So many of of us have our little collections of curios. They could be vintage 1960’s clothes or models of London omnibuses or old vinyl records, for example.

If one is a little richer then collections might include nineteenth century paintings and other art works. If one is very rich then collections could extend to old masters and fine arts. If one is filthy rich then one can make a collection of other people’s collections.

This was certainly the case with Alessandro Torlonia, Prince of Fucino (where he did much good work in improving the peasant’s lot). In addition to his aristocratic inheritance the Prince made a fortune in banking and was able to indulge in his favourite hobby of collecting ancient classical statuary, much of which derived from previous famous collections including those of renaissance nobles and clerics. In his sumptuous Palazzo Albani-Torlonia (not to be confused with the Villa Torlonia, Mussolini’s favourite residence) the prince built up perhaps the world’s greatest private collection of Roman (and some Greek) sculpture: Venuses, sarcophagi, fauns, gods, mythical heroes, vases and urns are all included. The collection is so vast that it accounts for one third of all Rome’s ancient sculptural heritage and is seven times larger than the national museum’s Palazzo Altemps collection.

The Prince’s collection of over six hundred items was visitable (only to academics) upon invitation until around eighty years ago. Then it disappeared from view and legal wrangling with the Italian government’s arts and heritage ministry subsequently started, the latest Prince of Fucino converting one of his palaces into abusive self catering apartments and stuffing the priceless collection higgledy-piggledy in the basement. That is, until now when in the beautifully designed new exhibition space of the Capitoline museum, the adjoining villa Caffarelli, this unique collection may be viewed again, courtesy of Bulgari and other sponsors, until the end of this month.

Around ninety statues have been selected for the show. That’s just a sixth of Torlonia’s collection, but they are all of astounding quality.

Some caveats, however. First, several of the statues have been thoroughly restored, perhaps too thoroughly, as used to be the practice once. Second, the statues are wash-day clean and shining white (apart from some including porphyry and other previous stone) unlike what they would have looked like when originally sculpted in ancient Rome and Africa when they would have been painted in bright, often garish, colours.

The Caffarelli villa has an enviable situation on Rome’s founding hill, the Capitoline, and the views from its terraces are reason enough to visit it.

As for the collection…it’s exquisite and a true thing of beauty. Judge for yourselves from the pictures I took of it yesterday. Do not despair, however, if you have been locked down from it: items from the collection may well go on a world tour in future less infectious times.