Capitoline Museums

This guide to the Capitoline Museums in Rome opens with the bronze rider in the glass-walled gallery, an emperor who should have been melted down like every other equestrian statue in Rome. It traces the case of mistaken identity that let this bronze survive, and Pope Paul III's 1538 decision to move it to the Capitoline Hill, where a reluctant Michelangelo designed the piazza around it. You'll hear who seventh-century Romans believed they were looking at. Look for the star-patterned oval outside that matches the statue's design.