Rome has so many museums, no one has an accurate count. It’s said there are 125-250. Certainly, you’ve been to a few or would like to some day. If you’re tired of the crowds and lines, or want to avoid them, get outta town.
Rome’s Lazio region is rich in museums you’ve never heard of but will never forget. In the 2 1/2 years we’ve written TraveLazio, we’ve been to 63 towns in Lazio. Nearly every one has its own museum.
They range from Etruscan to rugby. Here are our five favorites – so far. We still have so many more corners of Lazio to explore:
Being an American, I’m partial to this one. It’s located in the lovely coastal town of Anzio, Emperor Nero’s birthplace, but it’s better known for being the site of the Allied Forces’ landing in 1944.
It led to the liberation of Rome and the eventual end of World War II. The town has a beautiful, packed museum of memorabilia from that landing. One wall is covered with propaganda posters in Italian from both the American and German sides. One shows a smiling Nazi with his hand out and the words “La Germania e’ Veramente Vostra Amica (Germany is Truly Your Friend).
” There are photos of soldiers storming the beach and of jeeps rolling through Rome to a cheering crowd. Mannequins display soldier and nurse uniforms. There are boxes of bullets. A good film recounts the period in history.”
Info: Via di Villa Adele 2, 39-06-984-8059,
10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., 4-6 p.m. July-August, 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., 5-7 p.m. September-June, free.
One of the best archaeological museums in all of Italy is only 22 miles east of Rome. The town of Palestrina was once a fiercely independent city state that fought Ancient Rome for freedom. It features ruins of the biggest sanctuary in the country and next to it is a museum that can fill a day.
Built in 1956, this info-friendly museum has a huge variety to feed every curious soul about Roman history. It’s separated into various thematic rooms. One has marble busts of the wealthy’s tombs. Another has a copy of a calendar from 70-120 AD consisting of 12 huge slabs, each representing a different month.
Upstairs is a necropolis with giant tombs mounted with limestone heads from tombstones from the 4th-2nd century B.C. Massive mosaics cover the walls. This includes the museum’s biggest attraction: The Flooding of the Nile, a 20 x 13-foot mosaic depicting life in Egypt when it was Roman territory starting in 30 B.C.
Info: Via Barberini 22, 39-06-953-8100,
9 a.m.-8 p.m. €7 (includes archaeological site).
The outside of the palace is actually quite ugly. It’s a white cement building the size of a city block on the main street of the town 25 miles northwest of Rome. But inside, the palace is filled with beautiful frescoes, landscape paintings and papal history.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Altieri had the palace built in 1650 and was the residence of Emilio Bonaventura Altieri before he became Pope Clement X (1670-76). The palace has two wings. One has portraits of the nine Princes of Oriolo. The other, the Delle Belle room, has portraits of the most prominent aristocratic women in Rome. The Landscape Room has beautiful frescoes with vivid colors of shady rural scenes, lakes and forests.
However, the best part of the museum is the Gallery of Popes. It’s nine rooms covering 70 meters and containing portraits of 266 popes, starting with St. Peter. We visited last year. We assume they have since put up a portrait of Pope Leo XIV.
Info: Piazza del Gesu 49, 39-06-998-37145,
vm-tuscia.palazzoaltieri@cultura.gov.it,
8:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m.
Tuesday-Sunday, €5.
Lorenzo Ferri (1902-1975) was a prolific sculpture from the Central Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. He filled two separate museums near his studio in the little town of Cave, 25 miles southeast of Rome near the Prenistini Mountains.
The outside of the palace is actually quite ugly. It’s a white cement building th Lorenzo Ferri (1902-1975) was a prolific sculpture from the Central Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. He filled two separate museums near his studio in the little town of Cave, 25 miles southeast of Rome near the Prenistini Mountains.
The museums are only a couple minutes apart, separated by the main road and a long pedestrian bridge. Ferri has a couple sculptures in Rome such as a monument in Piazza Trilussa and the bust of Giolitti in the Pincio near Piazza del Popolo. One Cave museum was a hospital until 2005 and is now filled with dozens of plaster sculptures over three floors, including a life-size statue of a buff Jesus with his hands bound.
Across the street and over the bridge is the entrance to the historic district. Behind a locked door is another museum in a former convent of Augustinian monks. Over the two floors are huge sculptures, including one of an Assyrian king and his page. Also of note is a gruesome piece of just a pair of feet, presumably Jesus’, with a spike through them.
The museum includes some of Ferri’s paintings such as a copy of a famous photo from the Vietnam War: An American soldier carrying the head of a Vietnamese soldier.
Info: Via Cavour 23, 39-06-574 5934,
https://www.museolorenzoferricave.eu/
9 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., 4:30-9:30 p.m.,
Saturday-Sunday, €3.
Not to be confused with the national museum in Palestrina, this one in Cerveteri features artwork found in the tombs of ancient Etruscans who populated this town from the 9th century B.C. The two-story museum is arranged in chronological order. It’s obvious many Etruscans were wealthy. The vases, many nearly 3,000 years old, are in excellent condition although many patterns are modeled after the Greeks. On the second floor are elaborate sarcophaguses, designed for the richer Etruscans. Many are decorated with mythical figures. The most valuable piece, from 519 B.C., is a huge vase which the Etruscans used to mix water and wine.
It was in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art until 2008 when it came to Cerveteri. It’s housed inside a 600-year-old castle. The castle began as a fortress in 1200 before the Orsini family converted it into a castle in 1400. It is closed to the public but you can enter the museum.
Info: Piazza Santa Maria 1, 39-06-994-1354,
https://direzioneregionalemuseilazio.cultura.gov.it/
drm-laz@cultura.gov.it,
9 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday, € 6, € 10 includes the Necropolis.