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Curated category

National museums of Italy

  • HerculaneumThe Greek hero Heracles founded the city according to Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Strabo claimed that Oscans established the first settlement instead.
  • PompeiiThe first stable settlements on the site date to the 8th century BC when the Oscans, a population of central Italy, founded five villages in the area.
  • Museo di CapodimonteKing Charles VII of Naples and Sicily made a decision in 1738 that would reshape the landscape of Naples. He initially planned to build a simple hunting…
  • UffiziGiorgio Vasari began construction of the Uffizi complex in 1560 for Cosimo I de' Medici. The building served as administrative offices to consolidate control…
  • Museo Archeologico Nazionale d'AbruzzoThe year 1830 marked the construction of a Neapolitan architect Enrico Riccio designed building in Chieti. This structure served as the Baron Frigerj's…
  • ColosseumEmperor Vespasian ordered the construction of a new amphitheater in 72 AD. The project began on land that had once been Nero's private lake and palace…
  • CosaIn 273 BC, Roman colonists established a new settlement on a hill 113 meters above sea level. This location sat 140 kilometers northwest of Rome along the…
  • Palatine HillThe name Palatine Hill derives from the Latin noun palātum, meaning palate. Ennius used this word once to describe heaven.
  • Villa BoscorealeThe eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD buried the villas of Boscoreale under layers of volcanic ash and pyroclastic flow.