National Gallery of Palazzo Corsini

After you've seen Italy's National Gallery of Art at the Palazzo Barberini, head to Trastevere to view the other half of the collection. This collection is installed in what was the 18th-century mansion of Pope Clemente XII (whose real name was Lorenzo Corsini, of the famous banking family). Before it was damaged by French attacks in 1849, the palace was the grandest in Rome. Queen Christina died here in her bedroom (room no. 5) in 1689, and Napoleon's mother, Letizia, once lived here as well. The palace is still rich in neoclassical works of the Napoleonic era. The gallery hosts a wide array of paintings from the 16th and 17th centuries, although they are bunched together and badly displayed. Nonetheless, this is an outstanding treasure-trove of such European masters, although Italian artists dominate. Seek out in particular Caravaggio's St. John the Baptist and a rendition of the same subject by Guido Reni, who painted Salome with the Head of St. John the Baptist. Murillo's Madonna and Bambino is one of his less saccharine efforts, and some Rubens paintings are a bit overripe, notably a St. Sebastian and a Madonna. For sheer gore, Salvator Rosa's version of Prometheus tops them all.