Rome Ostiense

Museo Centrale Montemartini. Electric generators and Classical sculpture are strange bedfellows, but Athena never looked so good. Montemartini, the first Roman power plant, was converted to hold overflow art from the Capitoline Museums in the 1990s. Today, it houses over 400 statues in between giant turbines and turn-of-the-century machines, all well labeled in Italian and English. Highlights include the Hercules’ Presentation at Mount Olympus group, a huge, well-preserved floor-mosaic of a hunting scene, best viewed from the staircase to the right; a first-century BC funeral bed made out of bones; the 1.5m head and colossal arm of the goddess Fortuna; and a statue of Dionysus, the god of wine and revelry, whose hair is interwoven with grapes. (V. Ostiense 106. B-Garbatella. Follow signs in the station to V. Ostiense; the museum is directly across the street. Or take bus #702 or #23 three stops from B-Piramide. ☎06 82 05 91 27; www.centralemontemartini.org. Open Tu-Su 9am-7pm. Last entry 30min. before closing. €4.50, reduced €2.50. With entry to the Capitoline Museums (good for 1 week) €8.50, reduced €6.50. Reservations required for tours in Italian, English, French, German, and Spanish. Cash only.)