- 1900 Years of history: Built in 135 AD as Emperor Hadrian’s mausoleum, the structure has stood as a tomb, fortress and now museum—plundered, destroyed, and rebuilt multiple times, witness to 1900 years of past.
- Legendary papal residences: You can walk through Pope Alexander VI’s Borgia apartments—lavishly adorned with mythological scenes and sensual imagery that shocked even Renaissance Rome. But it wasn’t just the art that stirred scandal. According to legend, he even used the passetto under the cover of night to slip away from the Vatican and visit his mistresses, housed in the papal chambers.
- Rome’s shadowy prisons: The museum hasplayed roles in executions, sieges, and secret trials—its walls absorbing the city’s most turbulent moments. One of the most famous prisoners was Benvenuto Cellini (Italian sculptor and writer) whose legendary escape from the prisons is a story worth unravelling. You can also take a look at some of the torture tools in the prison cells that are still preserved.