Campidoglio
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Campidoglio is the other name of the Capitoline Hill, one of the seven hills on which Rome was founded, even if, according to a legend, a first village on the hill was founded by the God Saturn.
On the top of the hill there is the Piazza del Campidoglio, planned by Michelangelo Buonarroti, who designed it in detail, even the pavement. He completely changed the previous square, and put in the middle an equestrian statue representing the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. The statue is a copy, the original one, after a long restoration, is today conserved in the Capitolini Museums; this is the only equestrian statue of classic age that survived until modern age.
Today on the Piazza there are magnificent palaces, among which the Palazzo Senatorio, that is the seat of the Municipality of Rome, and the Capitolini Museums, open since 1735 (one of the most ancient museums of the world), in the other two palaces, connected also by a underground gallery, the Galleria Lapidaria.
The English word capitol (a buildings in which a legislature meets), as the term capital, come from the Capitoline Hill.
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