Palazzo Massimo alle Terme is a museum of ancient Roman art just across from Rome’s Termini station. Part of the Museo Nazionale Romano, it occupies a late 19th-century palazzo and brings together sculpture, frescoes, mosaics and coins in a collection that rewards a slower look.
The sculpture galleries include the Boxer at Rest, a bronze figure whose battered face and exhausted posture make him feel strikingly human, and the Discobolus Lancellotti, a Roman version of a celebrated Greek discus thrower. Upstairs, frescoes from the Villa of Livia create an immersive garden of birds, flowers and fruit trees. Paintings from the Villa della Farnesina offer another glimpse of the colour and refinement of Roman domestic interiors.
Allow at least two hours, and save some energy for the coins and jewellery downstairs. Termini is a short walk away, with connections by metro, train and bus; the Baths of Diocletian and Santa Maria degli Angeli are nearby if you want to extend the visit. Check current opening hours, gallery access and ticket options before setting out.