National Roman Museum Palazzo Altemps
Roma, Piazza Sant’Apollinare 46
- Address: Piazza Sant’apollinare 46
- Booking phone#: 06 39967700
- Opening: Tue.-Sun. from 9am to 7.45pm. Monday closed
- Price: full € 7 - reduced € 3,50
- Transportation: Bus: lines c3, 30, 70, 81, 87, 116, 130, 186, 492, 628
- Visit lasts: 1 hour (about)
Built after 1471 for Girolamo Riario, nephew of Pope Sixtus IV, who commissioned the project to Melozzo da Forlì, the building came into the hands of the Soderini family in 1511 and in 1568 it was purchased by Marco Sittico Altemps. In 1585 the risalit was added to the facade by Martino Longhi il Vecchio, while in 1617 Giovanni Angelo built the theatre inside. It was purchased by the State in 1982 and in 1997 the museum was open, which hosts works from the collections of Boncompagni Ludovisi, Mattei, Del Drago and Altemps, besides a section containing numerous egyptian pieces..
In this building, the Academy of Arcadia was founded in 1690. This famed literary circle, made up of poets from the Reale Accademia of Queen Regina Cristina of Sweden, considered itself a sharp contrast to the bad taste of the baroque period.