The Etruscans get No Respect, No Respect. But the Villa Giulia is TOTALLY respectable

The Villa Giulia is so pretty!

If you’ve been following Museum Month(s Strike Back, Return of the Jedi With a Vengeance), you know that I’m a big fan of big, empty, museums. That I’ll eschew the blockbuster in favor of places that are what I call “pleasantly attended” (the Rodin Museum, Gemäldegalerie, and Brera all qualify) If you’re looking for that in Rome and you’re looking for something other than classical art the place to go is the Villa Giulia.

Pretty with no other people.

Legit pretty.

The Villa Giulia is the National Etruscan Museum in Rome and it’s full of great, weird stuff that I can’t really show you because they don’t really allow photos, but the grounds are lovely enough on their own to be worthy of a visit and I have plenty of photos of the outside. And you know what you don’t see in any of the photos of the grounds? Other people. Because there weren’t any. There were maybe five other people there the ENTIRE time I visited. Not five in the fancy room with the couple sarcophagus. Or five in the room with all the goofy phallic pottery, but five TOTAL. And it’s nuts because the Villa Giulia is GORGEOUS. It’s also only a two-minute tram ride from Piazza del Popolo, so it’s not like it’s hard to find or far away.

Don’t you want to walk in this arched passageway?

It’s a really pretty passageway

And see this super cool peacock fresco?

I had to sneak this photo. But look at the INSANELY COOL couple sarcophagus. INSANELY COOL.

Poor Etruscans. No respect I tell you, No respect.

There’s even a grotto

Which you get allllllll to yourself.