The Capitoline Museums are considered as the first museum in the history. The collection started with a donation of four of the few bronze statues that we got from the antiquity by the Pope Sixtus IV in 1471; the She wolf, the Spinario (Boy with Thorn), the Camillus. These served as symbols of the continuity between the Roman Empire and the Catholic Church, but Pope Sixtus’ gift ended this association. Consequently  the Capitoline Museums were born. After having been closed to the public for a lengthy period of restoration, the museums now represent an extraordinary experience. Included in the museum complex the Palazzo dei Conservatori, Palazzo Nuovo, the Tabularium and the Palazzo Clementino Caffarelli. All these buildings skirt the Piazza del Campidoglio, realized by Michelangelo.

In the Palazzo Clementino Caffarelli, where is also the Capitoline Medal Collection, are the museum’s temporary exhibition. Many famous statues are housed in the Palazzo Nuovo, among them two Centaurs and a Dancing satyr, Venus and Galata Morente. There is also a room which contains busts of Roman emperors and the original works of philosophers and writers from various libraries around the world. The subterranean passages in the tunnel which connects the Palazzo Nuovo with the Palazzo dei Conservatori bring us to the Galleria Lapidaria, with a selection of the most important Capitoline’s epigraphic collection, and the ruins of the Temple of Veiove inside the Tabularium.

In the republican era the Tabularium served as an archive, but today is a terrace from which to admire the wonderful views across the Foro Romano valley. In the courtyard of the Palazzo dei Conservatori fragments of a colossal marble statue of Constantine have been preserved while the room inside the building contain richly decorated frescoes, the most noted being those of the Cavalier d’Arpino in the Orazi and Curiazi room. It is also in this building the museum’s Picture Gallery. From December 23 2005 the new Giardino Romano opens to the public at the Musei Capitolini. The garden will house the famous statue of Marcus Aurelius and the bronze bust of the emperor Constantine with hand and globe. It will be possible to see part of the wall of the ancient Giove Capitolino temple (VI century B. C.). The new museum’s wing of the Palazzo dei Conservatori also hosts statues and sculptures from the Horti Romani, like the Venere Esquilina, and the Castellani Collection of Greek and Etruscan vases.

Opening times
Tuesday - Sunday 9 a.m. – 8 p.m.
24th and 31st December 09 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Monday CLOSED
1st January, 1st May, 25th December CLOSED
The ticket-office closes one hour before the closing-time of the Museum

TICKETS
Ticket-office is situated on the Piazza del Campidoglio, on the ground floor of the Palazzo dei Conservatori.
When a temporary exhibition is under way at Palazzo Caffarelli the price of the ticket is slightly higher and includes entrance to the exhibition.