This rambling museum is best known for its Roman section. Spread over several rooms, with excellent bilingual (Italian/English) signage, are finds from two nearby Roman villas, including splendid mosaics, a rare and exquisite representation of fish rendered in coloured glass, and the world's largest collection of Roman surgical instruments. Other highlights include the colourful and imaginative doodlings of Federico Fellini, whose Il libro dei miei sogni (Book of My Dreams) is here until the new Fellini museum opens in 2020.

　　Museum tickets also include admission to the adjacent Domus del Chirurgo, which holds the remains of three excavated Roman homes with several fine floor mosaics still partially intact.