Capitoline Museums: Where They Are and How to Get There by Foot, Car or Metro

Are you thinking of visiting the Capitoline Museums and wondering where they are located and what is the best way to get there?

Whether you want to get there by foot, subway, or car, you’ ll find all the information you need in this guide!

You will thus be able to decide which option is best suited to your needs: in fact, as you continue reading, you will discover the exact location of the Capitoline Museums, the directions needed to reach them by any means of transportation, and the cautions needed to plan your journey in the best possible way.

ALT! Before continuing, let me remind you that the Capitoline Museums attract many tourists, being one of Rome’s must-see attractions. Plan your visit and book skip-the-line tickets now to avoid long waits and expert guidance for a truly complete experience!

Where are the Capitoline Museums located?

The exact address of the Capitoline Museums is: Piazza del Campidoglio, 1, 00186 Rome.

When you reach the square you can admire, in the center, the reproduction of the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, and three palaces arranged on as many sides: Palazzo dei Conservatori, Palazzo Nuovo and Palazzo Senatorio.

The square, as we currently see it, is a design by Michelangelo Buonarroti, commissioned by Pope Paul III in the 16th century, although the first major works date back to the pontificate of Nicholas V.

Think of the Capitoline Hill area as having been chosen as the seat of the city’s administration since the Middle Ages, symbolizing its importance to Rome.

Michelangelo was not able to see the completed works with his own eyes, due to their slow progress, however the original plans were respected: it was mainly thanks to Giacomo Della Porta if today we can see Michelangelo’s work completed.

The square, however, was not completed until the 17th century, and we will have to wait until 1940 to admire the paving designed by Michelangelo, by Antonio Muñoz.

How to get to the Capitoline Museums?

Steps of the Palazzo dei Conservatori

I’ll give you great news: getting to the Capitoline Museums is really very easy! Piazza del Campidoglio, in fact, is located in the central area of Rome, and almost all the buses that pass through the center stop at Piazza Venezia, including the uncovered tourist buses.

Means of transportation	Ideal for	Lines	Nearest stop/parking lot	Schedules	Distance to city center
Bus	Easily reach the Museums from any starting point	40, 60, 63, 70, 81, 87, 190, 628, 8 (streetcar)	Piazza Venezia, a few minutes’ walk from the entrance	5:30 a.m. to 00:00 a.m	Downtown
Metro	Avoid traffic and save time	B line	Colosseum, about a 10-minute walk from the entrance	5:30 am to 11:30 pm	Approximately 1 km
On foot	Explore the charms of the city
Car	Convenience and flexibility		Column, Colosseum, Termini		Over 1 km

Getting to the Capitoline Museums by bus and metro

You can opt for many lines, including the following: 40, 60, 63, 70, 81, 87, 190, 628 or streetcar line 8, and once you get off the vehicle, it takes only two minutes to walk to your destination.

If you prefer the rapidity of the metro to the street, just use line B and get off at the Colosseo stop: from here, with a pleasant walk of less than 10 minutes, you will reach the Capitoline Museums without any problems.

Reaching the Capitoline Museums on foot

Are you visiting Rome on a pleasant sunny day and don’t disdain walking? Then you can think about walking from many of the main tourist attractions!

You’ve already been able to read that it takes less than ten minutes to move from the Colosseum to the Museums and just two minutes from Piazza Venezia, but short distances are also available from the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Circus Maximus, and the Palatine.

On foot, in fact, you will be able to get to the Capitoline Museums with short and pleasant walks: in the case of the Pantheon, for example, ten minutes will be enough, about 15 minutes from the Trevi Fountain, a little more from Piazza Navona.

In any case, from the above-mentioned areas of tourist interest, travel time will never exceed twenty minutes.

Getting to the Capitoline Museums by car (and where to park)

Slightly less practical, however, is getting to the Capitoline Museums by car: in fact, the area around the Capitoline Museums is off-limits to cars, being a ZTL zone.

Therefore, you will not be able to access from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the week and from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends; the area is also interdicted at night from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m.

However, you will have the option of getting as close as possible by car and leaving it in the convenient neighboring parking lots.

In this case, the closest is the Colonna parking lot, located on Via Santa Maria, about 15 minutes from the Capitoline Museums.

Then there are various parking lots near the Colosseum, such as, for example, Park Colosseo on Via Marco Aurelio, about 20 minutes away.

Alternatively, you can leave your car in some large parking lots such as the Termini parking lot in Villa Borghese and you can get around by public transportation.

Capitoline Museums: tips for a stress-free arrival

To get to the Capitoline Museums without stress, you need to distinguish whether you are traveling during the week or on the weekend.

On weekdays, in fact, it is possible to run into more traffic related to the normal working life of the city.

However, Rome is a popular city for national and global tourism, so weekends can also mean crowding if you plan to travel by car.

Therefore, if you wish to move around by your own means, we recommend leaving your car upon arrival in Rome, perhaps at the station, and not getting too close to the Capitoline Museums, also considering the ZTL zones in the center.

The fastest way is probably the metro, which counts on many routes and is not subject to city traffic delays.

But if you are visiting the city, as you may have read, you may already be fairly close to the Capitoline Museums, and a walk may be ideal, considering the often appreciative Roman temperatures.

If you’re traveling with children or people with mobility difficulties, you might consider getting as close as possible to the Capitoline Square: in this case you might consider using a cab, surely the ideal solution.

Alternatively, you can leave your car in one of the parking lots not too far from the tourist site, but in any case you will then have to walk for about 15 minutes.

Warning In case you have mobility difficulties, remember that the Capitoline Museums are designed to make it as easy as possible to visit each of their halls.

Also, do not go down Michelangelo’s staircase, the Cordonata, but go through Via di S. Pietro in Carcere: no steps and much easier access to Capitoline Square!

Frequently asked questions

Conclusion

Detail of the Colossal Head of Constantine

So here we have come to the concluding part of our article. We have discovered together where the Capitoline Museums are located and I have given you brief hints about their history and about their past related to such an immense figure as Michelangelo.

You were able to read how to get to Piazza del Campidoglio, the area on which the Capitoline Museums are located, as well as the smallest hill among the 7, although it was here that the first nucleus of the city was born.

I have provided you with useful tips for each means of transportation that can be used to reach the Museums. You were thus able to see that the means that gets you closest to your destination is the bus, while the quickest way to get around is the metro, which stops fairly close to the area.

We also saw that it is often a few minutes’ walk from many other wonderful attractions in the capital, so a walk might be the right choice.

I then went on to provide additional useful information on how to get to the Museums, especially if traveling with children or people with mobility difficulties, and finally answered frequently asked questions.

But if you have any other questions, all you have to do is leave us a comment below: don’t hesitate, we will be glad to help you!

Now that you know exactly where they are and how to get to the Capitoline Museums, all you have to do is book your visit! Avoid the queues and secure priority access with our skip-the-line tickets and come see for yourself the suffering of the Dying Galata, the sweetness of the Capitoline Venus and all the other wonderful works!