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Vatican Museums
The Vatican Museums constitute one of the world's greatest collections of art, a vast storehouse of ancient, Renaissance, and modern statuary, painting, and sundry papal odds and ends. The museum entrance at V. Vaticano leads to the famous bronze double-helix ramp that climbs to the ticket office. A good place to start your tour is the stellar Museo Pio-Clementino, the world's greatest collection of antique sculpture. Two slobbering Molossian hounds guard the entrance to the Stanza degli Animali, a marble menagerie that highlights Roman brutality. Among other gems are the Apollo Belvedere and the unhappy Laocoön family. The last room of the gallery contains the enormous red sarcophagus of Sant'Elena, Constantine's mother.
From here, the Simonetti Stairway climbs to the Museo Etrusco, filled with artifacts from Tuscany and northern Lazio. Back on the landing of the Simonetti Staircase is the Stanza della Biga (room of an ancient marble chariot) and the Galleria della Candelabra. The long trudge to the Sistine Chapel begins here, passing through the Galleria degli Arazzi (tapestries), the Galleria delle Mappe (maps), the Apartamento di Pio V (where there is a shortcut to la Sistina, for all the cheaters out there), the Stanza Sobieski, and the Stanza della Immaculata Concezione.

From the Room of the Immaculate Conception, a door leads into the first of the four Stanze di Rafaele, apartments built for Pope Julius II in the 1510s. One stanza features Raphael's School of Athens, painted as a trial piece for Julius, who was so impressed that he fired his other painters, had their frescoes destroyed, and commissioned Raphael to decorate the entire suite. From here, there are two paths: a staircase leading to the brilliantly frescoed Borgia Apartments, the Museum of Modern Religious Art, and another route leading to the Sistine Chapel.

Sistin Chapel

Since its completion in the 16th century, the Sistine Chapel (named for its founder, Pope Sixtus IV), has been the site of the College of Cardinals ' election of new popes. Michelangelo's unquestioned masterpiece of a ceiling, gleaming from its recent restoration, is flat but appears vaulted. The simplecompositions and vibrant colors hover above, each section depicting a story from Genesis.

The scenes are framed by the famous ignudi, young nude males. Michelangelo painted not flat on his back, but standing up and craning backward, and he never recovered from the strain to his neck and eyes. Michelangelo's The Last udgement fills the altar wall. The figure of Christ as judge hovers in the upper center, surrounded by his saintly entourage and the supplicant Mary. The frescoes on the side walls predate Michelangelo's ceiling. On the right, scenes from the life of Moses complement parallel scenes of Christ's life on the left.

The cycle was completed between 1481 and 1483 by a team of artists under Perugino including Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Roselli, Pinturicchio, Signorelli, and della Gatta.

Pinacoteca
This is one of the best painting collections in Rome, including Filippo Lippi's Coronation of the Virgin, Perugino's Madonna and Child, Titian's Madonna of San Nicoletta dei Frari, and Raphael's Transfiguration. On your way out of the Sistine Chapel, take a look at the Room of the Aldobrandini Marriage, which contains a series of rare ancient Roman frescoes.

Walk north from the right-hand side of P. S. Pietro along the wall of the Vatican City about 10 blocks. From M: Ottaviano, take a left onto V. Ottaviano and continue walking until you reach the Vatican City Wall; turn right and follow the wall to the museum's entrance.
Ph: 06 6988 4947 or 6988 4341. Information and gift shop (with the useful official guidebook, €7.50) on the ground level past the entrance of the building. Valuable CD-ROM audio guide €5.50. Guides are available in major languages, and most of the museums' staff speak some English. All major galleries open M-F 8:45am-3:30pm, Sa 8:45am-1:30pm. Last entrance 1hr. before closing. Closed on major religious holidays. €10, with ISIC card €7, children under 1m tall free. Free last Su of the month 8:45am-1:45pm. Most of the museum is wheelchair-accessible, though less visited parts, such as the upper level of the Etruscan Museum, are not. Snack bar between the collection of modern religious art and the Sistine Chapel; full cafeteria near main entrance. Plan to spend at least 4-5hr.

Galleria Borghese

The exquisite Galleria's Room I, on the right, houses Canova's sexy statue of Paolina Borghese portrayed as Venus triumphant. The next rooms display the most famous sculptures by Bernini: a magnificent David, crouching with his slingshot; Apollo and Daphne; the weightless body in Rape of Proserpina; and weary-looking Aeneas in Eneo e Anchise. Don't miss six Caravaggio paintings, including his Self Portrait as Bacchus and St. Jerome, which grace the side walls. The collection continues in the pinacoteca upstairs, accessible from the gardens around the back by a winding staircase.
Room IX holds Raphael's Deposition while Sodoma's Pietà graces Room XII.
Look for self portraits by Bernini, del Conte's Cleopatra and Lucrezia,
Rubens's Pianto sul Cristo Morto, and Titian's Amor Sacro e Amor Profano. Piazzale Scipione Borghese, 5 M: A-Spagna; take the exit labeled "Villa Borghese," walk to your right past the metro stop to V. Muro Torto and then to P. Porta Pinciana; Viale del Museo Borghese will be in front of you, and leads directly to the museum.

Ph: 06 841 6542, reservations 06 32 810. Open daily 9am-7pm. Entrance every hr., visits limited to 2hr.; last entrance 30min. before closing.

Tickets may be reserved in advance by phone or in person for € 1.
Guided tours by reservation € 5; audioguide rental € 5.
Tickets include ground floor galleries and Pinacoteca € 7, EU nationals under 18 or over 65 or students € 4.25.
Only 360 people are allowed in the museum at once; reservations are a must. The basement of the palace contains the ticket office and a bookshop selling an guidebook (€ 13). Expect to spend 2hr.

Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia
The villa was built under Pope Julius III, who reigned from 1550 to 1555. Highlights include a graceful sarcophagus of a married couple in Room 9 and an Etruscan chariot, or biga, and the petrified skeletons of two horses found beside it in Room 18. Upstairs, archaeologists have put together the fragments of the entire facade of an Etruscan temple, complete with terracotta gargoyles, chips of the original paint, and a relief of the Greek warrior Tydaeus biting into the brain of a wounded adversary. Don't miss the famous Euphronios vase in a special exhibit near the giftshop.

In Villa Borghese at P. Villa Giulia, 9. M: A-Flaminio or bus #19 from Piazza Risorgimento or #52 from P. S. Silvestro. From Galleria Borghese, follow V. dell'Uccelliera to the Zoo, and then take V. d. Giardino to V. d. Belli Arte. The museum is to the left, after the Galleria Arte Moderna.
Ph: 06 320 1951. €4, EU citizens and Canadians under 18 or over 65 free. Audioguide €4, guidebook €15, available at bookstore. Open Tu-Su 8:30am-7:30pm. Extended hours June-Sept. Sa 9am-11pm. Plan to spend 1½-2hr.

Capitoline Museums
The collections of ancient sculpture in the Capitoline Museums are among the largest in the world. The Palazzo Nuovo contains the original statue of Marcus Aurelius that once stood in the center of the piazza. The sculpture rooms have notables like Dying Gaul, Satyr Resting, and Venus Prudens. The sculpture collections continue across the piazza in the Palazzo dei Conservatori. See the fragments of the Colossus of Constantine and the famous Capitoline Wolf, an Etruscan statue that has symbolized the city of Rome since ancient times. At the top of the stairs, the pinacoteca houses an assortment of 16th- and 17th-century Italian paintings. Among the masterpieces are Bellini's Portrait of a Young Man, Titan's Baptism of Christ, and Rubens's Romulus and Remus Fed by the Wolf. Caravaggio's St. John the Baptist and Gypsy Fortune-Teller are worth seeing.

On Capitoline Hill, behind the Vittorio Emanuele II monument.
Ph: 06 3996 7800. Open Tu-Su 9:30am-7pm. Ticket office closes 1hr. before closing. € 7.75, with ISIC € 5.68, EU citizens under 18 or over 65 free. Guidebook € 7.75-15.50, audioguide € 3.61, daily tours in English € 3.10. Reservations € 1. Plan to spend 2-3hr. http://www.museicapitolini.org/en/index_msie.htm

Museo Nazionale dell'Arte Antica

This collection of 12th- through 18th-century art is split between Palazzo Barberini and Palazzo Corsini. The former houses more masterpieces, but both deserve a visit. Palazzo Barberini contains paintings from the medieval through Baroque periods, including works by Lippi, Raphael, El Greco, Carracci, Caravaggio, and Poussin. Galleria Corsini holds a collection of 17th- and 18th-century paintings, from Dutch masters Van Dyck and Rubens to Italians Caravaggio and Carracci.

M: A-Barberini. Bus #492 or 62. Palazzo Barberini: V. delle Quattro Fontane, 13.

Ph: 06 4200 3669. Open Tu-Su 8:30am-7:30pm. € 6.03, EU citizens 18-25 € 3.53, EU citizens under 18 or over 65 or EU university students € 1.03.
Plan to spend 1-1½hr. Palazzo Corsini: V. della Lungara, 10. Opposite Villa Farnesina in Trastevere. Take the #23 bus and get off between Ponte Mazinni and Ponte Sisto. 06 6880 2323. Open Tu-Su 8:30am-7:30pm. € 4, EU students € 2, EU citizens over 65 free. Wheelchair-accessible. Plan to spend 1hr.

Galleria Spada
Seventeenth-century Cardinal Bernardino Spada bought a grandiose assortment of paintings and sculpture and commissioned an even more opulent set of great rooms to house them. Time and good luck have left the palatial apartments nearly intact---a visit to the gallery offers a glimpse of the luxury surrounding Baroque courtly life. In the first of the gallery's four rooms, the cardinal hung three portraits of himself by Guercino, Guido Reni, and Cerini. In the portrait-studded Room 2, look for paintings by the Venetians Tintoretto and Titan and a frieze by Vaga, originally intended to be placed in the Sistine Chapel. In Room 4 are three canvases by the father-daughter team of Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi.

From Campo dei Fiori, take any of the small streets leading to P. Farnese. With your back to Campo dei Fiori, take a left onto Capo di Ferro. Bus #64. P. Capo di Ferro, 13, in the Palazzo Spada.
Ph: 06 32 81 01. Open Tu-Sa 8:30am-7:30pm, Su 9am-7:30pm. Last tickets sold 30min. before closing. € 5, EU students € 2.50, EU citizens under 18 or over 65 free. Reservations € 1.03 extra. Guidebooks € 10.33. Guided tour Su 10:45am from museum bookshop. Pamphlet guides in English available for each room of the exhibit. Plan to spend 1hr.