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Capitoline Museums
These are the oldest public museums in the world, opened to the people in 1471, and they sit on top of the hill Michelangelo redesigned, the Campidoglio. Most visitors race past on the way to the Forum and miss them, which is a shame, because this is where the she-wolf, the original bronze Marcus Aurelius on horseback, and the giant scattered bits of Constantine actually live. The quiet bonus most people do not know about is the Tabularium gallery, a covered ancient hall with an open arch looking straight down over the Roman Forum.
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An underrated stop that most people skip on the way to the Forum. The she-wolf, the real Marcus Aurelius bronze, and the free Forum view through the Tabularium arch make it worth the couple of hours, in a calmer setting than the big-name sights.
Worth it for
- You want ancient Roman sculpture and a great Forum view without the crush of the official Forum entrance
- You appreciate the Michelangelo-designed square and a museum with real history rather than just a collection
You can skip if
- You have only a day in Rome and have to choose between this and the Forum or Vatican, which win on a tight schedule
- Ancient sculpture leaves you cold and you are not bothered about the Tabularium view
Tickets & tours for Capitoline Museums
Which ticket should you buy?
What it is
Pope Sixtus IV gave a set of ancient bronzes to the people of Rome in 1471, and that gift is the seed of what became the Capitoline Museums, generally counted as the oldest public museums anywhere. They spread across a few connected buildings on the Capitoline Hill, mostly ancient Roman and Greek sculpture plus a picture gallery upstairs with works by Caravaggio, Titian, and others.
The setting is part of the appeal. The square outside, the Piazza del Campidoglio, was laid out to a design by Michelangelo, with its star-pattern paving and the flanking palaces that now hold the collections. You climb the gentle ramp of the Cordonata to reach it, and the whole approach was meant to impress, which it still does.
The headline pieces
The Capitoline She-Wolf, the bronze wolf suckling Romulus and Remus, is the emblem of Rome itself and sits in its own room. Out in the courtyard you meet the giant marble head, hand, and foot of the Colossus of Constantine, the broken-up remains of a once-enormous seated statue. The Dying Gaul, the Spinario (the boy pulling a thorn from his foot), and the Capitoline Venus are all here too.
The piece worth seeking out is the original bronze equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, the only surviving large bronze of a Roman emperor on horseback, now kept indoors in a glass-roofed hall to protect it from the weather. The copy you see out in the square is exactly that, a copy; the real one is inside, and seeing it up close is the better experience.
The Tabularium and the Forum view
An underground passage links the two main palaces and runs through the Tabularium, the ancient Roman records office whose massive stone arches still stand beneath the medieval and Renaissance buildings above. Walking through it you are inside genuine 1st-century-BC Roman structure, which is a strange and good feeling after a day of looking at things behind ropes.
At the end of the gallery, an arched opening frames the Roman Forum below, with the columns and ruins laid out in front of you. It is one of the best Forum views in the city, and it is free with your museum ticket and far less crowded than the official Forum viewpoints. A lot of people walk straight past it, so do not.
Visiting and tickets
Buy at the ticket office or online; entry is not as tightly rationed as the Galleria Borghese, but pre-booking still saves you the queue at busy times. A combined ticket option ties the Capitoline Museums to other municipal museums, and there is a cafe terrace upstairs with a rooftop view over the city that you can reach without a museum ticket, useful if you just want the panorama and a drink.
Two things to know on cost. Public state and municipal museums in Italy are free for everyone on the first Sunday of the month, which is great for the budget but busy. And from early 2026, free entry was extended to residents of Rome and its metropolitan area on showing ID; visitors from elsewhere pay normal admission.
Capitoline Museums: FAQs
Yes, they are widely counted as the oldest, tracing back to a 1471 donation of ancient bronzes by Pope Sixtus IV to the people of Rome. The current museum layout came later, but that gift is the starting point.
The bronze emperor on horseback in the square is a copy. The original is kept indoors in a glass-roofed hall to protect it from the weather, and seeing the real one up close is well worth it.
The Tabularium is an ancient Roman records hall the museums run through, and at one end an arch frames the Roman Forum below. It is one of the best Forum views in the city and comes with your ticket.
It is not as strictly capped as some Rome museums, so walk-up entry is usually possible, but booking online ahead saves time at the ticket office during busy periods.
State and municipal museums in Italy, including these, are free for everyone on the first Sunday of the month, which is busy. From early 2026, residents of Rome and the metropolitan area also enter free with ID; other visitors pay normal admission.
Yes. The cafe terrace upstairs has a rooftop panorama over the city and can be reached without a museum ticket, so you can go up just for a drink and the view if you like.
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