1 Campidoglio
2 Castel Sant'Angelo
3 Colosseum (Colosseo)
4 Palazzo Barberini
5 Pantheon
6 Piazza Navona
7 Roman Forum (Foro Romano)
8 San Clemente
9 Sistine Chapel & Vatican Museums
10 St Peter's (San Pietro)
Fountain of the Four Rivers, Piazza Navona
© AAA
The Capitoline Museums house one of Europe's most impressive collections of ancient sculpture - started by the popes in the 15th century.
Michelangelo designed Rome's magnificent civic centre, although later architects finished the job. Today, only the salmon-pink Palazzo Senatorio is used for political purposes (the mayor's office is here), while the flanking buildings form the Campidoglio (or Capitoline) Museums.
On entering the Palazzo Nuovo, on the left, you are greeted by the enormous 2nd-century AD bronze equestrian statue of Emperor Marcus Aurelius which rested atop the pedestal in the centre of the square until 1981. On the first floor in room 1 (Sala 1), is a superbly modelled, sensual Dying Gaul; like many sculptures here, this is a Roman copy in marble of an earlier Greek work. Roman heads abound, including portraits of philosophers (a whole roomful) and eminent citizens with elaborate hair. The erotic Capitoline Venus has a chamber to herself. In the courtyard of the Palazzo dei Conservatori opposite are giant hands, a head and feet - fragments from a colossal statue of Constantine found in the Forum. Upstairs, highlights include the creamy marble Venus Esquilina and the delightfully realistic 1st century BC bronze Spinario, a young boy extracting a thorn from his foot. The She-Wolf Suckling Romulus and Remus in the Sala della Lupa will be familiar to many - the symbol of Rome is reproduced everywhere. The wolf is thought to be an Etruscan bronze of the late 6th to early 5th centuries BC to which the twins were added in the 16th century. The picture gallery on the second floor provides no relief for the footsore. There are fine works by Pietro da Cortona, Guido Reni, Tintoretto, Rubens, Van Dyck, and others; Cara-vaggio's sensual St John the Baptist in his fully-fledged realist style and Guercino's immense Burial of St Petronilla stand out.Address: Piazza del Campidoglio
Phone: 06 6710 2071/ 6710 2475
Open: Tue-Sat 9-7, Sun 9-1:30
Bus: 44, 46, 75, 81, 95, 160, 170, 175, 181, 719 to Piazza Venezia
Accessible: None
Admission: Moderate; free last Sun of each month
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