Inside this 15th-century palazzo, today a branch of the National Museum of Rome, is one of Rome’s most charming museums. It’s rarely crowded yet houses some of Rome’s most famous private and public art collections. Much of it was once part of the famed Boncompagni Ludovisi Collection, created by Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi (1595–1632) and sold at auction in 1901. Among the highlights is the “Ludovisi Ares” ★★, a handsome 2nd-century copy of an earlier Greek statue of Mars (Ares to the Greeks). Equally renowned is the “Ludovisi Gaul” ★, a marble depiction of a Gaulish warrior plunging a sword into his chest (rather than become a slave of Rome), looking backward defiantly as he supports a dying woman with his left arm. Also worth a look is the “Ludovisi Throne,” a sculpted block of white marble, thought to date from the 5th century B.C., depicting Aphrodite rising from the sea.