With its extravagant piazzas, ornamental fountains, and architectural styles built up over centuries, Rome is a city with art around every corner. And while you can’t miss world-famous art collections housed within the Vatican Museums and the Galleria Borghese, the city has dozens of smaller museums that are well worth a visit. And some are even free!
Museo Mario Praz
Located in Palazzo Primoli near Piazza Navona, the House Museum of Mario Praz is a hidden gem right in the middle of all the action. The museum is spread across 10 rooms and features over a thousand works of art, including paintings, furniture, and sculptures that belonged to Mario Praz (1896-1982), an Italian writer, literary critic, and scholar of English literature. The home is decorated in an ornate 18th-century style, with chandeliers, musical instruments, and vivid green walls, and provides a fascinating foray into the mind of the great thinker.
Right off busy Corso Vittorio Emanuele, Museo Baracco is well worth a visit while you’re in the center of Rome. This elegant museum is home to hundreds of Roman, Greek, Egyptian, Phoenician, and Assyrian sculptures and fragments laid out across the ornate rooms of a Renaissance palazzo. The collection belonged to Giovanni Barracco (1829 – 1914), a politician and scholar with a passion for ancient civilizations, and was donated to the city of Rome in 1905.
The Museo Boncompagni Ludovisi is a decorative arts museum right near Via Veneto and Piazza Barberini. Situated in the art nouveau Villino Boncompagni and originally owned by Princess Blanceflor de Bildt Boncompani, it was donated to the Italian republic in 1972 to help promote art, culture, and fashion in the capital. You’ll find ornate 19th and 20th-century furnishings, clothing, and accessories as well as a selection of paintings and sculptures on display in the house museum.
The Museo Carlo Bilotti is a contemporary art museum tucked away within an orangery in the Villa Borghese gardens. It houses the collection of Carlo Bilotti (an international cosmetics buyer and art collector). Bilotti enjoyed modern works by artists such as Giorgio de Chirico, Andy Warhol, and Larry Rivers, and the museum also hosts rotating exhibits of Italian artists such as Giacomo Balla and JAGO.
Hours: Tues – Fri 10:00-16:00 / Sat & Sun 10:00-19:00
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