Piazza Campo di’ Fiori - Piazzas of Italy by Ultimate Italy

Piazza Museo Nationale

Piazza Museo Nationale has been named after the famous Museo Archeologico Nationale (National Archaeological Museum). This museum is the main attraction in this square. A visit to this museum is essential for every tourist as well as fellow Italian as it is a treasure house of art.

The museum collection is housed in a beautiful and huge red sixteenth century building. The Bourbons Charles and Ferdinand IV converted it to a museum.

This museum is filled with artifacts collected from the excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum. There is a lovely collection of spectacular Pompeii mosaics. It has one of the best collections of antiquities including the famous Farnese collection of Greek and Roman sculpture, which was built up over a period of three hundred years. The major exhibits include paintings from Titian and Breughel. There are many extraordinary sculptures including the Hercules Farnese, which is an exquisite Aphrodite, and has been attributed to the Greek sculptor Praxiteles. There is also a famous Farnese Bull. There is a majestic equestrian statue of the Roman emperor Nerva.

It also has a few great renaissance pieces from Barbo and Fulvio Orsini and the Medici collection. Some remnants of the Etruscan and Roman civilizations also form a major part of the collections in this museum. The world’s largest collection of roman mural paintings is another attraction at the museum.

The museum also contains a collection of Jewish inscriptions from the catacombs in Rome. These inscriptions may not be open to the public. There are also a few pieces from the Egyptian civilization.

There is also a collection of erotic art from Pompeii housed in the Gabinetto Segreto (Secret Room) in the museum, which has recently been opened to the public.

This is definitely an extraordinary museum and dominates the entire piazza. Although there are a few interesting cafes and bars in and around the piazza the National Archeological Museum is the major reason for a visit to this square.