giulia

Constructed by Pope Julius III, Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte, between 1550 and 1555, Villa Giulia is a stunning Renaissance villa featuring a landscaped garden with terraces connected by spectacular stairways, nymphaea and fountains.

The greatest artists of the era – Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola and Bartolomeo Ammannati, with the contribution of Michelangelo Buonarroti and Giorgio Vasari – were involved in the design of the Villa, while some decorative elements were produced by Prospero Fontana, assisted by a team of artists as Pietro Venale da Imola and Taddeo Zuccari.

The hemicycle is decorated with subtle paintings inspired by the grotesques of Rome’s Domus Aurea. The rooms on the first floor contain an extraordinary series of frescoes, including the representations of the Seven Hills of Rome.
In 1889, the Villa became the seat of the National Etruscan Museum.

Temple of Alatri
This is a life-size reproduction of an Etrusco-Italic temple from the 3rd-4th century B.C., which was built between 1889 and 1890 in the gardens of Villa Giulia for the Museum’s inauguration.

The reconstruction was conceived for educational and scientific purposes and was produced with exceptional musicographic vision based on findings from an excavation conducted a few years earlier in Alatri by Felice Barnabei.

ETRU also pursues its mission through the complete restoration of the temple of Alatri and the development within it of an immersive and exciting multimedia itinerary, featuring high-resolution video projections and multisensorial devices (sight, hearing, smell, touch).

Alatri Temple

Bookshop
The ETRU bookshop has the same opening hours as the Museum.

This is where you can buy tickets and hire audio guides. The bookshop also sells a variety of brief multilingual guidebooks. The selection of publications is divided by topics relating to Etruria, Greece and Ancient Rome, and has dedicated sections for art and children.

The range of products also includes reproductions of Etruscan artefacts (ceramic/bronze items and jewellery) aside from a wide selection of postcards, calendars, stationery items, posters, ceramic objects inspired by the Museum’s collection. The library is managed by Opera Laboratori Fiorentini

Library
A place of study for Etruscan research and beyond, the library has a book heritage of more than 20,000 volumes periodicals, monographs and extracts, which was established starting in 1891 and has grown progressively with the work of the Superintendence for Southern Etruria and with important donations from the libraries of inspectors Raniero Mengarelli and Maria Santangelo and Superintendent Mario Moretti. To these is added the Massimo Pallottino library, recognized as of significant historical interest in 1995. This is the result of the constant research activity carried out over 70 years by the illustrious scholar, one of the greatest exponents of Italian archaeology of the twentieth century.

Educational pavilion
The new pavilion dedicated to educational and didactic activities is a large structure situated within one of Villa Giulia’s gardens.
It is equipped for hosting workshops, seminars and conferences.

Restaurant
The restaurant is immersed in greenery and housed in a stunning glass structure.
The Museum is planning a refurbishment and the restaurant is due to reopen in the future.

Villa Poniatowski

The Villa was inaugurated in 2012 and is ETRU’s second branch. Its rooms feature exhibits from Latium Vetus and Umbria. A refurbishment is underway on a large area that will be used for temporary exhibitions.

It was transformed into a villa at the start of the 19th century by Giuseppe Valadier at the behest of Stanislaw Poniatowski, the nephew of the last King of Poland. With its main façade overlooking via Flaminia, the Villa is embellished with pools and fountains, while the large stepped terrace garden is adorned with ancient sculptures.

A number of discoveries were made during the refurbishment works in 1997, including the unearthing of the remains of the Villa’s original 16th century structure, the remains of two fountains, fixtures from pools and fountains, as well as pictorial and decorative elements.

YOUR EVENTS IN THE MUSEUM

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Atrworks

The Museum

Villa Giulia

Villa Poniatowski

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