Short shrift.
That’s what describes what Palazzo Massimo (Palazzo Massimo alle Terme) gets from tourists (and probably most Romans). And it’s to bad because it’s a wonderful collection.What was especially interesting to me were the fresco cycles from excavated roman buildings spanning the years of about 200 B.C. to 400 A.D.
They were just stunning and were of special interest to me because I have worked a bit with restoring wall paintings. Those are on the 2nd floor with the ground floor and 1st floor being given over to a large collection of ancient sculpture. In the basement is a numismatic and jewelry exhibit. This Museum is practically across the street from Termini, the main train station in Rome.
It’s part of the Museo Nazionale Romano (National Roman Museum) which includes two other sites that I visited and a fourth one I have not seen. There are the Baths of Diocletian (Terme di Diocleziano), which has a Cloister designed by MichaelAngelo.
There is also The Crypta Balbi, which is really an archeological dig. There you can see artifacts recovered from the excavations and if you arrive at the right time get a guided tour into the below street levels of ancient Rome. I didn’t see this, because I was there at the wrong time. They don’t list tour times on their website, but there was one at 5 PM on the Sunday I was there. Also is the National Roman Museum at Palazzo Altemps, which I have not seen. One 10 euro ticket gets you into all the sites.
Here is a gallery of images from the Museum:
Stephan Giannini 
These paintings feel so fresh and lively. Thanks for posting them.
Glad you like it. I was just at the Naples archeological museum (and Pompeii) and saw a lot of great old frescoes. I’ll do a post about those sometime soon.