Training documents for the participants cours IST Comenius Grundtvig Europe between Mythology Modernity e Multiculturalism. Powered by Laboratorio del Cittadino Onlus labdelcittadino@libero.it labdelcittadino@gmail.com

1. The Myth of Europe
Capitoline Museums
At present the Museum of the Capitol is the principal civic and municipal museum of Rome. Within
the system of 'Musei in Comune' (museums in the municipality) the Capitoline museums are
referred to in plural as the original nucleus of the collection with time was joined by various and
precious artistic collections.
Today, the creation of the Capitoline Museums has been traced back to 1471 when pope Sixtus IV
donated a group of bronze statues of great symbolic value to the People of Rome.
Sixtus' IV interest in any kind of ancient history was clear within the first years of his pontificate.
The pope, a few months after his election on December 14th 1471, decided to express his great love
for art by founding a museum center in order to custodyshelter all the ancient masterpieces of art
he possessed.
Most of the sculptures he donated came from Rome and had been housed in Palazzo del Laterano.
Their significance has tight relation to the 'eternal city' and they are the initial lot of the Capitoline
Museums entire collection. Pope Sixtus VI was a humanist who studied philosophy and was a great
lover of ancient art. By donating the goods he decided also to see after the restoration of some great
bronzes dating back to the Roman Era; among others the equestrian statue of Marc Aurelius.
The Capitoline Museums were thus founded by means of the donation of precious ancient founds
and were left to the custody of the Roman Senate. When Sixtus IV made his donation, he
doubtlessly considered the Roman People the true possessor of all treasures of ancient Rome and
the legitimate heir of all beautiful ancient treasures to be found on the Roman ground.
Among the first masterpieces that arrived at the Capitol were the She-Wolf, Camillus, the Spinarius
and the colossal head, hand and the globe of Constantine that were joined by a statue of Hercules
in gilded bronze, found during Sixtus' IV pontificate. Initially the sculptures had been arranged
outside, in the arcadecolonnade of the external facade and the courtyard of Palazzo dei
Conservatori. Later the masterpieces were transferred inside the same building. Sixtus the fourth’s
donation attracted the attention of many wealthy Roman citizens on the bronze statues, who decided
to pay for the restoration of the latter, considering it an act of propaganda.
Very soon, the initial nucleus of the collection was enriched by new pieces that were closely linked
to the history of ancient Rome and came from urban excavations. Thanks to Sixtus IV project,
Rome was given back some of its ancient traces and the past greatness. At the same time the
collocation of the statues on the Capitoline Hill restored the symbolic value of a place that used to
be the centre of Rome's religious life and the seat of the city's civil magistracy.
The Capitoline Hill is the smallest of Rome's seven hills and is made up of two parts separated by a
deep valley. The present Piazza del Campidoglio was built exactly in the valley between the
altitudes and used to be the fortress of the city of Rome in ancient times. In the past the Capitol was
the seat of the Roman public archive and of the mint during the Republican age.
Ancient historic and mythological sources record that a dwelling dating back many centuries before
the foundation of Rome was located on the Capitol. Some mythological stories are confirmed by a
number of archaeological finds that were found in the Capitoline Hill area and date back to 14th
century BC. Recent archaeological excavations made a more precise dating possible, as the finds
belong to a pro-historic dwelling of the Bronze Age during the 15th century BC and that existed until
the Iron Age in the 7th century BC.
Piazza del Campidoglio’s current appearance dates back to a design made by Michelangelo
Buonarroti around 1500. The components of the piazza (buildings, sculptures and decorated paving)
were intended by Michelangelo to form an organic unity and all details were oriented towards the
Basilica of Saint Peter. Pope Paul III asked Michelangelo to redesign the square as he wanted to
restore the prestige of the hill that had been in a state of decline since the Middle Ages.
Michelangelo created a space with a slightly trapezoidal shape lined by façades facing the square.
He designed the double-flighted staircase of Palazzo Senatorio and the Cordonata stairs with a

2. crowning balustrade that faces Piazza d'Aracoeli. Nevertheless Michelangelo never saw the results
of his project as he died in 1564 and the project was continued and finished by his successor, the
architect Giacomo della Porta who only partly respected Michelangelo’s ideas.
However, Michelangelo witnessed the collocation of some famous statues in the square. In 1550 the
collocation of some important sculpture in marble began, as for example the fragments of the statue
of Constatine that came from the Basilica of Massenzio, the relief panels showing the works of
Marc Aurelius and the Capitoline Fasti, discovered in the Roman Forum. During the middle of the
16th century the two huge and very important sculptures of Nile and Tiber were transferred from the
Quirinal to the Capitoline Hill, they are currently collocated outside, in front of Palazzo Senatorio.
In 1538 the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius was brought from the Lateran on the wishes of
Pope Paul III.
At the end of the 16th century Pope Pius V had an immense group of statues transferred to the
Capitoline Hill, these statues were considered ‘pagan’ and had been previously housed in the
Vatican. In this way notable works of art added an aesthetic dimension to the collection of artworks
of historical nature.
In 1654 the building of Palazzo Nuovo, located in front of Palazzo dei Conservatori in Piazzza del
Campidoglio, was finished. This building was important as it became possible to house the great
number of statues that were gathered in Palazzo dei Conservatori, in a more satisfactory way.
It is though right to consider 1471 the year of the Capitoline Museums foundation, but we have to
keep in mind that 1743 was a second birth or re-naissance for the Museums. In 1734 the museums
were opened to the public after the acquisition, by Pope Clement XII, of a collection of statues and
portraits previously owned by Cardinal Alessandro Albani. The opening to the public in 1734 made
the Capitoline Museums the first place in the world where art was accessible to everybody and not
only to the owners of the collections.
A few decades later, in the middle of the 17th century, Pope Benedict XIV founded the Capitoline
Picture Gallery which saw the conflation of very important private collections. This Pope was also
responsible for the addition to the collection of fragments of the Forma Urbis, the largest marble
street plan of ancient Rome.
Towards the end of the 19th century the collections of the Capitoline Museums underwent a
considerable expansion, following the designation of Rome as the capital of a newly unified Italy in
1870 and subsequent excavations for the construction of new residential quarters. In order to
accommodate the large amount of material emerging from these excavations, new exhibition areas
within the Capitoline Museums were set up in the Palazzo dei Conservatori and with the
simultaneous creation, in a different place, of the Antiquarium, the City Council’s archaeological
warehouse. A number of sculptures, found at the end of 1800, were housed in an octagonal shaped
pavilion, known as the ‘octagonal hall’. It was built on purpose in the inner garden on the first floor
of the Palazzo dei Conservatori. During the XIX century, a number of important donations by
private collectors enriched the collection of the Capitoline Museums. Above all the Castellani
collection of ancient pottery and the Cini collection of porcelain should be mentioned. In this period
the Capitoline Medal collection was set up thanks to the acquisition of a number of important
private collections and several coins came to light during archaeological excavations in the city.
At the beginning of 1900 the archaeologist, engineer and topographist Rodolfo Lanciani re-
arranged the collections of the Capitoline Museums, his intervention was followed by a more
drastic one in 1952, when the Mussolini Museum, subsequently called the Museo Nuovo, was set
up. The institution of the latter in Palazzo Caffarelli became the new home of the sculptures
previously housed in the Antiquarium on the Caelian Hill, hithero reserved for the so-called ‘minor
arts’.
In 1952 an additional exhibition space, known as the Braccio Nuovo(new wing) , was created.
In1957 the ‘Capitoline Museums’ junction Gallery was opened during the Third International Greek
and Latin Epigraphy Congress. It was built between 1939 and 1941, with the intention to join the
Capitoline buildings. It became home to about 1400 ancient Latin and Greek inscriptions mostly
coming from the city council’s Antiquarium and in part from the Capitoline Museums themselves.

3. Later serious problems of water seepage and rinsing damp in the Junction Gallery, the rooms of the
New Museum and the rooms of the New Wing of the Palazzo dei Conservatori led first to an the
closure to the public and then to being permanently cancelled from the museum’s itinerary.
In 1997 some spaces that required renovation had to be emptied. The sculptures that were displayed
in the Palazzo dei Conservatoeri, the New Wing and the Museo Nuovo were moved and displayed
in the unusual exhibition area created in the old power plant of Montemartini, in Via Ostiense. The
project aimed at an original and intriguing fusion of classic and industrial archaeology.
The project of renovation aimed at an enhancement of the important historical, architectural and
artistic value of the Capitoline Hill. The area was reorganized in respect of the traditional role of the
place as the political symbol of the city. The existing exhibition areas were reorganised aiming at
the creation of a complex and fully integrated circuit and some sectors of the museum were re-
organised, some new ones were created and some sections that were previously closed were opened
to the public.
At present the Tabularium is open to the public. It is linked to the other buildings by means of the
Galleria di Congiunzione. The museum itinerary has been enriched by the addition of spaces in
Palazzo Caffarelli and Palazzo Clementino, once the museum’s office block. Visitors can admire the
Capitoline Coin Cabinet inside Palazzo Clementino and the Galleria Lapidaria in the Galleria di
Congiunzione. Further renovation work concerns the transformation of the Giardino Romano into a
large glass covered hall and the reorganization of the Castellani Collection, the halls of the Roman
Horti and the section dedicated to the Temple of Capitoline Jupiter.
Itinerary and halls of the Capitoline Museums
The historical homes of the Capitoline Museums are Palazzo dei Conservatori and Palazzo Nuovo.
The halls of Palazzo dei Conservatori are decorated with frescoes, stuccoes, and carvings. The most
ancient part of Palazzo dei Conservatori are the halls of the piano nobile, where a number of bronze
statues donated by Pope Sixtus IV to the Roman people, for their symbolic value and in order to
remember Rome’s greatness that the pontifical government intended to restore, are displayed. The
itinerary of the Capitoline Museums is as described below.
Palazzo dei Conservatori
Piano Nobile
Hall of the Horatii and Curiatii
The frescoes are by Cavalier d’Arpino. The Hall displays a statue in marble by Bernini portraying
Urban VIII Barberini and the bronze statue of Innocent X Pamphili
Hall of the Captains
The frescoes are by Tommaso Laureti and were carried out at the end of the 16th century. The
painter narrated episodes of military life of the period of the Republic with chromatic and
impressive vivacity. Some episodes painted by Laureti are Brutus’s Justice, Mucius Scevola before
Porsena, Horatius Cocles defending the Pons Sublicius, Battle at Lake Regillus.
The hall displays the great celebrative statues of the most important Captains of the Pontificial
Militia as Marcantonio Colonna, winner of the battle of Lepanto.
Also noteworthy is the coffered ceiling with painted scenes from ‘Jerusalem Delivered’.
Hall of Hannibal
This is the only room that maintained its original frescoes dating back to the first decade of the 16th
century. The frescoes are traditionally attributed to Jacopo Ripanda and celebrate episodes of the
Punic Wars. The hall takes its name from Hannibal’s image on the central wall, it is a naïve and

4. fantastic representation. The wooden ceiling is the first place where the She Woolf that gives milk
to the twins appears. It is used as a decorative element but unveils a symbolic hint about the city’s
origin.
IV Chapel dedicated to the Madonna and the Saints Peter and Paul
It is important as it is dedicated to the patron saints of Rome. The decoration of the chapel was
finished during the 17th century by the paintings portraying the four evangelists and other saints.
The ceiling frescoes show episodes of the lifes of the two saints, who are the protectors of the city.
On the wall facing the window is a fresco of a Madonna with child by Andrea di Assisi, it was
detached from the fifteenth century loggia of the palazzo and covers a golden grating intended to
connect the Chapel with the adjacent Hall of the Captains .
V Hall of the Tapestries
Since 1770 this hall housed the throne of the pope. The fresco frieze depicting scenes of Scipio
Africanus’ life was made around the middle of the 16th century together with the wooden coffered
ceiling with gilded carvings. The tapestries were made by the Pontificial Fabbrica di San Michele a
Ripa. The tapestries depict important Roman scenes, busts of Roman emperors and trophies of arms
VI Hall of the triumphs
This is the first of the halls that is oriented towards the city. The fresco frieze that runs along the
upper part of the walls was commissioned from Michele Alberti and Jacopo Rocchetti in 1569 and
depicts the triumph of Lucius Aemilius Paulus over Perseus, the King of Macedon, with the
Capitoline and Palazzo dei Conservatori in the background. The wooden ceiling was made by the
famous carver and ebonist Flaminio Boulanger. The hall displays, among others, some of the most
famous bronze sculptures of the Capitoline Museums as for example the Spinarius, Camillus and
the so-called Capitoline Brutus.
VII Hall of the She-Wolf
This room has contained the She-wolf together with the Consular and Triumphal Fasti for most of
the time. The latter were discovered in the Roman Forum around the 15th century. The dating of the
Capitoline Wolf, traditionally dated back to the first half of the 15th century, taking into account
many Greek and Italian figurative artworks, was discussed again after the results of Carbon 14
analysis performed on organic materials resulting from the casting process and would date the
sculpture as belonging to medieval times. The sculpture was donated to the Roman People in 1471
and became the symbol of the city when, after its transfer to the Capitoline hill, the twins Romulus
and Remus – the legendary founders of the city- were added to the ancient artwork. Since then the
sculpture has been displayed in Palazzo dei Conservatori and according to witnesses of the past,
during the 16th century the She-Wolf was placed in this room that used to be an open space with
three arches opening on the exterior.
The wall decorations date back to the first decade of the 16th century and are attributed to Jacopo
Rinaldi. The frescoes are fragmentary and not easy to interpret. The floor mosaic is extremely
precious, it is an ancient artwork that was discovered in 1893 and then reassembled in this space
that is so full of extraordinary symbolic elements.
VIII Hall of the geese
This hall houses the head of Medusa by Bernini and a portrait of Michelangelo Buonarroti dating
back to the 18th century. The pictorial decoration of the hall dates back to the mid 16th century,
during the papacy of Alexander III Farnese. The frieze consists of small panels with playful scenes
set against a real or fantastic background, alternating with military trophies and floral and fruit
triumphs. Two bronze ducks- that have been interpreted as geese since they were admired as a
remembrance of the legendary Capitoline geese that had saved the Romans from the Gauls- dating

5. back to the Roman era have been displayed in the hall since the 18th century and give the room its
name.
The recent restoration of the wooden ceiling has brought the old ‘air-colored’ background to light
on which gilded rosettes of various shapes, vases and shields are painted. During the 18th century
the room was enriched with stucco decorations that frame a number of elements as sculptures,
paintings and epigraphs.
Hall of the Eagles
The fine wooden ceiling of this room, dating back to the 16th century, features painted landscapes
and carved gilded rosettes. The frieze below , that dates back to the same period as that in the hall of
the geese, features a series of panels with views of Rome and oval medallions depicting minor
episodes of the Roman history of Republican Rome.
A small marble and bronze statue is the small scale replica of a Hellenistic statue of the temple of
Artemis and at Ephesus embellished with symbols of fertility and animal heads. Two marble eagles
give the room its name.
X,XI,XII Castellani Halls
The objects displayed in the rooms were donated in 1867 and 1876 by Augusto Castellani. He was a
famous goldsmith and collector and an important member of political and cultural life of the city.
When he was the director of the Capitoline Museums he invested a lot of funds in the
reorganization and growth of the museum’s collections.
The collection consists of about 700 very different pieces that come mainly from the necropolis of
Etruria, Latium and southern Italy. The first to halls display ceramics from Greece, southern Italy
and Etruria, buccheri and ceramics in polished mixture, all dating back o the time between the 8th
and the 4th century BC, the last hall displays a number of particularly valuable items as the
Capitoline Tesa ( a bronze chest decorated with scenes from Achillus’life( and the small statue of
ancestor sitting on the tomb of the seven seats in Cerveteri. Among the objects that are not
displayed a group of votive and architectural ceramics and an interesting group of small italic
bronze statues are worth being noticed.
XIII, XIV Halls of the Modern Fasti
These halls display marble panels with the inscriptions of all names of Roman magistrates
(senators) from 1640 to 1870.
XV, XVI, XVII,XVIII Halls of the Horti Lamiani
In the four halls have been displayed all pieces found during the archaeological excavations made at
the end of the 19th century. The excavations were made in the area of the Esquiline hill, between
Piazza Vittorio and Piazza Dante. Rodolfo Lanciani was one of the most active members of the
excavations and was the one who made a detailed documentation of the archaeological activities.
The rooms house among others the Esquiline Venus and the well known portrait of Commodus as
Hercules. The excavations, made during the 19th century, brought to light the ruins of a vast
complex of buildings. One of the most impressive buildings is an immense theater shaped structure.
Most likely it was a monumental fountain with a scenographical-effect on the valley below. A
portico facing rooms with garden frescoes, a series of thermal rooms decorated with precious
colored, marble a stupefying underground corridor that is almost 80 meters long that amazed the
ones that discovered it because of its fine decoration. The pavement was made with the rarest
qualities of alabaster (of which only a small part is conserved) and it contained precious yellow
columns with bases and capitals in gilded stucco. Other rooms, that were part of the same complex,
had walls in black slating decorated with gilded arabesques or enriched by fountains.
XIX, XX Hall of the Horti Tauriani and Vettiani
In these rooms the archaeological finds coming from the area where the homes of Statilius Taurus

6. and Vettius Agorius used to be, are displayed. From this area come several sculptures that date back
to different phases of history. Currently, sculptures of divinities, reliefs with landscape views or
decorative motives, two large marble craters and three splendid imperial portraits of Hadrian,
Sabina and Matidia are displayed in the rooms of the Capitoline Museums.
XXI, XXII, XXIII Halls of the Horti di Mecenate
The Horti di Mecenate are the most ancient residential gardens to be found on the Esquiline Hill. Of
the sumptuous residence of Mecenate, well known through literary descriptions and especially
praised by Horace, the only existing archaeological rest is the Auditorium. A semi-submerged
summer triclinium, that is decorated with frescoes showing garden views that contain small statues
and fountains, as to make up for the lack of openings towards the outside. Part of the frescoes can
be dated around the time of Mecenate and the other part dates back to the first decade of the 1st
century AC, when the gardens became part of the Emperial property. At the time, the villa was a
sort of extension of the Domus Aurea. These rooms of the Capitoline Museums display the fine
decorations of the Horti di Mecenate, found during excavations made at the end of the past century.
The finds were discovered inside the walls built in the late antiquity as they were used as building
material. This was a frequent way of re-using existing material and has been used frequently on the
Esquiline hill. Among the decorative artwork, the most important ones are the beautiful Potorius
horn-shaped fountain, the head of the Amazon, the statue of Marcia and the statue of the dog. The
presence of a group of Muses that is perfectly integrated in the decorative program of the Horti are
evidence of Mecenates passion for art.
XXIV Gallery of the Horti
The gallery contains portraits from the Horti of the Esquiline hill and two large marble craters with
relief decorations from the Horti Vettiani.
XXV Exedra for Marc Aurelius
The new glass hall was built inside the area of the so called ‘ Giardino Romano’ of Palazzo dei
Conservatori and houses the monumental equestrian statue of Marc Aurelius together with some of
the large Capitoline bronze statues as Hercules in gilded bronze from the Foro Boario and the
remains of the colossal bronze statue of Constantine.
The stairs have been built within an open space that used to mark the boundary between the
properties of the Conservatory and the Caffarelli family. The luminous and wide hall houses the
monumental equestrian statue of Marc Aurelius in bronze that used to be at the center of Piazza
Campidoglio and has now been replaced by a copy as to protect the original damage due to outdoor
exposure. The equestrian statue is not mentioned in ancient sources and was probably erected in 176
AC to celebrate the emperor’s triumph over the Germanic tribes or in 180 AC shortly after his
death.
It was kept at the Lateran since the Middle Ages and incorrectly thought to portray the first
Christian Emperor Constantine. In the hall are displayed some great bronzes that were part of the
initial core of the Capitoline collection of antiquities as the gilded bronze statue of Hercules from
the Forum Boarium and the remains of the colossal bronze statue of Constantine. Great importance
was given to the monumental remains of the foundation of the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus.
XXVI Area of the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus
Part of the impressive foundations made of blocks of outcrop that through the superficial layer of
clay, rest upon the tufaceous rock below. The grand Temple of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva built by
king Tarquinius Priscus and Tarquinius Superbus in the VIth century BC was rebuilt several times
over the centuries, and amazes even at present because of its extraordinary size. On September 13th
509 BC the temple was consecrated under the consul M. Horatius Pulvillus, at the beginning of the
Republican period. The building of this temple required significant financial commitment. The
workers used were Etruscan. Over the years the temple preserved its main architectural features.

7. XXVII Hall of the Middle Ages
The hall of the 16th century Capitoline Archive in the Palazzo dei Conservatori, houses the new hall
of the Middle Ages of the Capitoline Museums with a striking exhibition of the honorary monument
of Charles 1st of Anjou. The hall displays other artworks that help to illustrate the history of the
Middle Ages.
Second Floor
The second floor of Palazzo dei Conservatori houses an important collection of paintings that
comprises also several pieces of ornamental and applied art. The Capitoline Picture Gallery is the
oldest public collection of paintings. It was created on the Capitoline Hill between 1748 and 1750
with the purchase of paintings of the 16th and 17th century belonging to the Sacchetti and Pius of
Savoy collections. Among the art works are paintings by Tiziano, Caravaggio and Rubens.
Afterwards the collection of the museum has greatly increased and noteworthy is Count Francesco
Cini;s legacy who donated a splendid porcelain collection to the museum in 1881.
Room I Central Italy from the Middle Ages to Renaissance.
This hall is dedicated to Italian painting of religious subjects from the Middle Ages and early
Renaissance, from the late fourteenth century to the early 16th century. All paintings displayed in
this room are on wood panels. The bigger paintings – altar panels- decorated the altars of churches
or chapels, the smaller ones were part of multiple panels –polyptychs-. The circular shape of
devotional paintings for private residences and not for churches was typical for Florence.
Room II The 16th century in Ferrara
The room houses paintings coming from Ferrara, the capital of a small independent duchy ruled by
the Este family. They created a sophisticated court that attracted many artists and writers.. Formal
elegance is the principal feature of Ferrara’s pictorial production, among the most important centres
of Italian Renaissance.
RoomIII Venice and it’s territory.- the 16th century
This room houses the artworks coming from Venice, one of the most important centers of Italian
Renaissance, where some of the greatest Italian artists lived.
Venice was the capital of a powerful and flourishing Republic ruled by doges and the only city that
proposed an alternative to the Umbrian-Tuscan Renaissance pictorial style.
Room IV Artistic trends during the 17th century in Rome
The artworks displayed in this hall were created by artists coming from various geographical areas
and cultural backgrounds that worked in Rome during the 17th century. The city attracted painters
from all over Italy and Europe because of the probability of success and prosperity and the
possibility to work next to the great artworks of the past.
Room V Between the 16th and the 17th century in Emilia and Rome
Rome and Bologna were the two most important cities of the Papal Sate. Their cultural relationship
dates back to the beginning of the 16th century and established over time. Bolognaise artists
maintained a constant attention towards a classical formal elegance, whereas the Roman ones tried
to go beyond the boundaries of late Mannerism.
Room VI Paintings in Bologna from Caracci to Guido Reni
Annibale Caracci together with his cousin Ludovico and brother Agostino developed a new type of
painting and marked an important turning point in the research of Italian and European painting by
combining formal elements of classicism with a refined pictorial poetry, able to tell stories and

8. move souls. He is among the founders of the great Academy of Bologna, whose main protagonist
was Guido Reni during the first half of the 17th century.
Hall of Saint Petronilla- great paintings of the 17th century in Rome
At the end of the 16th century Rome returns to be the capital of European painting and the principal
place of artistic research. The greatest artists come to Rome in order to learn, work and find clients.
The long stay of Caravaggio from the second half of the nineties of the 16th century to 1606 marked
an important revolution in the history of painting.
Hall of Pietro di Cortona- Baroque painting – Pietro da Cortona and the Cortonese
Baroque started in the twenties of the 17th century in coincidence with the first years of pope Urban
VIII Barberini’s pontificate. Pietro da Cortona was the first representative of this new painting style,
thanks to his capacity of painting grand scenographies he became an example for an entire
generation of painters.
The Cini Gallery. European and Oriental Porcelains
The Cini Gallery houses a precious collection of porcelains donated to the Capitoline Museums by
Count Francesco Cini in 1881. Over time the collection was enriched by other donations of
European and oriental porcelain collections. The walls are hung with European paintings from the
XVI – XVIII centuries and the series of Antwerp tapestries representing the story of Semiramis.
Palazzo Clementino Caffarelli
Palazzo Caffarelli, including the oldest part called Palazzo Clementino, became part of the museum
in 2000.
Restorations made it possible to restore most of the original dimensions of the rooms, especially in
Palazzo Clementino, and to recover some of the decorative artworks of its Piano Nobile. The
original core of the palazzo was built during the second half of the 16th century on the Capitoline
Hill, within the Caffarelli’s possessions. The building, attached to Palazzo dei Conservatori
appeared in city maps around 1593 and in modern times has erroneously been called Palazzo
Clementino.
The ancient building comprises the Hall of the Frescoes and three adjacent rooms, as evidenced by
the wooden small coffered ceilings and part of the wall decorations found during restoration and
surviving elements of a decorative apparatus dating back to the same period of time.
Second floor
Capitoline Coin Cabinet One of the main collections is displayed in the four bigger glass cabinets.
The exhibition follows the chronological order of the various stages of the creation of the Coin
Cabinet collection. The documentation of the various phases of Roman coinage is particularly
interesting with pieces coming from the urban area and important private collections. The glyptics
and the jewellery displayed are ancient finds coming from digs or reused in modern jewellery and
created by the Castillani’s goldsmiths. Historical and yearly struck medals by the Municipality of
Rome are displayed as well.
The Santarelli collection- one of the rooms houses the glyptic collection of the Dino and Ernesto
Santarelli foundation. It is on loan for ten years at the Capitoline Museums and comprises items
coming from ancient Egypt, the Near East, from the Greek-Roman world and modern Europe. The
following room is equipped with a complete educational apparatus that consists of explanatory
panels, multi-media tools and videos explaining the technical procedures of glyptic art.
Hall of Frescoes- this room, given its size and sumptuous decorations, is the most important one.

9. Some remains of the frescoes that covered the walls and consisted of large scale images framed by
columns and architectural elements, are still preserved. Other fragments of small landscape frescoes
painted over the doors are preserved as well. The room is called the room of Saint Peter because of
a scene painted in the frescoes that represents the healing by Saint Peter in front of the temple of
Jerusalem.
Hall of the Pediment- The recreation of the terracotta pediment from Via di San Gregorio, displayed
in an exhibition in 2002 has become part of the museum’s itinerary. The high relief of the
tympanon portrays a scene of sacrifice with three divinities- Mars and two goddesses –. The
sacrifice is celebrated by an offerer wearing a toga to whom three bare-chested servants lead six
animals in two rows, starting from the two extremities of the pediment.
A part of the architectural framework of the sloping roof –pediment’s sima- is preserved as well. At
its centre a small relief portrays the myths of Hercules and Hesione.
Palazzo Nuovo
This section of the museum has basically maintained the main features of the organization decided
in the 18th century, even though many changes have been made during the centuries. The decorative
aspects of the rooms are basically unchanged, and the display of the sculptures and the inscriptions
has been adapted to it. The fine pieces of ancient sculpture come mainly from private collections of
prelates and noble Roman families. The building, unlike Palazzo dei Conservatori lying just
opposite, shows a symmetrical balance of the spaces and architectural elements.
The palazzo is called ”Nuovo”, new, because it was built ex- novo, from scratch, using
Michelangelo’s project in order to complete the design of the Capitoline square by adding it to the
existing Palazzo dei Conservatori e Palazzo Senatorio. The museum was opened to the public in
1734, during the pontificate of pope Celement XII. The year before the pope had purchased the very
important Albani collection of 418 ancient sculptures. These were added to the other items already
on display in the Vatican Belvedere and donated to the Capitoline Museums in 1566 by pope Pius V
and to the sculptures that did not find space in Palazzo dei Conservatori. The collections are still
displayed according to the layout decided in the 18th century.
The Galleria Lapidaria
The underground gallery that links the Capitoline palazzo (Galleria di Congiunzione) was built at
the end of the 1930ies underneath the Capitoline square. It contains rests of Roman residences
dating back to the 2nd century AC.
In 2005 inside this space the Galleria Lapidaria was reorganized and it now displays a selection of
the finest pieces of the Capitoline’s epygraphic collection.
The Galleria di Congiunzione, was built in the late 30ies and lies 8 meters under the level of the
Capitoline square.
The excavations made in order to build the gallery brought to the discovery of an ancient road that
lead the Capitoline Hill and was lined by buildings from the imperial time, one of them, that is now
part of the museum’s itinerary, was characterized by pillars with consoles to support the balconies.
In 1957, during the Third International Greek and Latin Epigraphy Congress the gallery became
home to about 1400 marble inscriptions from the Roman Era. Unfortunately the gallery was closed
to the public about 20 years later because of problems of humidity.
In 2005, after a careful restoration of the walls and the inscriptions, the Galleria Lapidaria was re-
opened to the public. The pieces were displayed in a new way and a complete informative apparatus
is now available.
Tabularium- Passing through the Galleria Lapidaria coming from the museum, one reaches the
Tabularium. It is a long corridor, built in modern times by using the ancient foundations of the

10. building. From there one sees the temple of Veiovis. At the end of the corridor lies the gallery that
opens up on the Roman Forum. There is the entrance to another room with remains of buildings
previous to the tabularium. The rooms of the north-eastern side of the Tabularium, where the
platband with the inscription of the approval of the building is, are visible from the outside of the
museum in Via S.Pietro in Carcere.
On the side of the Capitoline Hill the square of the Roman Forum is closed by the massive
quadrangular structure of the Tabularium. This building used to be seat of the Roman archive, were
laws and official acts, engraved in bronze tabulae, were kept. Quintus Lutatius Catullus inaugurated
it in 78 BC, during the year of his consulate, as evidenced by an inscription on the platband visible
in Via San Pietro in Carcere. The amazing monument with its incredibly well preserved
foundations, occupies the southern slope-side of the saddle that links the two peaks of the
Capitoline Hill, the Capitolinum in the west and Arx in the east. The central core of the building,
created in opus coementicium, consists in foundation room, that used to be unsuitable to be
used,and is the terracing of the slope (substructio). The upper floors, formerly home of the archieve,
have been substituted by Palazzo Senatorio.
The Tabularium has nearly a trapezoidal shape and an important indentation in the angle towards
the Capitolinum, due to the presence of an ancient temple, the Veiovin Temple.
Paolo Veronese
Paolo Caliari became Veronese from his birthplace Verona where he was born in 1528. He died in
Venice on April 19th 1588. He was born to a stonecutter and began his artistic career at 13 Antonio
Badile’s apprentice. The latter would become his future father in law. Veronese created his first
important masterpiece, the ‘pala Bevilacqua Lazise’ when he was twenty. During the following
years he started to work for the Soranzo family in Castelfranco Veneto and for Cardinal Hercules
Gonzaga in Mantua. After a short period in Verona, he spent most of his time working in Venice.
In 1553 he started to work on his Venetian masterpieces in Palazzo Ducale and in 1556 he
collaborated at the decoration of the ceilings of the Marciana Library with frescoes. He spent most
of his life in Venice and went for short stays to Verona, Piacenza and Vicenza for work. In 1566 he
married Elena, Antonio Badile’s daughter. They had several children and his sons Gabriele and
Carletto together with his brother Benedetto were Veronese’s main and most important
collaborators. Veronese’s style was born within the Mannerist culture of Parma but is part of the
Mannerism of Venice, even if the chromatic range used in his paintings is richer than the traditional
one. Veronese was highly aware of Giulio Romano’s activity, Bronzino’s elegance, the raphaelism
of Antonio Allegri called Correggio and Palladio’s and Sanmicheli’s architectural innovations. He
was not interested in problems that weren’t exclusively formal. Veronese was known as supreme
colorist, able to portray the luxurious details of a garment and the muscles of a hound with the same
intensity. He was an extraordinary inventor of imaginary painted architectures and extremely good
in interpreting the pleasures of living in Venice during the 16th century. Among his masterpieces are
a marvelous cycle of frescoes at Villa Barbaro di Maser (Tv), the imponent and amazing Suppers,
the paintings in Palazzo Ducale and the grand ensemble of art works in San Sebastiano, to whom he
dedicated his whole life. Veronese was buried in the church of San Sebastiano in Venice.

11. Paolo Veronese - Rape of Europe, 1580/85 - Capitoline Museums, Picture Gallery.
Paolo Veronese is the one who created what was to be called ‘fare grande’ of the Venetian painting
style, he combined a refined formal elegance with a new and informal use of colour as in the big
painting of the rape of Europe ( signed copy of a painting with the same subject that is at present
preserved in Palazzo Ducale in Venice). In the painting the myth - the young girl Europe is stolen
by Jupiter transformed into a bull, taken into the sea and brought to the land that was given her
name- is told in detail and the story focuses on the sensual figure of the girls that is sumptuously
dressed.

12. Paolo Veronese – Rape of Europe 1580/85 – Venice, Palazzo Ducale, Hall of the Anticollegio
It is well known that the copy preserved in the Capitoline Museum’s Picture Gallery is signed but
more detailed historical information is available about the painting in Venice’s Palazzo Ducale.
The painting was commissioned by Jacopo Contarini between 1575 and 1580 for the family palace
in S. Samuel, where he lived. The painting was inherited by Bertuccio Contarini who donated it to
the Serenissima by legacy in 1713 and then taken to the Hall of the Anticollegio of Palazzo Ducale.
In 1797 the painting was transferred to Paris by the French troops and only in early 1900 it was
brought back to Palazzo Ducale. The theme of the painting was inspired by Ovid’s Metamorphoses
and portrays a moment of the mythological tale of the Rape of Europe. The painter concentrated on
the bull’s courtship of the girl and not on the dramatic moment of the rape as Titian in his painting
made between 1559 and 1562, currently displayed at Boston’s Garden Museum. Four maids witness
the courtship. Two of them are straighten the girl’s sumptuous dress, evoking something that
reminds the preparation of a spouse before honeymoon, whereas the other two pick up the wedding
crowns that three cupids have thrown down. The dog in the painting could be interpreted as an
allusion to marital fidelity. The loving atmosphere of the painting is underlined by the couple’s
physical intimacy: while Europe is settling on the back of the bull, the animal kisses her foot.
This detail is an innovation in the traditional iconographic and literary representation. In fact classic
and renaissance sources report that the bull kisses the girl on her hand and not on her foot as painted
by Veronese. The detail of the kiss is rare in iconographic representation and when it is portrayed it
usually sticks to the literary tradition. The erotic atmosphere loaded with physical contact makes
one think that the artist had seen the Transformations of 1553 by M. Lodovico Dolce. On the
backdrop small scenes portray the bull’s way towards the sea with Europe on his back and the
moment of the abduction in which Europe is already far away and turns towards her maids that
wish to save her. In his lifetime Veronese made several attempts to portray the abduction of Europe.

13. The myth of Europe in art
The image of a girl who travels on the back of a bull in love, suspended between delight and fear
has inspired many artists, sculptors, painters, weavers, mosaicists that showed different grades of
dependence from ancient sources, ranging from total adhesion to vague inspiration. Just like many
other myths, the one about Europe has been portrayed for thousands of years from the ancient times
to present by different cultures and people. Some representations have had great critic response, but
mostly the iconographic theme of the myth itself has had a great success. It was represented in bas
reliefs, mosaics, vascular paintings, frescoes, panels, paintings on canvas, engravings, bronzes and
sculptures and even recent masterpieces in poly-material.
Since ancient times the mythological figure has gone side by side with the concept of Europe as a
continent, geographical Europe that in ancient times, together with Asia and Africa, represented all
that was known. In all iconographic representations Europe appears royal and matron – as the
personification of a continent should be and is always portrayed next to the bull, that soon became
its symbolic attribute.
It is interesting to see how the representation of Europe changed with the growing conscience of
modern times and how it adjusted to the personification and iconographic concept that was linked
to those changes. For example during the 16th century, Europe is portrayed as an opulent sovereign
full of noble attributes, a characterization that in art, especially in painting, went on for more than
two centuries.. at the same time Europe was portrayed as a dethroned queen and crying woman
racked with grief in front of her land and people after decades of heresy, reforms, schisms,
divisions, wars and famines.
The myth of Europe had an important but discontinuous fortune in representation. In fact during the
Middle Ages there was a long pause, as the heroine was portrayed only seldom. Whereas she was
used to ideally represent the soul that Christ brings through the sea of earthly life, from the shore of
original sin towards the landing of salvation.
In modern times the various phases of Europe’s myth are linked to different profane images and are
inserted into different contexts and pictorial cycles. The iconographic motive of the abduction
appears to be extremely suitable for excited compositions as for example struggling bodies, the
contraposition of limbs, the sudden unveiling of beautiful feminine forms, the violence of feelings
that reach their peak in the expressions of their faces are all irresistible details to insert in modern
figurative expressions as in sculpture and painting. Especially the artistic genre of the ‘small bronze
sculptures enables the sculptors to explore the three dimensional theme of clinging bodies in which
the multiple points of observation make it possible to show the strong masculine muscles, a sinuous
feminine body or the muscles of an animal during the effort of escape.
Another well represented iconographic ‘family’ of which Europe is part is the one of ‘ marine
travelers’ where splendid divine or semi-divine women plough through the waters or fantastic and
makeshift means of transport.
Coming back to the myth itself it is not hazardous to say that every representation in time is
different because of its historic and art/historic background. The recreation of this myth in the
centuries depended on various factors as the variation of culture, the preferences of the
commissioner, the current fashion of representation, the creativity of the painter, and all together
represent so many variable elements, that it is almost impossible to get the same result. Every time a
precise moment of the myth is portrayed, once Europe’s seduction on the shore by the charming
gentle bull, another time the sudden departure of the bull with a frightened and upset Europe on his
back that turns towards the shore- symbol of her homeland and the lost affections, the couple’s
journey in frightful-dreadful solitude in the open sea or on the contrary the princess’s journey
through the sea quietly rocked by the swimming bull, the landing and the embrace of the couple
under the big plane-tree.
In the different representations Europe interprets a number of affections and feelings that vary from
surprise to anxiety, from fear to sensual abandon, whereas the bull, quiet in his divinity, abducts the
girl in order to bring her into the open sea towards far shores.

14. The myth of Europe has inspired many different artistic interpretations, especially painted ones,
over the years. During the 16th and 17th century, in most European countries and especially in Italy
and Flanders/Netherland, the two places with the highest figurative culture of their time, the myth
was represented in many different ways. From the late eighteenth century on, after a flourishing of
Venetian and French ‘Europes’ the vitality of the ancient myth was replaced by boredom.
The rarity of art works of the 19th century portraying the myth of Europe is strictly linked to the
tumultuous scenario of ideals and politics of the time and is in contrast with the reprise of the theme
just on the edge of the XX century, when psychoanalysis and political propaganda, satire and
feminism become a new way of interpreting the continuous change in representation. The
multiplicity of figurative and abstract language that characterized the artistic expression of the XX
century, the Phoenician heroine becomes once again the symbol of the entire continent, whereas
The bull that abducts her is sometimes identified with the sinister characteristics of totalitarian
regimes or evokes the ancestral and deep relationship with the Mediterranean memory of taurolatry
or tauromachy.