Atop Capitoline Hill is a museum sandwiched between the enormous wedding-cake
Emmanuel Monument and the stunning remains of The Forum. In a single day it’s easily possible to do the Collosseum, Palatine Hill, The Forum, the Capitoline Museum, and the Emmanuel and still have time to walk into the heart of the old city for dinner.
Click here for previous chapters of “A Week in Rome.”
The main attractions of the museum are its eclectic collection of Roman sculpture, including Romulus and Remus suckling the wolf (see below) and numerous body parts shed from statues long since crumbled in other parts of Rome. It takes on the feel of a museum that has gathered lost things, in hopes that perhaps they will one day be reunited with their owners.
The Capitoline’s appeal is in its irreverent (perhaps unintentional) exhibits, such as this fine collection of disembodied parts:
I often wonder about the elevation of places I visit, and I have determined that Capitoline Hill is exactly one foot above sea level.
And it certainly is one place in in the world where you know you can really get ahead.
The museum is inside a former palace, and many of the rooms still have palatial appointments, including chandeliers.
The murals inside can be, er, intimidating.
There are the usual naked drunken men that one finds in Rome:
This reminds me: at the time we visited, the museum was undergoing some sort of renovation, and try as we might, we couldn’t find our way from one side to the other. Somehow the two are connected, but I couldn’t figure out how to get to the other side without walking across the small piazza. So remember, the Capitoline Museum is on BOTH sides of the square. You know you haven’t seen both sides if you haven’t seen the naked drunken man (above).
Aaack! What is this!
Two babies suckling on a gigantic she-wolf? How weird is that? Well, I just gave you directions involving a giant naked man, so actually, not weird at all. Romulus and Remus are just having breakfast before founding the city.
And so after a brief visit, we set our sights on the rest of Rome.
Table of Contents
The Colosseum
Palatine Hill
The Forum
The Pantheon
The Vatican
St. Peter in Chains
Imperial Lion
St. Peter’s Square and Basilica
Atop St. Peter’s Dome
Castel Sant’ Angelo (Pope hideaway on the Tiber River)
Day Trip to Florence
Castel Sant’ Angelo, Continued
St. Paul’s Outside the Walls (Vatican church in Rome’s Suburbs)
Great Fountains of Rome
Musei Capitolini (Capitoline Museum): Romulus and Remus and Random Body Parts
Victor Emmanuel Monument (VE Monument)
National Museum of Rome: A Treasure Vault and Lots of Heads
Wrap-Up-The-First – Summary of the Trip
Wrap-Up-The-Last – Final Summary of the Trip