ACEA Art Centre,Via Ostiense 106,Tel. 06 574.8030
Over 400 pieces sculptures are permanently displayed in three restored rooms of Rome's first power plant, and the juxtaposition of ancient art and industrial archeology is truly spectacular.
Open: 10 AM - 6 PM, Saturday and Sunday 10 AM to 7 PM, Monday closed
Price: Lit. 12,000, reduced Lit. 8,000, groups (min 15 people) Lit. 7,000 per person.

Borghese Museum ,P.le del Museo Borghese,Tel. 06 841.76.45
Entry at 9 AM, 11 AM, 1 PM, 3 PM and 5 PM, museum closes at 7 PM. Monday closed
Booking compulsory at tel. 06.32810 or fax 06.326.51329 (for groups)
Price: Lit. 14,000 and Lit. 2,000 booking fee. Under 18s and over 60s Lit. 2,000
In the recently restored villa, Cardinal Scipione Borghese collected paintings and sculptures, both ancient and of his times, creating an extraordinary collection with masterpieces by Bernini, Canova, Caravaggio, Titian, Rubens and other outstanding artists.

Capitoline Museums, Piazza del Campidoglio
Tel. 06 671.020.71 Open 10 AM - 9 PM, Mondays closed.
Price: Lit. 12,000. For information and reservations call 06 397.462.21
The oldest public collection in the world. Includes sculptures of great value such as the Dying Gaul and the Capitoline Venus. The picture gallery contains paintings dating from the 14th to the 17th century - among others by Titian, Bellini and Caravaggio. Doria Pamphili Gallery, Piazza del Collegio Romano 2
Tel. 06 679.73.23 Open 10 AM - 5 PM, entry up to one hour before closing. Thursday closed Price: Lit. 14,000.
Guided visit of private apartments: 10,30 - 11 - 11,30 AM- noon at Lit. 6,000
One of the most important private art collections, consisting of paintings and sculptures by Italian and foreign artists: Velasquez, Titian, Bernini, Caravaggio, Andrea del Sarto.

Etruscan Museum at Villa Giulia
Piazza Villa Giulia 9, Tel. 06 320.19.51
National Etruscan Collection
Open 9 AM - 7 PM, Sundays and holidays 9 AM - 8 PM. Monday closed
Price: Lit. 8,000, reduced Lit. 4,000.
Housed in the splendid villa from th 1500s built for Pope Julius III, after a long restoration, it holds pre-Roman antiquities from the Etruscan and Faliscan civilizations.

Galleria Comunale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea
Via Francesco Crispi 24, Tel. 06 474.28.48
Permanent collection of modern and contemporary art
Open 10 AM - 2 PM and 2,30 PM - 5,30 PM, Sundays and holidays 9 AM - 12,30 PM. Monday closed -Price: Lit. 5,000
Contemporary Italian art up to 1943 - 1945.

Galleria Comunale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea
Via Reggio Emilia 24 Tel. 06 671.07.900
New premises in the beautifully restored Peroni Beer Factory
Collection of contemporary Italian artists and temporary exhibitions
Open 10 AM - 8 PM. Monday closed - Price: Lit. 5,000.
Works after 1945 and temporary exhibitions

Galleria dell'Accademia di S. Luca
Piazza dell'Accademia di S. Luca 77, Tel. 06 679.88.50
Closed for restoration
Collection of the works of artists belonging to the historic Academy: Algardi, Guido Reni, etc.

Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna
Viale delle Belle Arti 131, Tel. 06 322.981
Open 9 AM - 7 PM, Sundays and holidays 9 AM - 8 PM. Entry up to 40 minutes before closing. Monday closed
Price: Lit. 12,000. Bookings at 06 323 4000
The greatest collection of paintings, sculptures, and prints, largely by Italian artists, dating from the 1800s up to the present.

Galleria Spada
Vicolo del Polverone 15b, Tel. 06 686.11.58
Open 9 AM - 7 PM, Sundays and holidays 9 AM - 8 PM. Monday closed - Price: Lit. 10,000.
Housed in the palace of the same name, with its colonnaded gallery in false perspective designed by Borromini. It holds works by important artists, mainly of the 17th century.

Museo Barracco
Corso Vittorio Emanuele II 168, Tel 06 688.068.48

Open 9 AM - 7 PM, Sundays and holidays 9 AM - 1 PM. Monday closed - Price: Lit. 5,000, temporary exhibitions Lit. 10,000.
The collection, which belonged to Baron Giovanni Barracco, includes Egyptian Assyro-Babylonian, Greek, and Roman works of art. In the basement are the remains of a late Roman building.

Museo Canonica
Viale P. Canonica 2 (Villa Borghese), Tel. 06 884.22.79
Open 9 AM - 7 PM. Monday closed - Price: Lit. 5,000
In the 17th century residence called "la Fortezzuola", on the grounds of Villa Borghese, where Piedmontese sculptor Pietro Canonica lived and died, a collection of his sculptures, paintings and sketches.

Museo della Civiltà Romana
Piazza G. Agnelli (EUR), Tel 06 592.60.41
Open 9 AM - 6,45 PM, Sundays and holidays 9 AM - 1,30 PM. Monday closed - Price: Lit. 8,000d
Documents of the history of Rome and its civilization works throughout the world. The magnificent model of Imperial Rome in 1:250 scale is notworthy.

Museo delle Arti e Tradizioni Popolari
Piazza Marconi 8 (EUR), Tel 06 592.61.48
Open 9 AM - 2 PM, Sundays 9 AM - 8 PM. Monday closed - Price: Lit. 8,000
The material was collected all over Italy and put on display in 1911, for the 50th anniversary of the Unity of Italy, to illustrate the various costumes, religious practices, art, work and everyday life.

Museo Napoleonico
Via Zanardelli 1, Tel 06 688.062.86
Open 9 AM - 7 PM. Monday closed - Price: Lit. 5,000
The museum tells the story of the Bonaparte family from the last decades of the 18th century to the Roman period, ending with the Second Empire.

Palazzo Altemps
Piazza S. Apollinare 46, Tel 06 683.37.59
Open 9 AM - 6,45 PM.Sunday 9 AM - 7,45 PM. Entry up to one hour before closing. Monday closed - Price: Lit. 10,000.
The 15th-century palace, which boasts a beautiful courtyard, mainly contains sculptural works coming from the Ludovisi, Mattei and Altemps collections.

Palazzo Barberini
Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica
Via Barberini 18, Tel 06 482.41.84
Open 9 AM - 7 PM. Monday closed - Price: Lit. 12,000.
It is advisable to book your visit to the 18th-century apartment before at 06 328101
The building was designed by Maderno and finished by Bernini. The ceiling of the central hall is decorated with an allegorical painting by Pietro da Cortona. It features 12th to 18th century paintings, furniture, majolica and porcelains.

Palazzo Corsini
Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica
Via della Lungara 10
Tel 06 688.023.23
Open 9 AM - 7 PM. Saturdays 9 AM - 2 PM. Sundays and holidays 9 AM - 1 PM. Monday closed - Price: Lit. 8,000.
Seat of the Arcadian Academy of Queen Christine of Sweden, it contains Roman finds of the Imperial age and 16th and 17th century paintings.

Palazzo delle Esposizioni
Via Nazionale 1940, Tel 06 474.59.03
Open 10 AM - 9 PM. Tuesday closed
Price: Lit. 15,000, groups (min 10 people) Lit. 10,000 per person

Palazzo Massimo alle Terme
Largo di Villa Peretti 1, Tel 06 489.035.00
Open 9 AM - 6,45 PM. Sundays 9 AM - 7,45 PM. Entry up to one hour before closing. Monday closed - Price: Lit. 12,000
The palace has been completely restored to hold important statues, splendid floor mosaics coming from Roman villas, and the reconstruction of entire frescoed rooms of the Villa of Livia. An extremely rich numismatic collection.

Palazzo Venezia Museum
Via del Plebiscito 118 (Piazza Venezia), Tel 06 679.88.65
Open 9 AM - 2 PM. Monday closed - Price: Lit. 8,000
13th to 18-th century paintings, marble sculptures, wood cravings, bronzes, terracotta pieces, pottery, tapestries, windows, etc.

Vatican Museums
Viale Vaticano, Tel 06 698.830.41
Open 8,45 AM - 4,45 PM. Saturday 8,45 AM - 1,45 PM. Entry up to one hour before closing. Sunday closed, but last Sunday of the month open from 8,45 AM to 1,45 AM
Price: Lit. 18,000, reduced Lit. 12,000. Last Sunday of the month free
Reservations not possible!
One of the most important museum complexes in the world, it is divided into numerous sections containing masterpieces by the greatest artists, collected or commisioned by Popes throughout the centuries. At the end is the Sistine Chapel, in which the recent restoration has brought to light the original colours of the vault and Michelangelo's Last Judgement.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES

Domus Aurea
Viale della Domus Aurea, Giardini di Colle Oppio
Tel 06 639.749.907 Open 9 AM - 7,45 PM.
Booking compulsory at tel 06.397.499.07
Price: Lit. 10,000 and Lit. 2,000 booking fee.
Magnificent ruins of the Domus (Golden House) built for Nero after the fire of 64 A.D. The villa extended for a square mile between the slopes of the Caelian and Palatine Hills. The fragments of the Domus Aurea which remained above the ground were demolished in 121 by Hadrian for his Temple of Venus and Rome. Finally opened to the public after 18 years and 2 billion lire of restoration works.

Colosseum
Piazza del Colosseo
Open 9 AM - 5 PM. Entry up to one hour before closing - Price: Lit. 10,000.

Guided tours in English daily at 9,30 AM, 10,15 AM, 11,15 AM, 12,30 PM, 3,30 PM, supplement Lit. 6,000 (free for people under 12). In the Flavian amphitheatre, built in 72 AD and the most important monument of ancient Rome, bloody battles between gladiators and against ferocious animals were once held. Divided into four levels of seats, it could hold at least fifty thousand spectators. It originally had a sail-like roof covering. For centuries, it remained Rome's most celebrated ancient monument as well as a quarry to be plundered. The Ponte Sisto and the Palazzo Venezia were but two of the buildings for which it provided materials.

Roman Forum / Palatine
Via dei Fori Imperiali
Open 9 AM - on hour before sunset - Price: Lit. 12,000 for Palatine.

Roman Forum is free For information and reservations call 06 39749907 This was the political, economic, and religious center of ancient Rome, the site of temples and tribunals. On the Palatine, important private dwellings and the Domus Augustana, the emperors' residence.

Markets of Trajan and Imperial Forum
Via IV Novembre 94
Open 9 AM to 4,30 PM in winter, 9 AM to 6,30 PM in Summer. Closed Monaday.- Price: Lit. 12,000

The markets, with their tabernae and bargaining rooms, are an ingenious construction that supported the ground of the Quirinal hill, dug out for the construction of the Imperial Fora, toward which the center of public life was shifted.

Pantheon
Piazza della Rotonda
Open 9 AM - 6,30 PM, Sundays 9 AM to 1 PM. Price: free

One of the most magnificent Roman buildings, which has survived almost intact up to the present day. Constructed by Agrippa in 27 BC and rebuilt by Hadrian in AD 117-125 to honor important Roman divinities. It has consequently, despite spoliation, remained structurally almost in tact. In 608 AD it was transformed into a Christian church by Pope Boniface, who dedicated it to St Mary and all the Saints and Martyrs. The dome, which has a diameter of 43.30 metres, is nearly a metre wider than the dome of St Peter's. The Pantheon contains the tombs of the painter Raphael and the Kings of Italy.

Baths of Caracalla
Viale delle Terme di Caracalla 52
Open 9 AM - 1 hour before sunset, Mondays 9 AM to 2 PM - Price: Lit. 8,000

Information and reservations at 06 5758626 Perhaps the most beautiful and luxurious in Rome. Equipped with sophisticated plumbing systems, they could hold up to 1,600 persons. Begun in 206, the baths were extended by Heliogabolus and Alexander Severus and restored by Aurelian. They remained in use until the Gothic invasion of Rome.

CHRISTIAN CATACOMBS
Places of burial and worship of the early Christians, whose most ancient nuclei date from the 2nd century. The catacombs were created along the edges of the consular roads outside of the city walls. At present the maintenance and management of the Roman Christian catacombs are under the Vatican's care.

Catacombe di San Sebastiano
Via Appia Antica 136, Tel 06 513.01.580

Price: Lit. 8,000.
Open: 8,30 AM to noon and 2,30 PM to 5 PM, in summer until 5,30 PM.
Closed Wednesdays and in February

Catacombe di Priscilla
Via Salaria 430, Tel 06 862.06.272

Price: Lit. 8,000.
Open: 8,30 AM to noon and 2,30 PM to 5 PM, in summer until 5,30 PM.
Closed Mondays and in January

Catacombe di San Callisto
Via Appia Antica 110, Tel 06 513.01.580

Price: Lit. 8,000.
Open: 8,30 AM to noon and 2,30 PM to 5 PM, in summer until 5,30 PM.
Closed Wednesdays and in February

Catacombe di Domitilla
Via delle Sette Chiese 283, Tel 06 511.03.42

Price: Lit. 8,000.
Open: 8,30 AM to noon and 2,30 PM to 5 PM, in summer until 5,30 PM.
Closed Tuesdays and in January

Catacombe di Sant'Agnese
Via Nomentana 349, Tel 06 861.08.40

Price: Lit. 8,000.
Open: 9 AM to noon and 4 PM to 6 PM.
Closed Monday afternoons and holiday mornings

MOST IMPORTANT BASILICAS OF ROME

Santa Maria in Vallicella (Chiesa Nuova)
Piazza della Chiesa Nuova, Tel 066875289
Open: 8 AM - noon and 4,30 PM - 7 PM
The church of Santa Maria in Vallicella, known also as the Chiesa Nuova, was built on the ruins of an ancient Roman building. Construction lasted thirty years.
The church belongs to the fathers of the San Filippo Neri Oratory and was donated to the saint by Gregory XIII (1572-1585). It gets its name - "in Vallicella" - from the slight hollow surrounding it. The noble front is the work of Fausto Rughesi and is characterized by two sets of pilasters. It also has a central door framed by two pairs of columns and is adorned with an ornate balcony and niches with statues. The inside, in the shape of a Latin cross, divided by Corinthian pilasters, has five intercommunicating chapels with vestibules on the two long sides. The nave, the dome, and the apse are decorated by Pietro da Cortona (1596-1669), who took about 20 years to complete his work. The painting behind the main altar depicts a Madonna and Child in the glory of the angels.

Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano
Piazza San Pietro

St. Peter's represents the heart of Christianity. The first basilica, built over the tomb of the apostle, was erected on the orders of the Emperor Constantine (280-337). The original church was begun in 315, consecrated by Sylvester I on 18 November 326 and finished in 349. It was a magnificent building, roughly comparable in size to the current church, with five aisles divided by columns. Decorated over the centuries with mosaics, frescos and artwork, after more than 1000 years of existence it showed signs of collapse and Julius II (1503-1513) decided to dismantle it and build an entirely new church. The greatest artists of the age worked on its construction: Bramante, Raphael, Michelangelo (who designed the superb dome), Della Porta, Fontana, Maderno, Bernini (who was responsible for the colonnade of Piazza San Pietro), and many others. On 18 November 1626 the new basilica was consecrated by Urban VIII.

Santa Maria in Trastevere
Piazza di Santa Maria in Trastevere
Open: 7,30 AM -7 PM

The church of Santa Maria in Trastevere is the oldest in Rome. According to legend, it was built by Calixtus I in the third century. Rebuilt by Innocent II (1130-1143), it underwent subsequent decoration and restoration, including the major work carried out by Clement XI in 1702 and Pius IX in 1870. Many parts of the church date to the 12th century. It contains important mosaics, including those on the façades and in the apse by Pietro Cavallini depicting the life of the Virgin. The portico was remodeled in 1702 by Carlo Fontana. The balustrade is decorated with statues of Popes. The interior is divided into three aisles by 21 granite columns of varying diameter, all with Ionic or Corinthian capitals. The paneled ceiling is engraved and gilded with multicolored backgrounds on a design by Domenichino (1617), who also executed the beautiful painting of the Assumption.

San Paolo fuori le Mura
Via Ostiense, 186
Open: 7 AM - 7 PM

St. Paul's is one of the four patriarchal basilicas. It stands on the burial site of Paul, martyred during the reign of Nero. Emperor Constantine (280-337) ordered the transformation of the shrine to the apostle into a basilica. Enlarged by the emperors Valentinian II (386) and Honorius (who became the first emperor of the Western Empire in 395), during the Middle Ages the church was extended further and decorated with beautiful architectural features, which were destroyed in a fire that broke out during the night of 15-16 July 1823. Leo XII (1823-1829) ordered its reconstruction following the structure and plan of its predecessor. The present church is the product of a radical restoration completed in 1854, to which numerous architects contributed, including Pasquale Belli, Pietro Camporese il Giovane, Luigi Poletti and Francesco Vespignani.

San Sebastiano fuori le Mura
Via Appia Antica, 136, Tel 067808847
The basilica of San Sebastiano Fuori le Mura stands on the site where, tradition has it, the bodies of the apostles Peter and Paul were re-buried in 258. The burial of St Sebastian between 297 and 305 on this site led to the creation of a Christian cemetery, and it was here that the basilica was built in the fourth century. Originally planned as a basilica of two aisles and a nave, it was rebuilt in the 17th century by order of Cardinal Scipione Borghese. The reconstruction work, directed by Flaminio Ponzio, got under way in 1608 and was concluded in 1613 by Giovanni Vasanzio, who is responsible for the façade. The interior of the basilica now presents a single solemn nave flanked by three arcades formed by double pilasters. The wooden ceiling, designed by Vasanzio, contains a representation of St Sebastian and the coats of arms of Cardinal Scipione and Pope Gregory XVI, who ordered the renovation of the basilica.

San Giovanni in Laterano
Piazza di San Giovanni in Laterano, 3

Open: Church and cloister 7 AM - 7 PM, Baptistery 9 AM -1 PM
St. John Lateran is one of the oldest patriarchal basilicas. Construction began in early 313, the year of Emperor Constantine's edict establishing religious toleration for Christianity. The original construction was erected in an area belonging to the Roman Lateranus family (hence the name), donated to Pope Melchiades by Constantine (280-337). Initially dedicated to the Redeemer, it was only in the seventh century that it was dedicated to St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist by Gregory I (the Great). Before the Popes moved to Avignon in the 14th century, the adjacent Palazzo del Laterano served as their official residence. The long series of disasters and subsequent restorations undergone by the church has left little of the original temple. In the 18th century, Alessandro Galilei produced his masterpiece: the main façade, composed of a single order of semicolumns surmounted by an attic with 16 large statues of Christ with the Apostles and saints.

Santa Croce in Gerusalemme
Piazza di Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, 12, Tel 067014769
Open: 6,30 AM - 1 PM and 3 PM - 7 PM
Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, the ancient Basilica Sessoriana, is one of the seven churches that pilgrims to Rome traditionally visit. The long-held belief is that the Emperor Constantine created the church in 320 in a room of the Sessorium to conserve relics of the True Cross that his mother, St. Helen, had brought from the Holy Land. The edifice was renovated in 1144 by Lucius II. It was he who added the tall Romanesque campanile, which includes an aedicule containing a statue and two blind double-windows. The church was almost completely remodeled by the architect Domenico Gregorini under the pontificate of Benedict XIV (1740-58). Inside, the church contains three aisles formed by eight columns alternating with six pilasters on either side. The crypt contains a Roman statue of Juno that was transformed into a statue of St. Helen by the substitution of the head and arms and the addition of a cross.

Santa Maria Maggiore
Piazza di Santa Maria Maggiore

Open: 7 AM - 7 PM
Santa Maria Maggiore is chronologically the fourth of the great patriarchal basilicas. It was erected on the Esquiline hill after the Ephesian council of 431. St. Mary Major, also called the Basilica Liberiana owing to an erroneous identification with a basilica constructed by Pope Liberius on the site indicated to him in a dream, which predicted that a miraculous summertime snowfall would show the spot. Despite the many changes that were made even before the modifications ordered by Nicholas IV (1288-1292) and later Clement X (1670-1676), unlike other basilicas St. Mary Major preserves much of its original appearance. The portico dates to 1100, while the campanile built by Gregory XI in 1377 is the highest in Rome (75 meters). Early Christian mosaics are still visible in the interior of the loggia, which was designed by Ferdinando Fuga (1699-1781), who was also responsible for the entire main façade.

San Lorenzo fuori le Mura
Tel 06491511
Open: 7 AM - 12,30 PM and 3 PM - 8 PM
The church of San Lorenzo Fuori le Mura was built between the eighth and 12th century by joining the apses of two existing churches. The oldest part of the structure is the original church of San Lorenzo, built in 330 on the orders of Constantine (280-337) and almost completely rebuilt by Pelagius II (579-590). The other part, the church of the Virgin, was built by Sixtus III (432-440) and is called the "Basilica Maior". The basilica was restored in the 15th and 16th centuries. Pius IX (1846-1878) commissioned its restoration from Virginio Vespignani, who removed a number of Baroque additions and decorated it with frescos by the best artists of the time in Rome. The Catacombs of St. Cyriaca can be reached through the cloister. They contain the body of the martyred St. Lawrence. The building was severely damaged during the Allied bombing of 19 July 1943. Restored once again, the church was reopened in 1949.