Capitoline Wolf
Rome's founding legend in bronze — and it turned out centuries younger than everyone swore.
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The actual she-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus — Rome's self-portrait, behind the A.S. Roma crest and the 1960 Olympics emblem. Radiocarbon dating in 2007 placed it around 1021-1153 AD, upending the old belief that it was ancient Etruscan.
What to look for
- Two hands, one statue: the wolf tense and watchful, ears pricked and eyes glaring, while the twins below — added around 1471, likely by Antonio del Pollaiuolo — nurse in a completely different, oblivious style.
- The damaged paw, long blamed on a lightning strike in 65 BC.
- Its modest scale — just 75 cm tall and 114 cm long, smaller than its fame suggests.
Indoors in the Palazzo dei Conservatori, part of the ticketed Capitoline Museums on Capitoline Hill.
Capitoline Wolf is one of 40 sights worth the detour in Rome, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Rome pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Rome
- Vatican CityThe world's smallest sovereign state fits in 44 hectares — you cross its border by stepping over a white line.
- ColosseumAround 50,000 Romans packed this stone oval to watch spectacles staged over a two-level warren of cages beneath the arena floor.
- St. Peter's BasilicaThe world's largest church, built directly over the grave believed to hold St. Peter's bones.
- Sistine ChapelMichelangelo painted the ceiling standing up, not on his back — and cardinals still elect the pope in this room.
- PantheonA 1,900-year-old concrete dome with a hole punched in the top — when it rains in Rome, it rains inside too.
- Stadio OlimpicoOne 70,634-seat bowl, two cross-town tenants: AS Roma and SS Lazio both play here.