Educational and Cultural Institutions of Rome

Rome is the site of Italy’s largest institution of higher education, the University of

Rome (1303), which in the mid-1990s was attended by about 185,000 students.

The Independent International University of Social Studies in Rome (1945) is also here.

In part because of its extraordinary wealth of artworks, Rome is a major world center for creative artists.

Specialized schools of study in Rome include the Academy of Fine Arts, the National Academy of Dance, the National Academy of Dramatic Arts, the Santa Cecilia Conservatory of Music, and the Central Institute for the Restoration of Works of Art.

Rome plays a leading role in the creative and performing arts and in most other aspects of Italy’s cultural life.

Opera is performed in the Opera House, one of the country’s best, and in the summer at the Baths of Caracalla.

The city also has some 20 theaters and 6 major concert halls, which offer a varied repertory during the fall, winter, and spring.

The museums of the city deal with all aspects of the arts and sciences and are among the world’s finest.

The oldest art collection in Rome, housed in the Capitoline Museum, was established in 1471 and contains exceptional antiquities.

Among other Roman museums are the National Museum of the Villa Giulia, which has an outstanding collection of Etruscan and Roman art and is located in the mid-16th-century country house of Pope Julius III, and the Borghese Gallery, a museum of paintings and sculpture housed in an early 17th-century palace.

The National Roman Museum, designed by Michelangelo, features exhibits of Greek and Roman sculpture, including the Ludovisi Collection of antiquities.

Important collections of art and decorative pieces can also be seen in some of the city’s other palaces.

Among these are the Farnese Palace, built between 1514 and 1589; the mid-15th century Venetian Palace, with a noted collection of small Renaissance bronzes; and the Palazzo Barberini, a 17th-century baroque palace with a remarkable picture gallery.