On the top of Capitoline Hill lies the Piazza del Campidoglio and the Capitalione Museums housed in three palaces, one of which is the Palazzo Nuovo.

The “new palace” was built in 1655 by Girolamo and Carlo Rainaldi. If you find that the building is almost identical to the Palazzo dei Conservatori on the same square, it is because the architects copied the original sketches of Dei Conservatori. The museum was opened to the public in 1734, a move suggested by Pope Clement XII, making it the first museum in the world visited by people other than nobles and the clergy.

The Palazzo Nuovo’s collection is mainly comprised of ancient Greek and Roman art, mostly sculptures, in several rooms on two floors. There are also tablets bearing ancient inscriptions, sarcophagi and mosaics from Greek and Roman Temples. One of the most noted of these is a fragment of a Tabula Illiaca dating back to around 245BC, from the ancient Library of Alexandria where scholars devoted a lot of time to the Homeric scripts.

Among the sculptures, there is a magnificent equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, of which there is a copy in the square. Other statues of note are the Capitoline Venus – a copy of a 4th century BC by Praxiteles; “The Dying Gaul” which was once thought be that of a Roman Gladiator and a charming statue of “Cupid and Psyche”. In the Emperors Hall you will find numerous busts representing most of Rome’s emperors.

The Palazzo dei Conservatori is part of the Capitoline Museums and you will find it on the top of Capitonline Hill.

Like its twin, the Palazzo Nuovo, the palace has a fine collection of statues and paintings that are well worth seeing. The collection is large and varied, spread out over two floors. There is also a very good café on the 2nd floor and from its terrace you have a wonderful view of Rome.

Some of the statues not to be missed include “Spinario” a detailed sculpture of a young Roman boy pulling a thorn out of his foot; the 5th century BC Etruscan bronze she-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus. The two founders of Rome were added to the statue at a later period than the casting of the wolf; a statue of Hercules, cast in bronze is to be found in the museum’s new wing.

During excavations before building the new wing, archaeologists found the foundations and part of a wall of an ancient temple, dedicated to the Roman god, Jupiter, and you can see these relics, along with fragments of ritual vases in the new wing.

On the second floor 14th to 17th century Renaissance paintings are displayed, including two portraits by Van Dyck. You can also admire works by Carracci, Lorenzo Lotto and Tintoretto among others.

To the north of Capitoline Hill is an imposing building, the Palazzo Veniza, which houses a small museum, often overlooked by visitors to Rome which is a real shame as the museum is a very good one.

The palace was built in 1455 by the Cardinal Pietro Barbo. A medieval tower and an ancient church, built in 336 by Pope Marco were integrated into the new building. The cardinal went on to become Pope Paul II and the palace remained as a papal residence until 1564. In that year, Pope Pius IV, wanting to ingratiate himself with the Republic of Venice, gave over a large part of the palace for their embassy to the Holy See and the building was renamed the Palazzo Veniza.

When the Republic of Venice fell to Austria in 1797, the palace became the seat of the Austrian Ambassador to the Vatican. In 1916 it was taken over by the Italian government during the Italian/Austrian/Hungarian War. Later it was used as a headquarters by Mussolini.

Today, it houses the National Institute of Archaeology and Art History, as well as the Palazzo Veniza Museum. Do take time to visit it as the collection of historical decorative arts is a particularly fine one. The artefacts include early Christian to Renaissance ceramic statuettes, chests, tapestries, 17th/18th century paintings, weapons and wood sculptures. The state rooms are often used to hold temporary exhibitions.

The Palazzo Doria Pamphilj houses the Gallery of the same name is the largest privately owned collection in Italy today.

The palace was constructed in 1505 by Cardinal Giovanni Fazio Santoro. It was bought in 1601 by Cardinal Ippolito Aldobrandini and it came into the Pamphilj family when the cardinal’s niece, his heiress, married Camillo Pamphilj, the nephew of Pope Innocent X.

The collection is exposed in the palace’s state rooms with their marvellously decorated vaulted ceilings and in four beautiful galleries around a central courtyard. Several other rooms in the palace have been converted to hold a superb collection of medieval and Byzantine art.

In the 1st wing you will find the Aldobrandini Gallery, richly decorated in Chinese style by Ginesio del Barba. In an adjoining chamber is a portrait of Pope Innocent X, painted by Velazquez.

The Gallery of Mirrors is truly breath-taking, designed in 1730 by Valvassori. The frescoed ceiling, by Miani, depicts the Labours of Hercules, cunning joined to the Pamphelji family tree, who claimed to be related to the legendary hero. In the Primitives Room you can admire various paintings executed on wood panels.

The Gallery has a very good cafeteria and tea room where you can either have tea and cakes or a hot snack. In palace’s bookshop you will find postcards and prints of the masterpieces exposed in the Gallery.

The National Museum of Rome is housed in several buildings in the city, one of which is the Palazzo Altemps, which you will find on the Piazza Saint Apollinaire.

The palace was built on the site of an ancient marble warehouse not far from the Temple of Apollo. During the Dark Ages the warehouse became part of the fortifications of two rival families. The construction of the palace began in 1477 and in 1511 the Cardinal di Voterra Francesco Soderini bought it and enlarged it. It was sold to Cardinal Marco Sittico Altemps in 1568 and he used it mainly to house his wonderful collection of books and sculptures.

Today in the museum you will find a collection of Ancient Roman sculptures from Ludovisi and many items from Egypt. To add to the interest of the museum, there are “before and after” photos showing where the statues had been broken and later restored.

In one room there is a wonderful fountain made of a mosaic of sea shells, with the Altemps Coat of Arms, made of sand and limestone. In the Hall of Portraits there is an impressive collection of busts of Roman Emperors. In the Hall of the Tower you will see relics from the ancient buildings that stood on this site before the palace.

The South Loggia has a bas relief on one wall dating back to the 2nd century AD, depicting gods and goddesses on Mount Olympia. A room dedicated to Moses holds a fresco of scenes from the important moments in his life.

On Piazza Capo di Ferro stands the impressive Palazzo Spada with its lovely garden overlooking the River Tiber. The palace houses the Italian Council of State and the Galleria Spada, a fine place to spend an afternoon.

The gallery holds a large collection of 16th and 17th century paintings spread out over four rooms. The collection, which includes works by Del Sarto, Guercino, Rubens and Titan among many others, was started in the 17th century by Cardinal Bernardino Spada and added to by his brother and his nephew.

The paintings are a bit crowded together, one on top of the other, in the 17th century fashion, but this doesn’t really detract from their beauty. There are two wonderful maps, one of the world and one of the heavens by the Dutch artist Blaeu.

The palace itself was constructed in 1540 by Bartolomio Baronino, commissioned by Cardinal Girolamo Capodiferro. The exterior and interior stucco-work was executed by Mazzoni. Cardinal Spada bought the palace in 1632 and assigned Borromini to modify it.

In the arcaded courtyard you will see a magnificent forced perspective gallery by the architect, of a seemingly long, corridor with tall colonnades. In truth, the corridor is much shorter and the sculptures much smaller than they seem.

Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica is a gallery located in two different palaces. Inside the late-Baroque Palazzo Corsini, on the second floor, the Corsini Museum exhibits mostly Italian art, starting from early Renaissance up to the end 18th century. Works by Caravaggio, Giovanni Baglione, Raphael, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Hans Holbein, Giulio Romano, Nicolas Poussin and many more can be found here. The majority of the items were donated by the Corsini family.