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Chiesa di Sant'Eligio degli Orefici
A 16th-century goldsmiths' church designed by Raphael.
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Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio di Loyola
A beautiful little square, the 18th-century Piazza Sant'Ignazio was designed by Filippo Raguzzini to resemble a theatrical stage - note how his wildly undulating surfaces create the illusion of a larger space. On its southern flank stands the 17th-century Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio di Loyola, one of Rome's most ornate baroque churches.
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Chiesa di Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza
Hidden in the porticoed courtyard of Palazzo della Sapienza, the Italian state archive, this tiny church is unique testament to the genius of Borromini. Based on an incredibly complex geometric plan, it combines alternating convex and concave walls with a circular interior topped by a twisted spire. Inside, there's not a lot to see but it's interesting to note how Borromini uses light to create a sense of spaciousness in such a small area.
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Chiesa di Santa Croce in Gerusalemme
One of Rome's seven pilgrimage churches, the Chiesa di Santa Croce in Gerusalemme was founded in 320 by St Helena, mother of the emperor Constantine. It takes its name from the Christian relics, including a piece of Christ's cross and St Thomas' doubting finger, that St Helena brought to Rome from Jerusalem. The relics are housed in a chapel at the end of the left-hand aisle.
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Chiesa di Santa Lucia in Selci
A small church best known for its 17th-century Borromini interior, Chiesa di Santa Lucia in Selci dates to some time before the 8th century. It's not open to the public, except for Mass on Sunday morning, but if you ring the bell and ask the resident nuns nicely they'll probably let you in.
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Chiesa di Santa Maria degli Angeli
Facing onto Piazza della Repubblica, this hulking basilica occupies what was once the central hall of Diocletian's enormous baths complex. It was originally designed by Michelangelo in 1593 but only the great vaulted ceiling remains from his innovative plans.
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Chiesa di Santa Maria del Popolo
A magnificent repository of art, this is one of Rome's earliest and richest Renaissance churches. The first chapel was built here in 1099 to exorcise the ghost of Nero, who was buried on this spot and whose malicious spirit haunted the area. 400 years later, it was given a major overhaul by Pope Sixtus IV. Pinturicchio was called in to decorate the Cappella Delle Rovere and, in 1508, to paint a series of frescoes on the ceiling.
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Chiesa di Santa Maria della Concezione
There's nothing special about the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Concezione, but the Capuchin cemetery beneath is incredible: Everything is made of human bones. Between 1528 and 1870 the Capuchin monks used the bones of 4000 of their departed brothers to create the mesmerising and macabre display. There's an arch crafted from hundreds of skulls, vertebrae used as fleurs-de-lys, and light fixtures made of femurs.
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Chiesa di Santa Maria della Pace
Tucked away in the backstreets west of Piazza Navona, this small 15th-century church warrants a quick look. Inside, the main draw is Raphael's Sibille (Sibyls) in the first chapel on the southern side. Outside, it's the adjacent Chiostro del Bramante that steals the limelight. One of Bramante's finest works, the cloisters are a masterpiece of Renaissance styling, their classic lines a marked counterpoint to the church's undulating baroque façade.
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Chiesa di Santa Maria della Scala
The Chiesa di Santa Maria della Scala dates from the turn of the 17th century. The big white façade hides a gloriously baroque interior with a particularly flamboyant marble altar. Next door, the Farmacia di Santa Maria della Scala, which supplied medicine to the popes in the 18th century, is still run by monks from the adjacent Carmelite monastery.
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Chiesa di Santa Maria della Vittoria
Stuck on a busy road junction, this modest and not particularly enticing church holds one of Bernini's most extravagant and sexually charged sculptures. In the last chapel on the left, the Santa Teresa traffita dall'amore di Dio (Ecstasy of St Teresa) depicts Teresa floating in ecstasy on a cloud while a teasing angel pierces her repeatedly with a golden arrow.
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Chiesa di Santa Maria in Aracoeli
Standing at the highest point of the Capitoline Hill, this 7th-century church offers a refuge from the crowds outside, a 15th-century fresco by Pinturicchio and, most famously, a statue of the baby Jesus. It's built on the site where legend says the Tiburtine Sybil told Caesar Augustus of the coming birth of Christ, and is very lively around Christmas.
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Chiesa di Santa Maria Sopra Minerva
Built on the site of an ancient temple to Minerva, this is the only Gothic church in Rome. First modelled on the Basilica di Santa Maria in Florence, it later underwent various transformations and little remains of the original 13th-century design. The surprisingly restrained façade is baroque, the rose windows a 19th-century addition. Look closely and you can still see Latin inscriptions on the façade - flood markers, with one dating to 1422.
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Chiesa di Santa Pudenziana
The church of Rome's Filipino community boasts a sparkling gold, 4th-century apse mosaic, the oldest of its kind in Rome. An enthroned Christ is flanked by two female figures crowning St Peter and St Paul; on either side of them are the apostles dressed as Roman senators in togas. Unfortunately, you can only see 10 of the original 12 apostles - a 16th-century face-lift lopped off two of them and amputated the legs of the others.
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Chiesa di Santo Stefano Rotondo
About the startling 16th-century frescoes in this round church, Charles Dickens wrote: 'Such a panorama of horror and butchery no man could imagine in his sleep, though he were to eat a whole pig, raw, for supper.'Circling the outer of two rings of antique granite and marble columns, they graphically depict the various ways in which martyrs were killed in early Christendom.
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Chiesa di SS Giovanni e Paolo
Dedicated to Sts John and Paul, this 4th-century church retains little of its original edifice - the façade is 12th century and the brassy interior is 18th century. The arches in the square are the remains of 3rd-century Roman shops.
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Chiesa di SS Quattro Coronati
This fortified convent is dedicated to four Christian sculptors killed by Diocletian for refusing to make a statue of a pagan god. The squat bell tower dates to the 9th century but the main complex was built in the early 12th. The most famous feature is the Cappella di San Silvestro and its well-preserved 13th-century frescoes of St Sylvester and Constantine. Off the northern aisle is a pretty early-1300s cloister and garden (ring the bell).
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Chiesa dio Padre Misericordioso
Set in the midst of the 1970s Tor Tre Teste housing estate, US architect Richard Meier's startling white church is a classic of contemporary design. Built out of concrete, stucco, travertine and 976 sq metres of glass, it is flanked on one side by three graduated concrete shells (respectively 16.8m, 22.1m and 26.7m high), while on the other side a four-storey atrium connects the church with a community centre.
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Chiesa Nuova
Something of a misnomer, Chiesa Nuova is far from new. It was built in 1575 as part of a larger complex to house members of Filippo Neri's Oratorian order. A popular and charismatic figure, Neri founded his order in the mid-16th century to help Rome's poor and needy. Originally he'd wanted a large, plain church, but after his death in 1595 the artists moved in.
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Cimitero Acattolico per gli Stranieri
Despite the busy roads that surrounding it, this is a surprisingly restful place. You can wander the lovingly tended paths contemplating Percy Bysshe Shelley's words: 'It might make one in love with death to think that one should be buried in so sweet a place'. And so he was - or at least part of him. During cremation, apparently, his heart did not burn right away, was snatched from the flames and later interred here with his wife, Mary Shelley.
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Cimitero di Campo Verano
Between the 1830s and the 1980s virtually all Catholics who died in Rome (with the exception of popes, cardinals and royalty) were buried here, in the city's largest cemetery. If you're in the area, it's worth a look for its grand tombs, although try to avoid 2 November (All Souls' Day), when thousands of Romans flock to the cemetery to leave flowers on the tombs of loved ones.
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Circo di Massenzio
You can still make out the starting stalls at Rome's best preserved ancient chariot racetrack, a 10,000-seat arena built by emperor Maxentius around AD 309. The unexcavated ruins of his imperial pad sit above the racetrack's northern end. Nearby, Maxentius built the imposing Tomb of Romulus for his young son.
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Circo Massimo
To the south of the Palatino and surrounded by car-choked roads, the Circo Massimo (Circus Maximus) is now little more than a basin of rather forlorn grass. In the 1st century, however, this was Rome's biggest stadium, a 250,000-seater capable of holding a quarter of the city's entire population. The 600m racetrack circled a wooden dividing island with ornate lap indicators and Egyptian obelisks.
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Colonna di Traiano
Set among the ruins of Trajan's Forum, Trajan's column (AD 113) is adorned with painfully intricate reliefs depicting the victories over the Dacians (from modern-day Romania). It became Trajan's tomb, with his ashes buried underneath and a golden statue resting on top (later replaced by one of St Peter by Pope Sixtus V). Casts of the column at Museo della Civiltà Romana will spare you the sore neck.
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Colosseum
Of all the monuments in Rome, the Colosseum thrills the most. It was here that gladiators met in mortal combat and condemned prisoners fought off hungry lions. This great symbol of eternal Rome still excites the imagination as you'll see from the hordes waiting to get in.
