Guided tour to Capitolini Museums
22nd april 2009 - 08.00 p.m.

The Capitolini Museums are considered as the first museum in history. The Museums were established in 1471 with a group of bronze statues that Pope Sixtus IV gave as donation to Rome. Today with their new arrangement – after a long work of restoration and a renewal completed in the year 2000 –  the Museums offer to the public an extraordinary experience.

The Museums collections are displayed in the two buildings, the New Palace and the Palace of Conservatori, that, with the Palace Senatorio, enclose the square designed by Michelangelo, Campidoglio Square.

In the New Palace the visitors are astonished by the grandeur of the famous collections busts of Roman philosophers and emperors, as well as the statue of Dying Gaul, the Capitoline Venus, and the statue of Marforio which dominates the courtyard.

The palaces are connected through a long underground gallery, named the Lapidaria Gallery, reporting inscriptions that show several aspects of the public and private life in Ancient Rome. The course leads to the terrace of the Tabularium, where the visitor can admire an outstanding view on the Roman Forum and on the ruins of a famous past.

On the first floor of The Palace of Conservatori the original architectural structure of the building is decorated with beautiful frescoes showing the history of Rome.
In an other room there are many famous bronze statues such as the “Capitoline she-wolf”, the sacred beast which fed the founders of Rome, Romoulus and Remo; the “Spinario”, a beautiful sample of Greek sculpture, and the Capitoline Brutus.
After the coverage of the area named Roman Garden with a glass roof designed by the architect Carl Aymonino, the Museums were extended to this area too. This new room contains the equestrian statue of Mark Aurel, which once was in the Campidoglio Square, where the visitor can also admire the huge bronze head of Costantine and the remaining ruins of the foundations of the Temple of Capitoline Jupiter.
The new part of the Palace of Conservatori also includes sculptures from the Horti Romani, such as the Esquiline Venus, and the Castellani Collection of Greek and Etruscan vases.
On the second floor the Picture Gallery contains an important collection of paintings, such as "The Good Luck" and "St. John the Baptist" by Caravaggio, “The Burial of St. Petronilla” by Guercino and many paintings by Guido Reni and Pietro da Cortona.

In the Palace of Caffarelli-Clementino the Medagliere Capitolino can be seen and it includes several rare coins, medals, jewels.

At the and of the visit, a cocktail buffet will be served at "Terrazza Caffarelli" close to the Museum.