Since the eighteenth century, the obscene collections of the Secret Cabinet have been a source of scandal to conformists and curiosity for travellers and scholars.
In 1846, permits to visit them were issued only “at the request of diplomats and other eminent personages”. In 1851 the entrance was actually walled up. Since then the collection has passed through various changes of fortune until its recent reopening: 250 works, sculptures, frescoes, precious mosaics, small bronzes, oil lamps and everyday objects document the Romans’ customs of eroticism and the development of taste and prudery over the last three centuries.