Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia

A museum of Etruscan and pre-Roman antiquities set in a graceful Renaissance villa built for Pope Julius III. Its galleries hold the foremost collection of Etruscan art, drawn from the tombs and cities of central Italy. The celebrated Sarcophagus of the Spouses, a terracotta couple reclining at a banquet, is its most famous piece. Gold jewellery, bronze mirrors, painted vases and temple sculpture illuminate a civilisation that preceded and shaped Rome. The villa's nymphaeum and gardens provide an elegant frame for the ancient objects.