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Photo: Joadl, CC BY-SA 3.0 at via Wikimedia Commons
Unusual ancient Roman theatre with apartments built on top.
The Theatre of Marcellus was an ancient open-air theatre in Rome, Italy, built in the closing years of the Roman Republic. It is located in the modern rione of Sant'Angelo. In the sixteenth century, it was converted into a palazzo.
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Church built on the site of three Roman pagan temples, which can be explored underground for a small fee paid at a desk near the church entrance.
Capitoline Museums
The two museums are on opposite sides of the Piazza del Campidoglio, It is recommended to book tickets online
Palace of the Conservators
Also based on a Michelangelo architectural plan, this compact gallery is well endowed in classical sculpture and paintings. Highlights include the small 1st-century-BC bronze Lo Spinario, a Greek statue of a little boy picking a thorn from his foot; the Lupa Capitolina (Capitoline Wolf), a rare Etruscan bronze statue probably dating from the 5th century BC; and (in the entrance courtyard), the massive head, hands, foot and kneecap from a colossal statue of Constantine the Great. The palace also contains a Pinacoteca (Picture Gallery) with paintings mainly from the 16th and 17th centuries - highlights include: Caravaggio's Fortune-Teller and his curious John the Baptist; The Holy Family, by Dosso Dossi; Romulus and Remus, by Rubens; and Titian's Baptism of Christ.
On top of the Capitoline hill. The piazza was designed by Michelangelo. The Capitoline Museum is housed in the palaces flanking the piazza. You can walk behind the Palazzo Senatorio, where Rome's government meets, to a wonderful viewpoint which overlooks the entire Roman Forum. In the centre of the square you can admire an exact copy of the Statue of Marcus Aurelius on horseback; the original is kept in one of the two museums, to preserve it from pollution.
The remains of the ancient Roman archives, where Cicero and Seneca did research. Visible from the Forum and accessible through the Capitoline Museum.
Capitoline Museum
Built in the 17th century to a design based on an architectural sketch by Michelangelo. Highlights include the ancient Colossus of Constantine statue (the Colosseum was probably named for another giant statue, the Colossus of Nero which stood near the Flavian Amphitheatre as the Colosseum was originally known), The Dying Gaul, a magnificent marble sculpture that copies a bronze Greek original of the 3rd century BC and the Capitoline Venus. It also contains the remarkable original gilt bronze equestrian statue of emperor Marcus Aurelius (the one in the piazza is a replica).