Crowning the Capitoline Hill on Michelangelo’s Piazza del Campidoglio, the Capitoline Museums trace their origins to 1471, when Pope Sixtus IV donated ancient bronzes to the people of Rome. That gift is widely cited as the founding of the world’s oldest public museum, and travelers come for its unrivaled concentration of Roman sculpture.
The collection fills two facing palaces, the Palazzo dei Conservatori and the Palazzo Nuovo, linked by an underground passage through the ancient Tabularium. Its arched windows frame a sweeping view over the Roman Forum. Inside, you meet the bronze Capitoline Wolf, the original gilded equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius under a glass-roofed hall, and the colossal marble head and hand of Constantine. The Palazzo Nuovo holds the Dying Gaul and the Capitoline Venus. Upstairs, the Pinacoteca hangs Caravaggio’s The Fortune Teller and Saint John the Baptist.
Visitor Highlights & Practical Info
The museums open daily from 9:30am to 7:30pm, with last entry at 6:30pm (Capitoline Museums). Arrive at opening or in late afternoon to avoid tour groups. Since February 2026, residents of Rome and its Metropolitan City enter free with valid ID. Everyone else buys a full or reduced ticket online, through the 060608 call center, or at the ticket office (Musei Capitolini). Entry is also included in the Roma Pass. To reach the piazza, climb Michelangelo’s Cordonata ramp from Piazza Venezia, then walk behind the Senatorial Palace for Forum views.
