The House of the Knights of Rhodes, in the Forum of Augustus in the Monti district of Rome, currently houses the antiquarium of this Forum. It can only be visited with a guided tour.
House of the Knights of Rhodes Rome
Address, Opening hours and Entrance fee
Address: Piazza del Grillo, 1 – Rome (District: Monti). Reservations: +39 060608 every day 9.00-21.00. Public transport: Metro: Colosseo (line B). Opening Hours: Every Tuesday and Thursday morning. Closed: August. Entrance fee: €3.00 (Discount €2.00). Reservations must be made by telephone. Admission is permitted only as part of a guided tour. This guided tour is organised by the various “cultural organisations” and is not included in the price. (A visit to the church is included).
(NB: because of the Covid crisis, opening hours may differ from what has been indicated here. The Green Pass is mandatory.)
History
The building used to be the seat of the Romanesque Priory of the Order of the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem (Priorato romano dell’ordine dei Cavalieri di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme).
It was also called the House of the Knights of Rhodes and of Malta.
Before the house was built, at the end of the 12th century, there used to be ancient Roman constructions in the spot.
In 1566 the Order moved to the Aventine Hill and the nuns of the Santissima Annunziata order took possession of the house. An adjoining monastery was destroyed in 1930, in order for excavations to be able to be carried out in the Forum of Augustus.
From 1930 to 1945 the house was property of the city of Rome, but after the war it came back into the hands of the Maltese Knights.
Description
The central part of the house is covered by a barrel vault and was transformed into the Cappella di San Giovanni Battista (Chapel of John the Baptist) in 1946.
One of its doors opens onto the porticoed atrium of the Forum of Augustus.