Home of the World's Biggest Kneecap

The Palazzo dei Conservatori, Palazzo Nuovo, and Tabularium collectively make up the Musei Capitolini (Capitoline Museums) atop Rome's Campidoglio

Stuffed with ancient statues and mosaics and Renaissance and baroque masterpieces by Caravaggio, Rubens, Titian, and Tintoretto, the twinned

Capitoline Museums

have, since the year 2000, been connected by an underground tunnel through the famed

Tabularium,

the ancient Roman archives that were discovered just beneath the Palazzo Senatorio, where Rome's modern mayor still holds court.

As you stand in the Piazza del Campidolgio atop the Capitoline Hill and face the middle palace, it is the two buildings on either side that together house the museum. Unless they've changed it yet again, you now have to start with the building on your left, the

Palazzo Nuovo

half of the museum, filled with ancient sculpture such as the Dying Gaul, busts of ancient philosophers, the Mosaic of the Doves, and the Capitoline Venus.

It also contains, in a glassed-in portico just off the courtyard against one wall of which reclines the river god Marforio (traditionally one of Rome's famous "talking statues"), the original 2nd-century AD equestian statue of Marcus Aurelius, which until 1981 stood on on the central pedestal of the Piazza del Campidoglio out front.

This gilded bronze original had been tossed into the Tiber in antiquity, and when Christians later fished it out, they mistakenly thought it was Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor. This misinterpretation for centuries saved it from being hacked to pieces as a pagan idol and earned it pride of place in the piazza atop the Capitoline Hill (until it was removed for restoration and—eventually—a copy was stuck there in its place).

That may merely enduce a "so what?" shrug, but think about how many statues of famous men triumphantly riding horses you've seen scattered in cities around the world. Now consider this: that of Marcus Aurelius is the only ancient Roman equestrain statue to have survived the ages intact to inspire this common form of commemorative art. (If that doesn't do it for you: the modern copy they stuck on the piazza outside was made using lasers; cool.)

You no longer cross Piazza del Campidolgio to get from one branch of the museum to the other. Instead, you go underground to follow that Tabularium tunnel—diverging down the side corridor for a great view across the Roman Forum—to the museum’s other half, the

Palazzo dei Conservatori.

Romulus, Remus, and the She-Wolf
Rome was legendarily founded by twin brothers, Romulus and Remus, who had been abandoned in the woods and raised by a she-wolf. Romulus later quarreled with and killed Remus à la Cain and Abel—which is why you're visiting "Rome" and not "Reme"—but that heroic she-wolf with the overactive motherly instincts became the most famous of the trio, and since ancient times has been the symbol of Rome itself and all the city and its Empire stands for.

The collections have their share of antique statuary—including the 1st-century Spinario, a little bronze boy picking a thorn out of his foot, and the Etruscan bronze She-Wolf, crafted in the late 6th century B.C. (the suckling toddlers were added in the 16th century; see sidebar)—but the real stars of the collection are the paintings.

The museum's second-floor pinacoteca (painting gallery) houses works by Guercino, Veronese, Titian, Tintoretto, Rubens, Pietro da Cortona, and two by Caravaggio—one of his Gypsy Fortune-Teller works and the scandalously erotic St. John the Baptist, in which the nubile young saint twists to embrace a ram and looks out at us coquettishly.

The palazzo's courtyard is filled with what, all things being equal, probably constitutes the most popular display in the entire place: the oversized marble head, hands, foot, arm, and kneecap of what was once a 12m (40-ft.) statue of Constantine II. Odds are you've seen dozens of postcards all over Rome featuring cats lazing around on these giant marble body parts (the rest of the statue—i.e. robes—was probably made of wood).

Don't miss the stunning panoramic views from the roof terrace cafe.

Piazza del Campidoglio
tel. +39-06-6710-2475, www.museicapitolini.org
Closed Mondays

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