Courtyard of Villa Giulia in Rome city

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Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia

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Pope Julius III’s 16th-century villa provides the often-overlooked but charming setting for Italy’s finest collection of Etruscan and pre-Roman treasures. Exhibits, many of which came from tombs in the surrounding Lazio region, range from bronze figurines and black bucchero tableware to temple decorations, terracotta vases and a dazzling display of sophisticated jewellery.

Must-sees include a polychrome terracotta statue of Apollo from a temple in Veio, and the 6th-century-BC Sarcofago degli Sposi (Sarcophagus of the Betrothed), found in 1881 in Cerveteri.

Further finds relating to the Umbri and Latin peoples are housed in the nearby Villa Poniatowski.

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