MUSEI CAPITOLINI

The museum is housed in two palaces facing each other in Piazza del Campidoglio (Palazzo dei Conservatori and Palazzo Nuovo). It is mainly devoted to ancient, Etruscan, Greek and Roman sculpture, but its picture gallery also features interesting Renaissance, Mannerist and Baroque works. The Capitoline Museums were created in 1471, when Pope Sixtus IV gave the Roman people a group of valuable bronze statues. This makes it the oldest public museum in the world.

Appartamento dei Conservatori

Of ancient origin, it was transformed in 1570 by Giacomo Della Porta to a design by Michelangelo. The courtyard features fragments of the colossal statue of Constantine, originally installed in the Basilica of Maxentius in the Roman Forum. Its dimensions are exceptional: head 2.60 m, feet 2 m.

Sala degli Orazi e dei Curiazi. The Sala degli Orazi e dei Curiazi was the grand ceremonial hall of Rome's Commune. It was here, on March 25, 1957, that the Treaty of Rome was signed, founding the European Union. Framed by a marble frieze, the frescoes that give the room its name depict the story of the Horatii and Curiatii. They were painted by the Cavalier d'Arpin in the late ^16th century. Look out for the statue of Pope Urban VIII, by Bernini and his pupils, and the bronze statue of Innocent X, by l'Algarde, dating from the mid-17th^century .

Sala dei Capitani. Named after the statues of pontifical generals Marcantonio Colonna and Alessandro Farnese, this room is decorated with a historiated coffered ceiling from a ^16th-century palace. The walls feature ^16th-century paintings depicting the history of Republican Rome.

Sala di Annibale. The only room in the palace to have retained its original proportions and decoration (early 16th^century ). The frescoes depict episodes from the Punic Wars.

Sala degli Arazzi. Large tapestries(arazzi), the work of an ^18th-century Roman workshop, give this room its name. They reproduce legendary episodes from ancient Rome, based on drawings by major artists including Rubens and Poussin.

Sala dei Trionfi. The ^15th-century frieze that gives the room its name depicts the triumph of general Lucius Emilius Paulus over the Cimbres and Teutons. This room also features two celebrated works: the Greek statue of the Thorn Shooter from the Hellenistic period (^1st century BC), and the bust of Janus Brutus, a magnificent bronze portrait from the ^3rd century BC.

Sala della Lupa. Stop in front of the city's emblem, the Capitoline She-wolf, mater romanorum, mother of the Romans, an ancient bronze from the^{5th century} BC, probably Etruscan, which in Roman times was placed on the Capitol. The two children suckling the she-wolf, Romulus and Remus, were added by the Pollaiolo brothers in the late 15th^century . The rooms on this floor contain the results of excavations carried out in the great villas of the imperial era, in particular those of patrons of the arts, and it is well known that these wealthy individuals were great connoisseurs of Greek art.

Sala delle Oche. Two small geese give the room its name. Framed by a beautiful gilded cornice, they allude to the episode of the Capitoline geese who saved Rome from invasion by the Gauls. A marble bust by Michelangelo and the Head of Medusa sculpted by Bernini are the works to be seen here.

Sala delle Aquile. The Sala delle Aquile features grotesque decoration (^16th century) and a beautiful coffered ceiling.

Museo del Palazzo dei Conservatori

Sale Castellani. Three rooms featuring objects recovered from the main archaeological sites in Etruria, Lazio and Magna Graecia.

Sala degli Horti Lamiani. The room takes its name from the horti, sumptuous villas surrounded by greenery on the outskirts of Rome, founded by the consul Lucio Elio Lamia in AD 3. Rediscovered at the end of the ^19th century, sculptures were brought to light here. The Venus on the Esquiline, the Bust of Commodus as Hercules and the two Torsos of Triton are among the most beautiful (all between the ^1st and ^2nd centuries AD).

Exedra of Marcus Aurelius. Where a garden once stood, the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, a fine example of Roman realism from the ^2nd century AD, has been preserved. Michelangelo had it moved from Piazza Laterano to Piazza del Campidoglio.

Sale degli Horti di Mecenate e di Tauriani e Vettiani. Here you can admire the beautiful statue of Marsyas (^2nd century AD), the silenus who dared to defy Apollo.

Pinacoteca

This contains a collection of works from the 15th^to 18th^centuries , grouped by school, genre and author, and arranged chronologically.

At the entrance are two marble paintings created using a special technique known as opus sectile, used in Egypt in Roman times. Of particular interest is Titian's Baptism of Jesus (room 3), as well as a Young Saint John the Baptist painted by Caravaggio in the early ^17th century and, next door, again by Caravaggio, the famous painting called The Fortune Teller. Last but not least, Rubens' great painting of Romulus and Remus. The great painters of the period are also represented: Simon Vouet, Piero da Cortona, Dominiquin le Guerchin and Guido Reni.

Galleria Lapidaria - Tabularium

To link the Palazzo dei Conservatori, Palazzo Nuovo and Palazzo Senatorio, an underground gallery was built in 1930 beneath Piazza del Campidoglio. Passing through it, you can see the remains of Roman dwellings from the ^2nd century AD.

You then come to the Tabularium galleries, where the city's archives(tabulae) were kept in the ^1st century BC, transformed over the centuries into warehouses and prisons. At the top of the staircase, a headless statue of the god Vediovis reminds us that a temple dedicated to this little-known infernal divinity once stood here, before it was incorporated into the Tabularium.

Palazzo Nuovo

Egyptian room. The room opening onto the courtyard contains Egyptian remains from theIseum on the Champ de Mars, the most important Roman temple dedicated to the cult of Isis in Republican times. The other three rooms on the first floor display objects from the cult of Cybele and Mithras, as well as some fine Roman sarcophagi.

Sala delle Colombe. Named after one of the museum's must-see works, the Dove Mosaic, a mosaic of unparalleled refinement that decorated the floor of a room in Hadrian's villa at Tivoli. It is said to be a copy of a Greek original, produced in the 2nd^century AD.

Gabinetto della Venere. This pretty polygonal room was built in the ^19th century to house the statue of the Venus of the Capitoline Hill (^1st century BC). Modest yet voluptuous, the beautiful Venus is depicted here emerging from her bath to conceal her nudity.

Sala degli Imperatori and Sala dei Filosofi. The first room features 70 busts of ancient political figures, both men and women. Here, you'll be amazed to see the evolution of fashion and hairstyles. The next room closes with busts of poets, writers and philosophers.

Salone. In the grand salon, with its ^18th-century decor, you can admire two statues of Centaurs found in Hadrian's villa at Tivoli. One is old, with tired, suffering features, the other young, resplendent with the joys of love. Further on, the Apollo with zither and theWounded Amazon (^2nd century B.C.) complete this beautiful ensemble.

Sala del Fauno. In the center of the room, the splendid statue of a faun in precious red marble, also made in Hadrian's time. Hanging on the wall is the Lex Imperio Vespasiani, a large bronze plaque recording the Senate decision by which Vespasian came to power (69 AD).

Sala del Gladiatore. The visit ends with the discovery of a final masterpiece, the statue of the Dying Galatian. Long mistaken for a statue of a gladiator, its suffering is evident in the realism of its features. One of the most precious pieces of Antiquity.