5 Best Museums to Visit in Rome

Many travelers consider Rome to be the epitome of cultural heritage, art, and architecture. You can find numerous Renaissance churches, Baroque-style buildings, ancient ruins, and many other treasures of the past in the Italian capital city. The “Eternal City” also has an array of museums and galleries that will suit the taste of any visitor interested in private tours of Rome. Below are the 5 best museums in Rome that are must-haves in your itinerary.

Capitoline Museums

The Capitoline Hill was the political center of ancient Rome. Today, it houses the Capitoline Museums, which perfectly narrates the rich history of the Eternal City to visitors. The collections in the museum range from artifacts of ancient Rome to the masterful works of the Renaissance period. The most popular attractions in the Capitoline Museums include the Colossus of Constantine, the bronze Capitoline Wolf, and the Dying Gaul.

Galleria Borghese

The Borghese Gallery and Museum is located in Rome’s third-largest park. It houses a magnificent collection of Baroque and Renaissance artworks, handpicked by passionate art collector Cardinal Scipione Borghese. You can also see amazingly expressive marble sculptures by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and seven masterpieces by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio in Galleria Borghese.

Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna

The National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art houses the largest 19th and 20th Century art collection in Italy. Visitors on guided tours of Rome can explore inspiring and eloquent drawings, paintings, sculptures, and other installations that perfectly express the changing trends from Neoclassicism to Impressionism and from Futurism to Surrealism in the last two centuries. You can find masterpieces by many renowned Italian artists here, such as Alberto Burri, Giacomo Balla, Giorgio de Chirico, Antonio Canova, and Amedeo Modigliani.

Palazzo Massimo

This art museum is housed in a neo-Renaissance palace with an impressive collection of classical artworks, sculptures, mosaics, fresco paintings, and gold jewelry pieces that were unearthed in Rome. You can find world-famous works of art, such as the Boxer at Rest, on the first floor, while the entire second floor is dedicated to frescoes, mosaics, and stuccos, such as the ones from the Villa of Livia.

Centrale Montemartini

This unique museum is located in Via Ostiense, which was once an important road of ancient Rome. Today, it blends the contemporary side of the Italian capital city with its ancient roots. Centrale Montemartini, a former public power plant that has been turned into a museum of ancient sculpture, houses many Greek and Roman statues, busts, and friezes. This can be one of the most compelling spaces that you will ever visit during your Rome private tours.