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VATICAN MUSEUMS

The Vatican Museums are the public art and sculpture museums in the Vatican City. They display works from the immense collection amassed by popes throughout the centuries including several of the most renowned Roman sculptures and most important masterpieces of Renaissance art in the world.

The museums contain roughly 70,000 works, of which 20,000 are on display, and currently employ 640 people who work in 40 different administrative, scholarly, and restoration departments.

Pope Julius II founded the museums in the early 16th century. The Sistine Chapel with its ceiling decorated by Michelangelo and the Stanze di Raffaello decorated by Raphael are on the visitor route through the Vatican Museums. In 2017, they were visited by six million people, which combined makes them the 4th most visited art museum in the world.

They are one of the largest museums in the world.

There are 54 galleries, or sale, in total, with the Sistine Chapel, notably, being the very last sala within the Museum.

INFORMATIONS

ADDRESS

Viale Vaticano, 6 – Roma

CONTACTS

Web Sites: http://www.museivaticani.va/

PANTHEON

Lift up your head on entering. Our attention is caught straightaway by a ray of slanting sunlight shooting down from the “oculus”, a 9- metre round aperture at the very top of the dome that illuminates the entire building.

If it is raining, watch the falling water disappear into the floor’s 22 virtually invisible holes.

Dedicated to the worship of every god (Pan-every Theon-divinity), the Pantheon was built by the Emperor Hadrian between 118 and 125 A.D. over the ruins of another temple dating back to 27 A.D. Statesman and General Marcus Agrippa was responsible for the construction of the original church, to whom a dedicatory inscription is clearly visible over today’s magnificent portico.

In 609, it was converted into a Christian Church by Pope Boniface IV and consecrated to Santa Maria of the Martyrs.

Turned into a memorial chapel for the kings of Italy in 1870, the tombs of Vittorio Emanuele II, Umberto I and Margherita of Savoy are to be found here together with that of the celebrated Renaissance Artist Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, who is more often referred to as simply Raphael.

INFORMATION

ADDRESS

Piazza della Rotonda

OPENING TIME

La Basilica è aperta tutti i giorni feriali dalle ore 9.00 alle ore 19.30.
La domenica dalle ore 9.00 alle ore 18.00.

Nei giorni festivi infrasettimanali la Basilica resta aperta dalle ore 9.00 alle ore 13.00.
Salvo aperture straordinarie, rimane chiusa nei giorni: 1 gennaio, 1 maggio e 25 dicembre.

CONTACTS

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pantheon.polomusealelazio/
Web Sites: http://www.pantheonroma.com

THE TREVI FOUNTAIN

Work on the celebrated rococo fountain was first begun in 1732 by Nicola Salvi (who beat off competition to be awarded the commission by Pope Clement XII) and was completed by Giuseppe Pannini in 1762.

The monument, whose water is supplied by one of the oldest Roman aqueducts, the “Acqua Virgine”, has been sculptured against the backdrop of Palazzo Poli and depicts Triton taming Oceanus’ shell-shaped chariot drawn by sea horses.

Before moving off, do not forget to throw a coin in the fountain. Custom has it that travellers doing this will one day return to the eternal city. Those seeking a little romance, perhaps even an Italian love, should then toss a second, third coin to make sure wedding bells will soon be chiming.

Not forgetting of course that the fountain provided the splendid setting for the best-known scene from director Federico Fellini’s classic film “La Dolce Vita”: a provocative Anita Ekberg swathed in a long black evening dress calls out for Marcello Mastroianni, “Marcello, Come Here!” as she glides through the fountain’s sparkling waters.

Restoration of the Trevi Fountain started on July 2014. After 17-month restoration, the fountain has now a new lighting. Official inauguration, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2015.

INFORMATION

ADDRESS

Piazza di Trevi

CONTATTI

Web Sites: www.sovraintendenzaroma.it/

The COLOSSEUM

The construction of the largest amphitheater of the Roman Empire was started by Vespasian in 72 AD. This building was planned to change the relationship between power and people from then on: entertainment and distraction offered to the populace for free.

It was used for gladiator fights and hunting simulations involving ferocious and exotic animals. The capacity is estimated around 70.000 people; the shows became occasions to impress and control the people through an unforeseen display of astonishing special effects. Today it is possible to visit and understand how the underground theatrical system worked, with hoists, ramps and trapdoors, in order to present the animals, gladiators and scenery machineries to an overwhelmed crowd.

Find out the unbelievable engineering techniques that allowed ancient Romans to complete this massive structure, that has reached us today, in less than 10 years. It may be two thousand years old but the Colosseum is still the symbol of the eternal city, every year drawing thousands of visitors.

INFORMATION

ADDRESS

Piazza del Colosseo

OPENING TIME

08.30 – 16.30
from January 2 to February 15
last admission at 15.30

08.30 – 17.00
from February 16 to March 15
last admission at16.00

08.30 – 17.30
from March 16 to last Saturday of March
last admission at 16.30

08.30 – 19.15
from the last Sunday of March to August 31
last admission at 18.15

08.30 – 19.00
from September 1 to September 30
last admission at 18.00

08.30 – 18.30
from October 1 to last Saturday of October
last admission at 17.30

08.30 – 16.30
from the last Sunday of October to December 31
last admission at 15.30

Last admission 1 hour before closing time
Closed: December 25, January 1

2 June: closed until 2pm

For security reasons it is strictly forbidden to enter with backpacks, camping, bulky bags and luggage/trolley. It is forbidden to access the monument with bottles and glasses containers, alcholic beverages and spray cans.
Access is not permitted to animals

CONTACTS

Online purchase:
www.coopculture.it

Facebook:
www.facebook.com/parcocolosseo/

Instagram:
www.instagram.com/parcocolosseo/