Il Museo di Villa Giulia e Vulci: primi passi tra tutela e valorizzazione (1889-1950)

The foundation of the Royal Museum of Villa Giulia on 7 February 1889 marks a relevant step in the history of protection and promotion of the Italian cultural heritage. Almost in the same period Stephan Gsell started the first scientific excavations in the Torlonia estates at Vulci on behalf of the École Française de Rome. This coincidence had no immediate impact on the Museum, but is the ideal starting point for a rapid survey of the role that Villa Giulia played in the protection and, later, the promotion of the antiquities of Vulci throughout its first fifty years of activity, with special regard to the work of Giuseppe Angelo Colini and up to the appointment of Renato Bartoccini as Soprintendente in 1950. As is known, important steps forward were achieved concerning the topography of the Etruscan city and its necropolises, thus providing at the same time an efficient protection of the sites. Alongside fieldwork, an equally relevant museum activity was carried on, which brought about the realization of the first permanent exhibition dedicated to the antiquities of Vulci in the course of the Thirties. Among other finds, the new section was destined to show with unusual timeliness the most significant highlights of the outstanding discoveries made earlier by Goffredo Bendinelli and, later, by Raniero Mengarelli and Ugo Ferraguti.