Day at the Museum

Continuing the Etruscan theme from Tuesday, on Thursday we all piled onto the bus again for a (thankfully much shorter) trip to the Villa Giulia, built by Pope Julius III and currently a museum dedicated to Etruscan art and artifacts. I have to admit that I didn't find this trip anywhere near as exciting as the one to the tombs--it's harder to get excited about museum exhibits when you can't read the placards, and again we weren't permitted to take pictures inside the museum. However, the villa itself was simply gorgeous, so I have lots of pictures from the outside architecture.


Starting with the few pictures of Etruscan things that I did take...the reconstructed temple was outside in the gardens, so don't worry, we were allowed to take pictures of it.

Unfortunately it was difficult to get a good shot of the temple...the sun was coming up behind it, so all my pictures were either washed out or too dark. We didn't get a chance to go in, which I was disappointed about, but the outside was quite lovely.

So, strictly speaking, I shouldn't have this picture. But can you blame me? This gold necklace is simply gorgeous, and while I know it's blurry, I hope you can see that they're little grape clusters interspersed with leaves. And I made sure the flash was turned off...

These were also too cool to leave without a picture of (and I really do try to keep my not-quite-permitted pictures to the sort of things you're not as likely to find in an art book). These figurines are very small--none higher than two inches, but with fairly intricate details. The details didn't come through too well, but again, that's because I made sure that there's no possibility of damage by using the flash.

We did see a fair number of interesting (to a classicist) things in the museum, but for the most part I was good and didn't take pictures of them. Once we were back out in the parts of the villa that aren't used for the museum, though, I was happily taking pictures all over the place.

 Here's the view from the large grass oval that makes up the courtyard in about the center of the building; the wings of the villa curve around it. It's a gorgeous view!

The villa had some very pretty gardens, which sadly we didn't really have time to explore. There's always time for a quick picture though!

These are some examples of the painted ceilings above the walkways around the central courtyard. Luckily they came out quite well even avoiding the flash to preserve the paint!

And of course, I know you like proof that I'm actually at these places I'm waxing poetic about...so hello!