Palazzo Mattei di Giove

After your visit to Crypta Balbi, take a small walk back along Via delle Botteghe Oscure and then turn left into Via Michelangelo Caetani. Here you enter the former Jewish ghetto of Rome, a neighborhood with a long history that is now particularly known for its picturesque streets and countless restaurants where you can enjoy the delicious Jewish-Roman cuisine. Before we introduce you to that, we first visit the courtyard of Palazzo Mattei di Giove at Via Michelangelo Caetani 32, which houses the Italian Center for American Studies and a library with a large collection of books on contemporary history. From Monday to Saturday, the doors leading to the courtyard are usually simply open, allowing you to take a look inside.

The palazzo is part of what is known as Insula Mattei or 'Mattei Island', consisting of various buildings that belonged to the wealthy and prominent Mattei family. The somewhat dull façade barely reveals that a true ode to ancient Rome can be found in the first courtyard. The space was specifically designed by Carlo Maderno to accommodate the ancient marble statues owned by the Mattei family. All sides of this courtyard are completely covered with various antique materials: from pieces of sarcophagi to inscriptions and reliefs. The most striking are the Roman statues, which were once thought to represent emperors. Today, it is known that they are relatively unremarkable Roman (art)works, but as they are gathered here, they form a beautiful whole. Also inside the palazzo, many statues were originally displayed, but these have been sold over the centuries and ended up in various private collections and museums. When you walk on to the second courtyard, you see a fountain with a large mask above it, from which water merrily cascades down. The basin is actually an ancient Roman sarcophagus that has taken on a completely new function here.

RDA