Campidoglio

Campidoglio, known in English as Capitoline Hill, is one of the seven hills of Rome. It rises at the summit of the ancient Roman Forum and has long been a symbolic and practical center of the city. In antiquity the hill housed the Capitoline Temple, dedicated to Jupiter Optimus Maximus, and it served as a political and religious core for the Roman state.

In the medieval and early modern periods the hill continued to hold ceremonial significance, but its most famous transformation occurred during the Renaissance. Between 1536 and 1546, Michelangelo redesigned the Piazza del Campidoglio, creating a purpose-built ceremonial square framed by three palaces. The Palazzo Senatorio stands on the south, with the Palazzo dei Conservatori to the west and the Palazzo Nuovo to the east. A broad staircase, the Cordonata Capitolina, leads up from the street to the piazza, aligning the site with Rome’s urban axes.

Today the Campidoglio houses important cultural and civic institutions. The Capitoline Museums, established in 1471 by Pope Sixtus IV, occupy the palazzi and render the site one of the earliest public museums in the world, with extensive collections of classical sculpture, inscriptions, and other antiquities. The Palazzo Senatorio serves as the seat of Rome’s city government, while the other two palazzi hold museum spaces and administrative functions. The Campidoglio remains a symbol of Rome’s heritage and a major destination for visitors and official ceremonies.