Four floors of ancient art

You visit Palazzo Massimo floor by floor, moving from sculpture to frescoes to coins. Here are the masterpieces you can't miss, level by level.

Ground floor and first floor: the sculpture

The first two floors hold the great Roman and Greek sculpture. Among the absolute masterpieces:

  • The Boxer at Rest: an extraordinary original Greek bronze portraying an athlete worn out and wounded after the fight, with a moving realism. It's one of the finest ancient bronzes ever found.
  • The Hellenistic Prince, another bronze of tremendous power.
  • The Lancellotti Discobolus, the most faithful Roman copy of the famous Discobolus of Myron.
  • The Sleeping Hermaphroditus and numerous portraits of emperors and deities.

Second floor: frescoes and mosaics

This is the museum's crown jewel: the second floor gathers frescoes and mosaics detached from Roman villas, a collection unique in the world.

  • The frescoes from the Villa of Livia, with the celebrated "painted garden": an entire room frescoed with a lush garden, among the most beautiful and best-preserved Roman paintings. We've devoted a separate guide to it: the frescoes from the Villa of Livia.
  • The decorations from the ancient Villa della Farnesina, with exquisite frescoes and stuccoes.
  • Magnificent floor and wall mosaics.

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Lower floor: the coin collection

The lower floor houses the coin collection, one of the most important numismatic collections in the world: coins, medals, and jewelry that trace the history of money from antiquity to the modern age. It's also home to the famous Grottarossa mummy, a Roman girl and one of the few mummies from Roman times to have survived to us.

How to plan your visit

To make sure you don't miss the best, follow the order of the floors:

  1. Ground floor and first floor: the Boxer, the Hellenistic Prince, the Discobolus, the portraits
  2. Second floor: the frescoes from the Villa of Livia and the mosaics (check for any timed-entry slots)
  3. Lower floor: the coin collection and the Grottarossa mummy

In about 1,5-2 hours you can take in the masterpieces at a relaxed pace.

Frequently asked questions

What is the most famous masterpiece at Palazzo Massimo? Among the most celebrated are the Boxer at Rest (a Greek bronze) and the frescoes from the Villa of Livia with the "painted garden," among the finest Roman paintings in existence.

What is the Boxer at Rest? An extraordinary original Greek bronze portraying an athlete exhausted and wounded after the fight, famous for its realism. It's one of the finest ancient bronzes ever found.

What are the frescoes from the Villa of Livia? A room entirely frescoed with a lush garden, from the villa of Livia, wife of the emperor Augustus: among the most beautiful and best-preserved Roman paintings.

What's in the coin collection? One of the most important numismatic collections in the world — coins, medals, and jewelry — and the Grottarossa mummy, a girl from Roman times.

How long do you need to see everything? About 1,5-2 hours, working your way up floor by floor from sculpture to frescoes to the coin collection.

See also

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Article #325 · Category: Monuments · Updated: May 2026