Rome Museums

Say Rome and you say art! Rome’s museums can surely rival with cities as Paris and New York. Every year, millions of visitors stand in line for the world famous works of the Vatican Museums. Their collection includes works by famous Renaissance artists Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci and Caravaggio. But there is more: the Capitoline Museums also have a great collection of classic and Christian art. Other favourites are the Galleria Borghese, based on the collection of family Borghese. Modern art lovers can either visit the Museo di Arte Moderna or the new Museo di Arte Contemporanea.

Vatican museums

The Vatican is not just a museum. This huge museum complex (make sure you reserve some time before your visit and be prepared for long queues) contains the artistic patrimony of many civilisations and historic eras. The collection contains masterpieces from the Egyptians and the Etruscans, from the Roman civilisation to mediaeval Christian art, and from ceramics to ancient maps galleries. One of the top attractions from the classical art is the so-called Laocoon group, which features the Trojan priest Laocoon and his sons, being eaten by snakes, after the priests’ prediction that Troy would be beaten by the Greeks. Amongst the 16th century art, there are several amazing frescoes by Raphael. In one of the ‘Stanze’ or rooms decorated by him, you’ll see the philosophy school of Athens, with displays famous philosophers as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and many others. But everybody comes here to see Michelangelo Buonarotti’s Sistine Chapel. On the walls and the ceiling, the Creation and the Last Judgment are painted. Especially the last gigantic fresco is praised by art lovers, as it includes all kind of magnificent details.
Viale Vaticano 97, metro stop Ottaviano San Pietro (line A)

Capitoline museums

The Capitoline museums are not as well known as the Vatican museums, but there is no shame to be second best here. The museum includes several historic streams. The most important representation of old Roman art is the statue of the female wolf that fed Remus and Romulus, the brothers that founded Rome. This image made it to the logo of the municipality of Rome and the football club A.S. Roma, to name a few. Next to Roman and modern statues, you’ll also see a great collection of Christian art.
Piazza del Campidoglio 1 (next to Piazza Venezia)

Modern Art

Situated to the north of the Villa Borghese park, the Modern Art Gallery offers special exhibitions of modern Italian and foreign artists. Some names of the 19th and 20th century artists in the collections are the futurists de Chirico and Balla, the painter Morandi and foreign stars as Kandinsky and Monet. For contemporary art, the new MACRO (Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Roma) is the top of the bill. The museum, located in the brewery of Peroni, offers exhibitions on contemporary disciplines as visual art, photography, video art, etcetera. Another place for exhibitions, mostly of modern art or practical artefacts as jewellery, is the Palazzo delle Esposizioni (Exposition Palace) right in the centre in Via Nazionale.
Galleria Nazionale di Arte Moderna, Viale delle Belle Arti, 13
MACRO, Via Reggio Emilia, 54.
Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Via Nazionale, 194

Galleria Borghese

The Galleria Borghese displays the private collection of the rich and powerful Borghese family. Pope Paul V was a member of the family. Their private art collection now is visible for everybody in the museum, that only can be visited upon reservation. Highlights are the statue of David by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, Caravaggio, and Sandro Botticelli. The family also had some interest in the Flemish masters, who are also represented in the collection. The museum is situated in the old mansion of the family in a corner of the park Villa Borghese, also named after them.
Piazzale Scipione Borghese, 5