| Rome, viewed as a silhouette from Janiculum Hill, | | | | and Manzù. The site also holds Georges |
| represents an array of broken marble columns and | | | | Rouault, Picasso, Gauguin, Chagall, Henry Moore and |
| temple ruins, giant clusters of exceptional architecture, | | | | Kandinsky art. The Egyptian-Gregorian Museum |
| with St Peter's dome and the Roman Forum, capping | | | | represents a careful showcase of sarcophagi, |
| a shimmering city of urban noises. Cars, taxis, and | | | | mummies, vases, statues of goddesses, jewelry, |
| motor scooters stuff the streets and blow horns, with | | | | sculptured pink-granite statues, and heaps of |
| sidewalks densely packed with pedestrians, and | | | | hieroglyphics. |
| crowdy cafes offering the empblematic cappuccino of | | | | The Etruscan-Gregorian Museum, founded by Gregory |
| the day. The tourists batlle crowds and traffic, carving | | | | XIV in 1837, and continuously supplemented to ever |
| their way to Renaissance spots and Baroque edifices | | | | since, provides a complete collection of Etruscan art. |
| only to plunge deeper, into famous ruins of antiquity. | | | | The site includes sarcophagi, bronzes, urns, jewelry, a |
| Rome is also a reputed site for giant political scandals, | | | | chariot and terra-cotta vases. The Regolini-Galassi |
| corruption, flaws, and is known as Tangentopoli, the | | | | tomb, an acclaimed exhibit unearthed in the 19th |
| bribe city, annually sending numbers of government | | | | century at Cerveteri, is displayed along the Mars of |
| bureaucrats to jail. Nevertheless, this is the site | | | | Todi, a bronze sculpture dating from the 5th century |
| containing the Colosseum and the Pantheon, St. Peter's | | | | B.C. The Ethnological Museum provides an ensemble |
| Basilica and the Trevi Fountain, sites merely described | | | | of artworks and objects from all over the world, the |
| as 'compelling.' | | | | principal route being a 5km stroll through 25 |
| The Vatican Museums, a gigantic repository of | | | | geographical sections, showing objects that cover |
| treasures encompassing antiquity to the Renaissance, | | | | 3,000 years of world history. The Historical Museum |
| is housed in a labyrinthine series of elaborate palaces, | | | | outlines the story of the Vatican, exhibits arms, |
| apartments, and galleries leading to the Sistine Chapel. | | | | uniforms, armory, typically from the early Renaissance |
| The site occupies part of the papal palaces | | | | period and displays the carriages used by popes and |
| constructed from the 13th century onward. After | | | | cardinals in religious processions. |
| climbing a spiral ramp, one is led into the Borgia | | | | Rome's Pinacoteca or Picture Gallery houses paintings |
| Apartments, lavishly frescoed with biblical scenes by | | | | and tapestries from the 11th to the 19th centuries. The |
| Pinturicchio of Umbria. The rooms were designed for | | | | site holds oldest picture at the Vatican, this being s |
| Pope Alexander VI. The end of the Raphael Rooms | | | | keyhole-like wood panel depicting the Last Judgment, a |
| culminates in the Chapel of Nicholas V, a chamber | | | | 11th century work. Another landmark object is the |
| frescoed by Dominican monk Fra Angelico. Then | | | | Stefaneschi Triptych, the six panels crafted by Giotto |
| comes the Chiaramonti Museum, an establishment | | | | and his assistants. Here is Bernardo Daddi's example |
| founded by Pope Pius VII. The museum includes the | | | | of early Italian Renaissance art par excellence, the |
| Corridoio, or Corridor, the Galleria Lapidaria, plus the | | | | "Madonna del Magnificat". The site holds works by |
| Braccio Nuovo, with the Corridor hosting an exposition | | | | minituarist Fra Angelico, a15th-century Dominican monk, |
| of more than 800 Greek-Roman artifacts, including | | | | with his important "Virgin with Child". The Raphael salon |
| statues, reliefs, and sarcophagi. Galleria Lapidaria | | | | includes three paintings by the Renaissance master, |
| contains about 5,000 Christian and pagan inscriptions, | | | | namely "Coronation of the Virgin", "The Virgin of |
| plus an array of Roman sculpture and copies of | | | | Foligno", and the "Transfiguration", a work completed |
| Greek originals. The Braccio Nuovo, erected as an | | | | shortly before his death. The rooms keep eight |
| extension of the Chiaramonti, features The Nile, a | | | | tapestries crafted by Flemish weavers from Raphael |
| reproduction of a long-lost Hellenistic original, a | | | | sketches. The place holds Leonardo da Vinci's |
| paradigmatic example of antique sculpture. The | | | | uncompleted "St. Jerome with the Lion" plus Giovanni |
| Collection of Modern Religious Art, a museum opened | | | | Bellini's "Pietà" and Titian's major piece "The |
| in 1973, represents American artists' invasion of the | | | | Virgin of Frari", along with Caravaggio's Baroque piece |
| Vatican. The site comprises 55 rooms, with 12 of them | | | | "Deposition from the Cross". |
| being devoted to American artists, such as De Chirico | | | | |