My wife and I recently returned from our third trip together to
Rome, and I have a few suggestions of interest to numismatists and those interested in the Classical world (my apologies, museumguy, because some of these go a little off-topic for this board):
1.) Le Case Romane - this is an excavation of several houses of the 4th century A.D. and earlier below the
Church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, located on the Clivo Scauro on the Celian
Hill.
2.) Nearby is
San Stefano Rotundo, believed by some to be the site (and possibly built upon the foundation of) Nero's
Macellum Magnum, illustrated on a
dupondius of
Nero, one of the most beautiful coins of the early Empire, in my opinion.
3.)
San Giovanni in Laterano - the
church itself is a masterpiece, but particularly interesting to me are the bronze main doors, which were originally the doors to the Senate Curia in the
Forum.
4.)Trajan's Markets - this has been recently reopened, and besides giving you a wonderful chance to wander through the Markets, it also displays a number of pieces found in recent excavations of the Imperial Fori. Of particular interest to coin collectors is a bronze foot from the statue of
Victory depicted on a
denarius of
Octavian (
RIC I 254-255).
5.) The
Circus of
Maxentius and the Mausoleum of
his son
Romulus on the Appian Way. The Mausoleum may be depicted on the
follis of Divus
Romulus issued under
Maxentius (although it may also be the architecturally-similar and better-preserved Temple of Divus
Romulus in the
Roman Forum; obviously, anyone who reads this board is going to visit the
Roman Forum when in
Rome, but of particular interest to collectors are the above-mentioned Temple of Divus
Romulus, the Temple of
Antoninus Pius and
Faustina, the Temple of Concord, the Temple of
Vesta, the remains of the Temple of Divus
Julius Caesar, the Temple of
Venus and
Roma, the
Arch of Septimius Severus, and the
Rostra, all of which are depicted on coinage. Also of interest there is the Temple of
Saturn, once the treasury and perhaps the location of a
mint, and the nearby garden behind the
Church of the
Ara Coeli on the Capitoline
Hill, previously the site of the Temple of
Juno Moneta. In the garden are ruins of the massively-thick walls of a
mint of the
Republican era.)
6.) The Museum of the Walls at
Porta San Sebastiano. We've all seen
plenty of
city gates on coins -- this is your chance to walk on the real thing! The gate is at the beginning of the ancient Appian Way. Also well worth seeing (and free!) is the Museum of the
Porta Ostiense located in the
city gate popularly known as the
Porta San Paolo, next to the Pyramid of
Caius Cestius, of which it offers a remarkable view.
7.) Crypta Balbi in the Campus
Martius not only has a museum of
medieval Rome but also offers tours of the excavations in it and around the site of the Theatre of Balbus dating from the
Republican Era through the Middle Ages.
8.) The
Church of Santa Costanza, which was built as the mausoleum of
Constantia and
Helena, daughters of
Constantine, and the latter the wife of the Emperor Julian.
8.) Hungry after all this exploring? The Hostaria
Antica Roma on the Via Appia
Antica incorporates the columbarium built by
Augustus and
Livia for their freedmen. Besides serving
contemporary Roman cuisine, it also serves several dishes created using the ancient recipes of Apicius. We went to see the
architecture, but ended up having one of the most delicious and memorable meals of our lives!
Pictures are
San Stefano Rotundo, the doors of
San Giovanni in Laterano, the foot of the statue of
Victory in Trajan's Markets, the Mausoleum of
Romulus at the
Circus of
Maxentius, and the
Porta San Sebastiano, where the Museum of the Walls is located.