Museum sights in Rome
-
A
Vatican Museums
Visiting the Vatican Museums is an unforgettable experience that requires strength, stamina and patience. You’ll need to be on top of your game to endure the inevitable queues – if not for a ticket then for the security checks – and enjoy what is undoubtedly one of the world’s great museum complexes.
Founded by Pope Julius II in the early 16th century and enlarged by successive pontiffs, the museums are housed in what is known collectively as the Palazzo Apostolico Vaticano. This massive 5.5-hectare complex consists of two palaces – the Vatican palace nearest St Peter’s and the Belvedere Palace – joined by two long galleries. On the inside are three courtyards:…
reviewed
-
B
Museo Nazionale Romano: Palazzo Altemps
This gem of a museum houses the best of the Museo Nazionale Romano's formidable collection of classical sculpture. Many pieces come from the celebrated Ludovisi collection, amassed by Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi in the 17th century. Prize exhibits include the 5th-century Trono Ludovisi (Ludovisi Throne), a carved marble throne depicting Aphrodite being plucked from the sea as a newborn babe. It shares a room with two colossal heads, one of which is the goddess Juno and dates from around 600 BC. The wall frieze (about half of which remains) depicts the 10 plagues of Egypt and the Exodus.
The building's baroque frescoes provide an exquisite decorative backdrop. The walls of…
reviewed
-
C
Casa di Goethe
A gathering place for German intellectuals, the Via del Corso apartment where Johann Wolfgang von Goethe enjoyed a happy Italian sojourn from 1786 to 1788, but complained of the noisy neighbours, is now a lovingly maintained museum. Exhibits include documents and some fascinating drawings and etchings. With advance permission, ardent fans can use the library full of first editions.
reviewed
-
D
Museo Nazionale Romano: Palazzo Massimo alle Terme
A treasure trove of classical art, the light-filled Palazzo Massimo alle Terme is one of Rome's finest galleries, but remains almost off the beaten track in its position a few steps away from Termini station.
The ground and 1st floors are devoted to some incredibly fine sculpture, including the mesmerising Boxer that dates from the 1st century BC; upstairs there's an exquisite crouching Aphrodite from Tivoli's Villa Adriana, the softly contoured, 2nd-century BC Sleeping Hermaphrodite, and the iconic vision of perfection that is the Discus Thrower. Yet the sensational mosaics and frescoes on the 2nd floor blow everything else away. The layout has been revamped so that the…
reviewed
-
E
Castel Sant'Angelo
With its chunky round keep, this castle is an instantly recognisable landmark. Built as a mausoleum for the emperor Hadrian, it was converted into a papal fortress in the 6th century and named after an angelic vision that Pope Gregory the Great had in 590. Thanks to a secret 13th-century passageway to the Vatican palaces, the Passetta di Borgo, it provided sanctuary to many popes in times of danger, including Clemente VI, who holed up here during the 1527 sack of Rome.
Its upper floors are filled with lavishly decorated Renaissance interiors, including, on the 4th floor, the beautifully frescoed Sala Paolina. Two stories further up, the terrace, immortalised by Puccini in…
reviewed
-
F
Capitoline Museums at Centrale Montemartini
This fabulous outpost of the Capitoline Museums (Musei Capitolini) is a treat. Housed in a former power station, it boldly juxtaposes classical sculpture against diesel engines and giant furnaces. The collection’s highlights are in the Sala Caldaia, where a giant furnace provides a suitably impressive backdrop. Two of the most beautiful pieces are the Fanciulla Seduta and the Musa Polimnia gazing dreamily into the distance.
reviewed
-
G
Porta San Sebastiano
Marking the start of Via Appia Antica, the 5th-century Porta San Sebastiano is the largest of the gates in the Aurelian Wall. It was originally known as Porta Appia but took on its current name in honour of the thousands of pilgrims who passed under it on their way to the Catacombe di San Sebastiano. During WWII, the Fascist Party secretary Ettore Muti lived here and today it houses the Museo delle Mure, a modest museum illustrating the history of the wall. It’s worth a look for the chance to walk along the top of the walls for around 50m.
reviewed
-
H
Museo Nazionale d’Arte Orientale
Rome’s little-known but impressive National Museum of Oriental Art is housed in the 19th-century Palazzo Brancaccio. It makes for a rewarding visit, with a rich collection of Near and Far Eastern artefacts. The collection starts on a high with some exquisite items from Iran and Central Asia, such as Iranian glassware dating from the 5th to 6th century BC, and goes on to encompass fascinating items from the ancient settlement of Swat in Pakistan, 12th-century homewares from Afghanistan, engraved ritual vessels from China dating 800 to 900 years before Christ, and Ming porcelain figures. There are also Nepalese, Indian and Korean works of art.
reviewed
-
I
Museo Nazionale Romano: Crypta Balbi
The least known of the Museo Nazionale Romano's four museums, the Crypta Balbi is built around the ruins of medieval and Renaissance structures, themselves set atop the ancient Teatro di Balbus (13 BC). Duck down into the underground excavations, then examine artefacts taken from the Crypta, as well as items found in the forums and on the Oppio and Celian Hills. Note that there is sometimes a €3 exhibition supplement.
reviewed
-
J
Museo Nazionale Romano: Terme di Diocleziano
The Terme di Diocleziano is a complex of baths, libraries, concert halls and gardens that was ancient Rome's largest, covering about 13 hectares and having a capacity for 3000 people. Completed in the early 4th century, it fell into disrepair after the aqueduct that fed the baths was destroyed by invaders in about AD 536. Today the bath complex ruins constitute part of the impressive Museo Nazionale Romano: Terme di Diocleziano. Through memorial inscriptions and other artefacts, the museum supplies a fascinating insight into the structure of Roman society, with exhibits relating to cults and the development of Christianity and Judaism. Upstairs delves into even more…
reviewed
Advertisement
-
K
Explora – Museo dei Bambini di Roma
Rome’s only dedicated kids’ museum, Explora is aimed at the under-12s. It’s set up as a miniature town where children can play at being grown-ups and with everything from a doctor’s surgery to a TV studio, it’s a hands-on, feet-on, full-on experience that your nippers will love. Outside there’s also a free play park open to all.
Booking is advisable on weekdays, essential at weekends.
reviewed
-
L
Museo Storico della Liberazione
Now a small museum, Via Tasso 145 was the headquarters of the German SS during the Nazi occupation of Rome (1943–44). Members of the Resistance were interrogated, tortured and imprisoned in the cells and you can still see graffiti scrawled on the walls by condemned prisoners. Exhibits, which include photos, documents and improvised weapons, chart the events of the occupation with particular emphasis on the persecution of the Jews, the underground resistance and the Fosse Ardeatina massacre.
reviewed
-
M
Museo di Roma
The baroque Palazzo Braschi houses the Museo di Roma’s eclectic collection of paintings, photographs, etchings, clothes and furniture, charting the history of Rome from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century. But as striking as the collection are the palazzo’s beautiful frescoed halls, including the extravagant Sala Cinese and the Egyptian-themed Sala Egiziana. Among the paintings, look out for Raphael’s 1511 portrait of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, the future Pope Paul III.
reviewed
-
N
Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia
Italy's finest collection of pre-Roman Etruscan treasures is considerately presented in Villa Giulia, Pope Julius III's 16th-century pleasure palace. Exhibits, many of which came from burial tombs in the surrounding Lazio region, range from bronze figurines and black bucchero tableware to temple decorations, terracotta vases and a dazzling display of sophisticated jewellery.
Must-sees include a polychrome terracotta statue of Apollo, the 6th-century-BC Sarcofago degli Sposi (Sarcophagus of the Betrothed) and the Euphronios Krater, a celebrated Greek vase that was returned to Italy in 2008 after a 30-year tug of war between the Italian government and New York's Metropolitan…
reviewed
-
O
Museo Nazionale delle Paste Alimentari
Pasta is celebrated in all its fascinating glory at this wonderfully straight-faced museum. It's the only museum in the world dedicated to more than two millennia of pasta and it takes its responsibilities seriously - there are exhibitions explaining the production process, the differences between various pastas and how best to cook them. A highlight is the Neapolitan Room, with its photos of film stars tucking into plateloads of the stuff.
reviewed
-
P
Museo di Roma in Trastevere
Housed in a former Carmelite convent, adjoining the neighbouring 17th-century church of Sant’Egidio, this small museum hosts interesting photography and art exhibitions, usually depicting past life in Italy. Upstairs the permanent collection contains a small selection of 19th-century watercolours depicting Rome, and also has temporary Rome-related exhibitions, and Stanza di Trilussa, an installation that fills an entire small room with manuscripts and domestic items relating to the famous Roman poet, who wrote in the local dialect.
reviewed
-
Q
Museo Criminologico
Check out Rome’s dark side at this macabre museum of crime. Housed in a 19th-century prison, its gruesome collection runs the gauntlet from torture devices and murder weapons to fake Picassos, confiscated smut sied out a total of 516 executions between 1796 and 1865.
reviewed
-
R
Museo delle Cere
Rome’s waxwork museum is said to have the world’s third largest collection, which comprises more than 250 figures, ranging from Barak Obama to Snow White, footballer Francesco Totti and a whole cast of mostly recognisable popes, poets, politicians and murderers. You can also visit the laboratory where the waxworks are created.
reviewed
-
S
Museo Barracco di Scultura Antica
This charming museum boasts a fascinating collection of early Mediterranean sculpture. You’ll find Greek, Etruscan, Roman, Assyrian, Cypriot and Egyptian works, all donated to the state by Baron Giovanni Barracco in 1902.
The palazzo housing the museum, known as the Piccolo Farnesina, was built for a French clergyman, Thomas Le Roy, in 1523.
reviewed
-
T
Museo delle Arti e Tradizioni Popolari
You might well have to wake up the ticket-seller at this sleepy museum dedicated to folk art and rural tradition. Not one of Rome’s great museums, it’s nevertheless more interesting than it sounds, with an eclectic collection of agricultural and artisan tools, clothing, musical instruments and a room full of carnival costumes and artefacts.
reviewed
Advertisement
-
U
Keats-Shelley House
Next to the Spanish Steps, the Keats-Shelley House is where Romantic poet John Keats died of TB in February 1821. He’d come to Rome a year earlier, on an unsuccessful trip to try to improve his health in the Italian climate, but it didn’t, and he died at the age of 25. A year later, fellow poet Percy Bysshe Shelley drowned off the coast of Tuscany. The house is now a small museum crammed with memorabilia relating to the poets and their colleagues Mary Shelley and Lord Byron.
reviewed
-
V
Museo del Risorgimento
Inside the Vittoriano, the Museo Centrale del Risorgimento, often referred to as the Complesso del Vittoriano, hosts temporary art exhibitions and a small collection of military knick-knacks documenting the history of Italian unification.
reviewed
-
W
Capitoline Museums
The world's oldest national museums were founded in 1471 when Pope Sixtus IV donated a few bronze sculptures to the city, forming the nucleus of what is now one of Italy's finest collections of classical art.
The entrance is in Palazzo dei Conservatori, where you'll find the original core of the sculptural collection on the 1st floor. On the 2nd floor is a masterpiece-packed art gallery.
Before you head upstairs, take a moment to admire the ancient masonry littered around the ground-floor courtyard, most notably a mammoth head, hand and foot. These all come from a 12m-high statue of Constantine that originally stood in the Basilica di Massenzio in the Roman Forum.
Of the…
reviewed
-
X
Museo del Palazzo Venezia
The Palazzo Venezia houses the Museo del Palazzo Venezia, with its superb Byzantine and early Renaissance paintings and an eclectic collection of jewellery, tapestries, ceramics, bronze figurines, arms and armour.
reviewed
-
Y
Museo Storico Nazionale dell’Arte Sanitaria
Next to the Pronto Soccorso department of the Ospedale Santo Spirito, this medical museum has a ghoulish collection of surgical instruments, macabre curiosities and anatomical models.
reviewed