After 10 years of closure, the Ninfeo di Villa Giulia, a jewel of water in Renaissance Rome, has reopened to visitors. This first "theater of waters" in Rome, the heart of the gardens wanted by Pope Julius III for his luxurious residence at the foot of the Monti Parioli, will be accessible again.

It will also be possible to visit the Sala dello Zodiaco, with its splendid 16^th century frescoes depicting the changing of the seasons and the cyclical nature of time.

Guided tours will soon accompany the public in the discovery of the Ninfeo and the Acquedotto Vergine, the only Roman aqueduct still in operation to this day, which feeds the monumental fountains of Rome. The Ninfeo, now part of the Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia, will be accessible for the first time to visitors with reduced mobility, thanks to a new stair lift system.

Commissioned by Pope Julius III to entertain his guests, the Ninfeo was the theater of the waters for summer receptions and events, attended by illustrious figures such as Michelangelo and Giorgio Vasari. Water played a leading role: thanks to an underground diversion of the ancient Acquedotto Vergine, the architect and sculptor Bartolomeo Ammannati created a highly scenic environment, with stuccoes, numerous statues and two large fountains, in a setting refreshed by the copious Acqua Vergine.

"In this same plane there are two beautiful little loggias, one at the meeting of the other, and richly ornamented with stuccoes with figures and festoons in beautiful fashions ... And in each facade of this loggia there is a large niche in the midst of two small ones: in the large one, Hercules; in the others Mercury and Perseus. There are at the meeting three other niches similar to these: in the greater, Ceres: in the others Apollo and Hyacinthus. At the meeting of the entrance, in the large one is Venus, in the small ones Adonis and Cupid." From the letter of Bartolomeo Ammannati to Messer Marco Mantova Bonavides in Padua. Rome May 2, 1555

On the intermediate level of the Nymphaeum, within two large symmetrical niches are two fountains with the personifications of two rivers, the Tiber and the Arno identifiable by their respective attributes: the she-wolf for the Tiber River and the Marzocco - lion symbol of the Republic of Florence and lay protector of the city - for the Arno River, in reference to the pope's Tuscan origins.

On the lower floor, amid polychrome marble and stucco decorations typical of the refined culture of the 16th century, the sinuous and enchanting figures of the Caryatids, witnesses to the ancient wealth of the Nymphaeum, stand out, supporting the travertine balcony.