Via Veneto leads up to the sprawling park and gardens that occupy most of northern Rome. The bulk of the land was acquired in 1600 by the Borghese clan, which produced some of history's most colorful popes. Villa Giulia, our first stop, was a neighboring estate that was subsequently acquired by the Borghese in full empire building mode. Villa Giulia also had papal roots, having been built by Pope Julius III in 1550 as his pleasure palace, where he could pursue his interest in young boys away from the prying eyes of cardinals who may have had more traditional interests. He decorated the villa with pornographic images that were removed by more prudish popes, but was used as something like a summer getaway for the popes until it was acquired by the Borghese. It was subsequently converted into Italy's best Etruscan museum. The collection is impressively large, but disappointingly displayed, considering the surroundings, which steal the limelight from the rows and rows of Etruscan vases.