Official Information
Official website: https://museonazionaleromano.beniculturali.it/palazzo-altemps/
Online tickets: Buy Tickets Online
Address: Piazza di Sant’Apollinare 46, 00186 Roma RM, Italy
Google map: View on Google Maps
Opening Hours
Museum-wide hours are Tuesday to Sunday, 09:30 to 19:00, with last admission at 18:00. Closed on Mondays. Any variations or extraordinary openings are communicated via the official Orari e Biglietti page on the museum website.
Palazzo Altemps, a short walk from Piazza Navona, is the branch of the Museo Nazionale Romano dedicated above all to the history of collecting classical sculpture. The Renaissance palace was begun in the fifteenth century and later acquired by the Altemps family, whose name it retains. Behind its sober street facade lies a refined courtyard and a sequence of reception rooms, chapels and loggias that provide an atmospheric setting for statues assembled by Rome’s aristocratic families between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. The museum presents famous private collections that once belonged to houses such as the Ludovisi, Mattei and Altemps themselves. Many of the sculptures are composite works where ancient fragments were restored and reassembled in the early modern period, sometimes in inventive ways that reveal as much about Renaissance and Baroque taste as about antiquity. Labels explain both the ancient subject and the history of restoration, making it easier to read the statues as layered objects. Among the highlights often singled out by visitors are the Ludovisi Ares, the so-called Ludovisi Throne, mythological groups such as Orestes and Electra and a series of portrait busts and herms. Rooms are decorated with painted ceilings, carved wooden beams and floors that still convey the ambience of a noble residence rather than a neutral gallery, and several chapels retain frescoes and altarpieces that dialogue with the pagan statuary. Smaller side galleries explore themes like domestic religion, with altars and reliefs dedicated to household gods, or the reuse of ancient marbles in medieval and early modern Rome. Because of its relatively compact size and calm atmosphere, Palazzo Altemps is often recommended as an ideal introduction to classical sculpture for visitors who might feel overwhelmed by larger encyclopaedic museums. It also works well in combination with a walk through nearby streets toward the Tiber or Piazza Navona. As part of the National Roman Museum network, the palace shares ticketing and opening times with Palazzo Massimo and the Terme di Diocleziano, and the official website clearly explains combined tickets, free days and any temporary room closures, allowing travellers to plan their route efficiently.