Capitoline Museums

The Capitoline Museums are considered the world's oldest public museum: in 1471 Pope Sixtus IV donated a collection of ancient bronzes to the Roman people, including the Spinario and the Capitoline She-Wolf. The collection today is split between the Palazzo dei Conservatori and the Palazzo Nuovo, both grouped around Michelangelo's trapezoidal Piazza del Campidoglio. The inner courtyard holds fragments of the colossal statue of Constantine; the upper floor houses the Pinacoteca with works by Caravaggio, Titian and Tintoretto. The equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, which stood for centuries on the piazza, is now displayed indoors for conservation reasons, with a copy on the square. An underground passage links both palaces and runs past the Tabularium, opening onto a rarely advertised view of the Forum Romanum.