Things to do in Rome
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Piazza del Campidoglio
This elegant piazza, designed by Michelangelo in 1538, is the centrepiece of the Campidoglio (Capitoline Hill), one of the seven hills on which Rome was founded. In ancient times, Rome's two most important temples stood here: one dedicated to Jupiter Capitolinus and the other (which housed Rome's mint) to Juno Moneta. More than 2000 years on, the hill is still a political powerhouse as the seat of Rome's municipal government.
You can reach the piazza from the Roman Forum, but the most dramatic approach is via the Cordonata, the graceful staircase that leads up from Piazza d'Ara Coeli. At the top, the piazza is bordered by three palazzi: Palazzo Nuovo to the left, Palazzo…
reviewed
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Piazza Colonna
Together with Piazza di Montecitorio, this stylish piazza is Rome’s political nerve centre. On its northern flank, the 16th-century Palazzo Chigi has been the official residence of Italy’s prime minister since 1961.
Rising 30m above the piazza, the Colonna di Marco Aurelio was completed in AD 193 to honour Marcus Aurelius’ military victories. The vivid reliefs depict scenes from battles against the Germanic tribes (169–173) and, further up, the Sarmatians (174–176). In 1589 Marcus was replaced on the top of the column with a bronze statue of St Paul.
South of the piazza, in Piazza di Pietra, is the Tempio di Adriano. Eleven huge Corinthian columns, now embedded in…
reviewed
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Musei di Villa Torlonia
With its oversized neoclassical facade – designed by Giuseppe Valadier – Casino Nobile makes quite an impression. Inside, in the luxuriously decorated interior, you can admire the Torlonia family’s fine collection of sculpture, period furniture and paintings.
To the northeast, the much smaller Casina delle Civette is a bizarre mix of Swiss cottage, Gothic castle and twee farmhouse decorated in art nouveau style. Built between 1840 and 1930, it is now a museum dedicated to stained glass with designs and sketches, decorative tiles, parquetry floors and woodwork.
The main ticket office is just inside the Via Nomentana entrance to the park.
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Palazzo del Quirinale
At the top of the Quirinal (Quirinale) Hill, this immense palace served as the papal summer residence for almost three centuries until the keys were handed over (begrudgingly, and staring down the barrel of a gun) to Italy's new king in 1870. It was passed on to the president of the republic in 1948. At the end of the Sunday visit, there is a free concert in the chapel.
reviewed
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Terme di Caracalla
To the southwest, Rome’s most monumentally huge ruins, the Terme di Caracalla show that size certainly mattered to the Roman emperors. Covering 10 hectares, this ancient leisure centre complex could hold 1600 people and included richly decorated caldaria (hot rooms), a lukewarm tepidarium, a swimming pool, gymnasiums, libraries, shops and gardens. Between 6000 and 8000 people were thought to have used them every day. Underground, slaves sweated in 9.5km of tunnels, attending to the centre’s complex plumbing systems. Begun by Antonius Caracalla and inaugurated in 217, the baths were used until 537, when the Visigoths smashed their way into Rome. Excavations in the 16th…
reviewed
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Skip the Line: Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel Tour
Varies (Departs Rome, Italy)
by Viator
Take a morning or afternoon tour of the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel - and jump the queue by booking ahead. You'll enjoy a mini coach tour of Rome en…Not LP reviewed
from USD$81.79 -
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Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica di Palazzo Corsini
This frescoed palace houses part of Italy's national art collection, the highlight of which is Caravaggio's mesmerising San Giovanni Battista (St John the Baptist).
reviewed
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Palazzo Farnese
One of Rome's greatest Renaissance palazzi, Palazzo Farnese was started in 1514 by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, continued by Michelangelo and finished by Giacomo della Porta. Nowadays, it's the French Embassy and open only to visitors who've booked a guided tour – make a booking via the website. Visits (in Italian or French) take in the Galleria dei Carracci, home to a series of frescoes by Annibale Carracci, said by some to rival those of the Sistine Chapel.
The twin fountains in the square are enormous granite baths taken from the Terme di Caracalla.
reviewed
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Chiesa di SS Quattro Coronati
This brooding 4th-century church, rebuilt as a fortified convent after it was destroyed during the 1084 Norman sack of Rome, is dedicated to four Christian sculptors who were killed by Diocletian for refusing to make a statue of a pagan god. As a result, it’s still revered by stone-cutters and masons. The most famous feature is the Cappella di San Silvestro and its well-preserved 13th-century frescoes depicting the story of the Donation of Constantine, a famous document by which Constantine ceded control of Rome and the Western Roman Empire to the papacy.
Also of interest are the beautiful 13th-century cloisters off the northern aisle (ring the bell for admission).
reviewed
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Quartiere Garbatella
A favourite location for TV and filmmakers, Quartiere Garbatella is a wonderfully atmospheric, idiosyncratic district. It was originally conceived as a workers’ residential quarter but in the 1920s the Fascists hijacked the project and used the area to house people who’d been displaced by construction work in the city. Many people were moved into alberghi suburbani (suburban hotels), big housing blocks designed by Innocenzo Sabbatini, the leading light of the ‘Roman School’ of architecture. The most famous, Albergo Rosso is typical of the style. Other trademark buildings are the Scuola Cesare Battisti on Piazza Damiano Sauli and Teatro Palladium on Piazza…
reviewed
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Chiesa di San Gregorio Magno
You have to ring the bell for admission to this looming church, which is built on the site where Pope Gregory the Great is said to have dispatched St Augustine to convert the British to Christianity. Originally it was the pope’s family home but in 575 he converted it into a monastery. It was rebuilt in the 17th century and the interior was given a baroque facelift a century later.
Inside, the stately 1st-century-BC marble throne in the Cappella di San Gregorio is believed to have been St Gregory’s personal perch. Outside, the Cappella di Sant’Andrea is the most interesting of three small chapels, with frescoes by Domenichino, Guido Reni and Giovanni Lanfranco.
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Mercati di Traiano & Museo dei Fori Imperiali
Mercati di Traiano & Museo dei Fori Imperiali is a striking new museum that brings to life Trajan’s great 2nd-century market complex. It provides a fascinating introduction to the Imperial Forums with detailed explanatory panels and a smattering of archaeological artefacts. However, the museum’s real highlight is the access it gives to Trajan’s Forum. From the main hallway, a lift whisks you up to the Torre delle Milizie (Militia Tower), a 13th-century red-brick tower, and the upper levels of the Mercati di Traiano (Trajan’s Markets). These markets, housed in a three-storey semicircular construction, were Trajan’s frenetic commercial precinct, with hundreds of…
reviewed
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Chiesa Santi Pietro e Paolo
One of the few planned developments in Rome’s history, EUR was built for an international exhibition in 1942, and although war intervened and the exhibition never took place, the name stuck – Esposizione Universale di Roma (Roman Universal Exhibition) or EUR. The area’s appeal (or lack of it) lies in its spectacular rationalist architecture. It’s not to everyone’s taste but the style is beautifully expressed in a number of distinctive palazzi, including the Chiesa Santi Pietro e Paolo. The area is still a focus for development, with Massimiliano Fuksas’ cutting-edge Nuvola (‘cloud’) congress centre being built here, and mayor Gianni Alemanno hoping the area may…
reviewed
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Assisi and Orvieto Day Trip from Rome
12 hours 30 minutes (Departs Rome, Italy)
by Viator
Travel from Rome to Orvieto and Assisi on this full-day trip, and discover two charming towns set amid picture-perfect Italian countryside. Led by an expert…Not LP reviewed
from USD$130.05 -
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Chiesa di Santa Maria della Vittoria
On a busy road junction, this modest church is an unlikely setting for one of the great works of European art – Bernini’s extravagant and sexually charged Santa Teresa traffita dall’amore di Dio (Ecstasy of St Teresa). In the last chapel on the left, this daring sculpture depicts Teresa, engulfed in the folds of a flowing cloak, floating in ecstasy on a cloud while a teasing angel pierces her repeatedly with a golden arrow. Watching the whole scene from two side balconies are a number of figures, including Cardinal Federico Cornaro, for whom the chapel was built. It’s a stunning work, bathed in soft natural light filtering through a concealed window. Go in the…
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Roma Cristiana
- Rome, Italy
- Activities › Other
Runs various walking tours, including visits to the Vatican Museums (adult/reduced €26/17) and St Peter’s Basilica (€12). Tickets are available online or at the meeting point just off Piazza San Pietro.
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Palazzo dei Congressi
One of the few planned developments in Rome’s history, EUR was built for an international exhibition in 1942, and although war intervened and the exhibition never took place, the name stuck – Esposizione Universale di Roma (Roman Universal Exhibition) or EUR. There are few museums but the area’s appeal (or lack of it) lies in its spectacular rationalist architecture. It’s not to everyone’s taste but the style is beautifully expressed in a number of distinctive palazzi, including the wonderful Palazzo dei Congressi. The area is still a focus for development, with Massimiliano Fuksas’ cutting-edge Nuvola (‘cloud’) congress centre being built here, and mayor Gianni…
reviewed
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Checco er Carettiere
Something of a food complex, this is a restaurant, bakery, gelateria and osteria. With a swinging 1950s feel, the restaurant is wood-panelled throughout and terracotta-floored. Roman dishes to savour include saltimbocca alla romana or bombolotti (ridged tube pasta) all'amatriciana. The osteria is a small, appealing place with a few daily specials. The cakes at the café (07:00-01:00) are delicious, and the ice cream good too.
The walls are smothered in black-and-white photos of celebrities. Some tables are tucked into alcoves for intimate parties, or there's a large convivial room with wooden columns and an outside patio. There's a special smoking room between this and…
reviewed
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Basilica dei Santi Apostoli
This much-altered 6th-century church is dedicated to the apostles James and Philip, whose relics are in the crypt. Its most obvious attraction is the portico with its Renaissance arches and the two-tier facade topped by 13 towering figures. Inside, the flashy baroque interior was completed in 1714 by Carlo and Francesco Fontana. Highlights include the ceiling frescoes by Baciccia and Antonio Canova’s grandiose tomb of Pope Clement XIV.
Surrounding the basilica are two imposing baroque palazzi: at the end of the square, Palazzo Balestra, which was given to James Stuart, the Old Pretender, in 1719 by Pope Clement XI, and opposite, Palazzo Odelscalchi, with its impressive…
reviewed
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Chiesa di Sant’Ignazio di Loyola
Rome’s most important Jesuit church after the Chiesa del Gesù, this lordly building flanks Piazza Sant’Ignazio, an exquisite rococo square laid out in 1727 to resemble a stage set. Note the exits into ‘the wings’ at the northern end and how the undulating surfaces create the illusion of a larger space.
The church, built by the Jesuit architect Orazio Grassi in 1626, boasts a Carlo Maderno facade and a celebrated trompe l’oeil ceiling fresco by Andrea Pozzo (1642–1709) depicting St Ignatius Loyola being welcomed into paradise by Christ and the Madonna. For the best views of the fresco, stand on the small yellow spot on the nave floor and look up. The ceiling, which…
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Roman Gladiator School: Learn How to Become a Gladiator
2 hours (Departs Rome, Italy)
by Viator
Master the basics of hand-to-hand combat at a genuine gladiator school on the ancient Appian Way. You'll discover the secrets of Imperial Rome's gladiator…Not LP reviewed
from USD$73.74 -
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Palazzetto dello Sport
One of the few planned developments in Rome’s history, EUR was built for an international exhibition in 1942, and although war intervened and the exhibition never took place, the name stuck – Esposizione Universale di Roma (Roman Universal Exhibition) or EUR. The area’s appeal (or lack of it) lies in its spectacular rationalist architecture. It’s not to everyone’s taste but the style is beautifully expressed in a number of distinctive palazzi, including the Palazzetto dello Sport. The area is still a focus for development, with Massimiliano Fuksas’ cutting-edge Nuvola (‘cloud’) congress centre being built here, and mayor Gianni Alemanno hoping the area may host…
reviewed
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Rome Angels and Demons Half-Day Tour
4 hours (Departs Rome, Italy)
by Viator
Unravel Rome's secrets on the 'Angels and Demons' morning tour, inspired by the novel by Dan Brown. You'll take an incredible journey into the heart of the…Not LP reviewed
from USD$75.08 -
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Hosteria del Pesce
One of the capital's hottest seafood restaurants, this place has filled the bellies of Francis Ford Coppola and Giorgio Armani among other megastars. It sports a studiously low-key look of hardwood floors and deep-blue walls, gets packed, and serves unforgettable, ultrafresh food. Squid is fried and served with creamy mash, risotto is dyed jet-black with octopus ink, while sea bream, snapper and turbot are grilled to crispy perfection, all accompanied by white wines only. Booking is advised.
Squid is fried and served with creamy mash, risotto is dyed jet-black with octopus ink, while sea bream, snapper and turbot are grilled to crispy perfection, all accompanied by white…
reviewed