Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica di Palazzo Corsini

Lonely Planet review

Originally known as Palazzo Riario after Cardinal Domenico Riario, who commissioned it in 1510, Palazzo Corsini owes its current look to a 1736 makeover by Ferdinando Fuga. Over the years a number of esteemed guests have stayed here - Michelangelo, Erasmus and Bramante among them - but the palazzo is most readily associated with Queen Christina of Sweden, who took up residency in 1662 and is said to have entertained male and female lovers here.

Today the palazzo houses part of Italy's national art collection (the rest is in Palazzo Barberini). Many of the 16th- and 17th-century paintings belonged to the Corsini family collection, which, if not Rome's greatest, was still a substantial body of work. Highlights are Van Dyck's superb Madonna della Paglia (Madonna of the Straw) in Room 1, Murillo's Madonna col bambino (Madonna and Child) next door in Room 2, and a typically haunting canvas by Caravaggio, San Giovanni Battista (St John the Baptist), in Room 3. The paintings of the Bologna school in Room 7 also stand out, with works by Guido Reni, Agostino and Annibale Carracci, Giovanni Lanfranco and Guercino.

You can also visit Queen Christina's richly frescoed bedroom, scene of so much royal revelry.