Palazzo Altemps

Palazzo Altemps, located in Piazza di Sant’Apollinare, in front of Piazza Navona, is a beautiful building founded during the 15th century by Girolamo Riario and Caterina Sforza, and lately rebuilt by Martino Longhi il Vecchio for a Deutch cardinal, Marco Sittico Altemps. Seat of ancient collection since the 16th century, in the 1982 it was bought by the Italian State and then, after several years of restorations, in 1997 it was converted in one of the four seat of the National Museum of Rome, together with Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Baths of Diocletian and the Crypta Balbi. The National Museum houses collections of antiquities from the 5th century B.C.; in particular in Palazzo Altemps there are some fine art works from several roman collections: the Ludovisi, Mattei, Del Drago and Brancaccio. Between many, the marble group with Ares and Thetis, the moving Gaul committing suicide (from the same Pergamon group as the Dying Gaul in the Capitoline Museums) or the famous Ludovisi Throne worth a visit. The Egyptian Collection with examples from the Temple dedicated to Iside in Campo Marzio are very interesting as well.