The Villa of Livia garden room
A complete room from the house of Augustus' wife, its walls a painted garden still vivid after two thousand years.
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The best museum in Rome that nobody knows. A branch of the National Roman Museum two minutes from Termini station, holding the world's most important collection of Roman sculpture, mosaic and wall painting — and yet you walk its rooms almost alone. The second floor is the reason: the frescoes from the Villa of Livia, wife of the emperor Augustus, lifted whole from her room and reassembled — a painted garden that surrounds you on four sides with trees, birds and fruit in colours that have not faded in two thousand years. Standing inside that room is the closest you can get to walking into a real Roman house. Elsewhere: the bronze Boxer at Rest with his broken face, the Hellenistic Prince, imperial portrait statues, complete mosaic floors, and a coin collection that explains the Roman economy. The ticket usually covers four National Roman Museum sites over several days — check when you buy.
A complete room from the house of Augustus' wife, its walls a painted garden still vivid after two thousand years.
An original Greek bronze with a broken face and bleeding cuts — among the most honest realist sculptures to survive antiquity.
Complete mosaics from Roman villas displayed at full size — rarely seen this intact anywhere.
Largo di Villa Peretti 1, near Termini station, Rome
Baths of DiocletianThe largest bath complex the Romans ever built: three thousand bathers at once, 2 minutes walk4.6
Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei MartiriA church built inside the central hall of the Baths of Diocletian — the largest 2 minutes walk4.8
Basilica di Santa Maria MaggioreOne of Rome's four great papal basilicas, and the oldest church in the West dedi6 minutes walk4.9
The Four FountainsFour fountains in the corners of a street crossing in Rome, set up between 1588 8 minutes walk4.4
Galleria Nazionale d'Arte AnticaA Baroque palace built for the family of Pope Urban VIII by three of the sevente9 minutes walk4.7Looking for halal food near Palazzo Massimo alle Terme? There are several options nearby, from Moroccan and Indian kitchens to quick casual spots and places with a view. Confirm the halal status and opening hours before you go — these can change.
Hotel BaroccoA four-star hotel looking directly onto Piazza Barberini and Bernini's Triton Fo11 minutes walk · $$$$4.9The St. Regis RomeRome's oldest grand hotel and its most historic: opened in January 1894 as the G5 minutes walk · $$$$4.8Because it sits by Termini, off the central tourist route, and carries no famous name. That works in your favour: near-empty rooms in front of world-class pieces.
Surprisingly yes: statues, mosaics and the painted room read more easily to a child than a picture gallery, and the place is quiet, spacious and queue-free.