National Roman Museum at Palazzo Massimo

After your visit to the Roman Forum and the ruins of the Imperial Palaces on Palatine Hill, you may be curious to see what Roman senators and emperors really looked like. Additionally, you want to see the way they lived as well as being able to admire the richness that must have made the mighty Rome a spectacular place in imperial times. If so, then the National Roman Museum at Palazzo Massimo is just what you are looking for.

The Palazzo Massimo houses the best collection of the Museo Nazionale Romano, a treasure trove of ancient Roman art, in a quantity and quality that surpasses the Vatican Palaces’ antiquity collections. More importantly you will be able to appreciate all this beauty in a much quieter and calmer environment. This museum simply blows away anything else you’ll find in Rome when it comes to Classical era statues, frescoes, and mosaics.

Just to name a few of its fabulous masterpieces: the famous “Boxeur at rest,” which will strike you by the intensity of its look; the exquisite paintings from the villa of Livia (Augustus’s wife). These frescoes paintings depict a view of a naturalistic garden, complete with birds and plants in their resplendent glory. They were removed from their original location, a suburban villa, and installed at the Palazzo Massimo.

Not be missed with your children, the first true Barbie in history, a doll made of ivory that was found in 1964 in the tomb of a ancient Roman girl, that was discovered mummified in her sarcophagus.

The Palazzo Massimo is a fully modernized museum with advanced lighting systems and air-conditioning (unlike the Vatican Museums!). This tour combines perfectly with the Ancient Rome Tour to give you full insight into ancient Roman art and can also be enjoyed in its kid-friendly version.