Renaissance Frescoes and Ancient Barbarians

The Palazzo Altemps branch of Rome's Museo Nazionale Romano has sculptures and other ancient art installed in the frescoed rooms of a 16th-century palace

The new home to the famed Ludovisi and Mattei collections of ancient sculpture is a crown jewel in Rome's touristic renaissance, and a prime example of Italy's seemingly newfound ability to craft a 21st-century museum that respects both the gorgeous architecture and frescoes of the Renaissance space in which it is installed, and the aesthetic and historic value of the classical collection it contains.

MNR Branches
 Palazzo Massimo
 Palazzo Altemps
 Baths of Diocletian
 Aula OttgonaRather than stuff lots of statues into every nook and cranny of this Altemps space, they've placed just a few choice pieces in each room, allowing and encouraging you to examine each statue carefully, walk around it, and read the accompanying placard in English and Italian that explains its significance and shows which bits are original and which were "restored" in the 17th century.

The 16th- to 18th-century palazzo itself is gorgeous, with a grand central courtyard and many surviving frescoes and original painted wood ceilings, especially upstairs, where you can wander onto a bust-lined, Alberti-inspired loggia frescoed as a "Garden of Delights" in the 1590s.

Among the collections, be on the lookout for an AD 2nd-century giant Dionysus with Satyr; 2nd-century BC Ptolemaic Egyptian statuary; a pair of lute-playing Apollos; and plenty of Imperial busts.

There's also a 1st-century BC copy of master Greek sculptor Phidias' most famous statue (now lost): the 5th-century BC Athena that once held the place of honor in Athens' Parthenon

My favorite piece: an AD 3rd-century sarcophagus carved from a single block of marble and depicting in incredible (and, incredibly, unrestored) detail the Roman legions fighting off invading Ostrogoth Barbarians.

Piazza di Sant'Apollinare 44 (two blocks north of Piazza Navona)
tel. +39-06-3996-7700, www.archeorm.arti.beniculturali.it
Closed Mondays

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