Campidoglio

Roman insula (apartment house) dating from Imperial Rome	Roman Insula, remains of 14th century church decorations	Cordonata toward Palazzo Senatorio
One of the Dioscuri at the top of the Cordonata	Cordonata looking toward Piazza Venezia	Statue of Cola di Rienzo, 14th century tyrant executed near this spot on Cordonata
Piazza del Campidolgio	Piazza del Campidolgio with Palazzo dei Conservatori in the background	Palazio dei Conservatori toward the Victor Emmanuel Monument
Santa Maria in Aracoeli, 6th century	Santa Maria in Aracoeli, 6th century	Rome from Palazzo dei Conservatori
Palazzo Senatorio, used by senate from 12th century, now office of the mayor	Tower of Palazzo Senatorio	Palazzo Senatorio
Copy of statue of Marcus Aurelius in the Palazzo Nuovo from 2nd century
Head of Constantine I in Palazzo dei Conservatorio	Palazzo dei Conservatori, hand of colossal statue of Constantine I from 4th century	Medusa by Bernini
Relief from Temple of Hadrian	Relief from Temple of Hadrian	5th century BC Etruscan She-Wolf, Romulus and Remus were added in the 15th century
Spinario, Boy with a Thorn, 1st century	Capitoline Venus, variation of the statue of Aphrodite by Praxiteles, 4th century BC	Dying Galatian, copy of a Greek work, 3rd century BC

Piazza del Campidoglio's current appearance dates back to the middle of the XV century when it was designed by Michelangelo Buonarroti.  The piazza's component parts (buildings, sculptures and decorated paving) were intended by Michelangelo to form one single organic unity, although over the centuries there have been a number of alterations and additions.

Built in the XII century on the remains of the ancient Tabularium and utilising pre-existing fortifications built by powerful baronial families, this palazzo (Palazzo Senatorio) makes up the background to the piazza. It owes its name to its function as senatorial seat responsible for the administration of justice. In 1299 an open loggia was added overlooking the piazza, although this was walled in a century later in order to strengthen the Palazzo, which was turned into a fortress with the addition of towers by Pope Boniface IX; more corner towers were later added by Popes Martin V and Nicholas V.

Michelangelo also designed a monumental double-flighted staircase for the Palazzo Senatorio, in addition to dividing up the façade with gigantic pilaster strips, large windows and tympanums and a crowning balustrade featuring statues.

The work was completed after his death by Giacomo della Porta, who made some alterations to Michelangelo's plan. The bell-tower was also the result of an alteration to the original plan, this time by Martino Longhi the Elder.

The piazza's trapezoidal area is marked out by the presence of the two opposite-facing Museums whose symmetrical façades contrast with that of Palazzo Senatorio, which, together with the two museums, make up the backdrop to this square. Michelangelo originally designed the pedestal of the gilded bronze equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius so as to make it the centre-piece of the piazza, imagining it to be in the middle of an oval space filled with a star-shaped pattern. The paving of this area, which was originally bare earth, was carried out immediately but it was not until 1940 that the star-shaped motif was added.

The flight of steps leading up the Capitoline from Campus Martius was also constructed, marking a definitive shift of the hill's main axis-line towards the modern city, and away from its ancient position facing the Roman Forum.

The building known as Palazzo dei Conservatori, seat of an elected magistrature which had the task of administering the city, goes back to the middle of the 15th century. The building originally featured a portico on the ground floor and Guelf-cross windows on the first floor, in addition to a row of small windows on the mezzanine floor. Michelangelo re-designed the facade, adding gigantic Corinthian pilaster strips on high pedestals, flanked by pillars in the portico on the ground floor. As in the case of Palazzo Senatorio, the building was crowned with a balustrade and statues.

The transformation of the building also affected its interior configuration, as a result of alterations to the windows on the first floor. The central one was eventually created by Giacomo della Porta and is much larger than the others, making an exception to Michelangelo's plan.

Palazzo Nuovo was built in the XVII century under the guidance of Girolamo Rainaldi and his son Carlo. Its slanting orientation, which imitates that of Palazzo dei Conservatori opposite, was influenced by a pre-existing retaining wall on the heights of S. Maria in Aracoeli, in the centre of which was a fountain with a statue known as "Marforio", later moved to the courtyard of the Capitoline Museum.

Externally, the new building is identical to Palazzo dei Conservatori, while the well-conserved decoration of the symmetrically-planned interior features gilded wooden coffering on the first floor. Building work was begun by Ascanio Caffarelli in 1538 on family property situated close to the Palazzo dei Conservatori; it was completed after 1680.
The building looked out onto the courtyard of the Palazzo dei Conservatori while its interior included two gardens - (the Caffarelli Garden and that known as the Roman Garden); the large portal on the Via delle Tre Pile was the main entrance to the property. Over the centuries the palazzo has undergone a number of alterations which have substantially modified its original appearance. Some remaining parts of the frescoed vaulted ceiling are now housed in the Museum of Rome. From the beginning of the 19th century till the end of the First World War the building was occupied by the Prussian Embassy.

In 1918 it was taken back by the Rome City Council and partially demolished. A large terrace, (the Caffarelli Terrace) took the place of the upper floors in the Eastern wing, while the ground floor, which had been partially obliterated by excavations into the Temple of Capitoline Jupiter, was taken over by the new museum section (Mussolini Museum, subsequently the Museo Nuovo).

The creation of the Capitoline Museums has been traced back to 1471, when Pope Sixtus IV donated a group of bronze statues of great symbolic value to the People of Rome. The collections are closely linked to the city of Rome, and most of the exhibits come from the city itself.

Pope Sixtus IV was responsible for the creation of the Capitoline Museum's nucleus when in 1471 he donated to the Roman People some bronze statues that had previously been housed in the Lateran (the She-Wolf, the Spinarius, the Camillus and the colossal head of Constantine, with hand and globe). The return to the city of some traces of Rome's past greatness was made even more important by their collocation on the Capitoline Hill, the centre of ancient Roman religious life and seat of the civilian magistrature from the Middle Ages onwards, after a period of long decline. The sculptures had intitially been arranged on the external façade and courtyard of the Palazzo dei Conservatori. The originary nucleus shortly became enriched by the subsequent acquisition of finds from excavations taking place in the city, all of which were closely linked to the history of ancient Rome.

During the middle of the 16th Century a number of important pieces of sculpture were set out on the Capitoline Hill (including the gilded bronze statue of Hercules from the Boarius Forum, the marble fragments of the acrolith of Constantine from the Basilica of Maxentium, the three relief panels showing the works of Marcus Aurelius, the so-called Capitoline Brutus, and important inscriptions (including the Capitoline Fasti, discovered in the Roman Forum).

The two colossal statues of the Tiber and the Nile, currently outside the Palazzo Senatorio, were moved at about the same time to Palazzo del Quirinale, while the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius was brought form the Lateran in 1538 on the wishes of Pope Paul III.

Source: http://www.museicapitolini.org/en/index_msie.htm