The Rome of the Republic. The Tale of Archaeology

The exhibition at the Capitoline Museums, in the halls of Palazzo Caffarelli, constitutes the second chapter - after The Rome of the Kings in 2018 - of the great cycle The Tale of Archaeology, based on the collections owned by the municipality in the warehouses and museums of the Superintendence. The exhibition therefore illustrates, through a series of themes and archaeological contexts, the aspects and transformations of Roman society over five centuries, from the birth of the Republic to the formation of the Empire.

The itinerary of the exhibition, divided into three main sections, consists of a wide selection of about 1800 works, including artifacts in bronze, local stone, in some cases marble, above all terracotta and ceramics. Another important aspect is that almost all of the works on display are not usually exposed to the public; in many cases, in fact, these are objects kept in the Antiquarium coffers, restored and exhibited to the public for the first time. In addition to the material belonging to the Antiquarium collections, there is also a series of works kept at the Centrale Montemartini, among which we point out the marble urn from the Esquiline, the small bronze sculpture of a goat from via Magenta and the remains of a fresco from the so-called Aries Tomb.

A selection of portraits from the late Republican period instead, comes from the museum sector of the Capitoline Hill, partly exhibited in the halls of the Capitoline Museums, partly kept in warehouses. The most consistent section of the whole itinerary anyway, is the one illustrating the archaeological remains that testify to the construction phases, the handcrafted characteristics and the artistic level of the temple buildings both on the Campidoglio and in the Campo Marzio. Also noteworthy is the presence of votive deposits from the Republican age, some exhibited for the first time, which underline the important aspect of popular devotion, sometimes overlooked in the context of this period.