Tridente, Trevi & the Quirinale
Perched atop the Quirinale Hill, one of Rome's seven hills, this former papal summer residence has been home to the Italian head of state since 1948…
Must-see attractions in Rome
Ancient Rome
On the Palatino, the Domus was the emperor's private residence in the imperial palace. It was built on two levels, with rooms leading off a peristilio …
Tridente, Trevi & the Quirinale
This church and convent complex safeguards what is possibly Rome's strangest sight: crypt chapels where everything from the picture frames to the light…
Tridente, Trevi & the Quirinale
This massive piazza was laid out in 1538 to provide a grandiose entrance to what was then Rome's main northern gateway. It has since been remodelled…
Chiesa di San Francesco d’Assisi a Ripa Grande
Trastevere & Gianicolo
St Francis is said to have stayed here in 1219, and in his cell you can still see the rock that he purportedly used as a pillow and his crucifix. Rebuilt…
Chiesa di Santa Maria della Pace & Chiostro del Bramante
Centro Storico
Tucked away in the back streets behind Piazza Navona, this small baroque church boasts a columned semicircular facade by Pietro da Cortona and a…
Ancient Rome
Hidden beneath the 16th-century Chiesa di San Giuseppe dei Falegnami, the Mamertine Prison was ancient Rome's maximum-security jail. St Peter did time…
Centro Storico
Hardly new as its name would suggest, this imposing landmark church boasts a distinguished 17th-century facade and a vast baroque interior. Of particular…
Centro Storico
One of the world’s smallest inhabited islands, the boat-shaped Isola Tiberina has been associated with healing since the 3rd century BC when the Romans…
Centro Storico
The historical, cultural and artistic heritage of Rome’s Jewish community is chronicled in this small but engrossing museum. Housed in a building attached…
Southern Rome
This isn't so much a museum as a collection of murals dotted around the Quadraro neighbourhood in the city’s southern suburbs. Works by nearly two dozen…
Centro Storico
One of Rome's most imposing Renaissance buildings, this huge palazzo was built for Cardinal Raffaele Riario between 1483 and 1513. It was later acquired…
Southern Rome
Dating to the 1st century BC, this great drum of a mausoleum encloses a burial chamber, now roofless. In the 14th century it was converted into a fort by…
Tridente, Trevi & the Quirinale
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…
Centro Storico
This playful, much-loved fountain features four boys gently hoisting tortoises up into a bowl of water. Created by Giacomo della Porta and Taddeo Landini…
Chiesa di San Gregorio al Celio
San Giovanni & Testaccio
Ring for admission to this landmark church standing on the spot where Pope Gregory the Great supposedly dispatched St Augustine to convert the British…
Vatican City, Borgo & Prati
Excavations beneath St Peter's Basilica have uncovered part of the original church and a necropolis with what is held to be the Tomb of St Peter. In 1942,…
Mausoleo delle Fosse Ardeatine
Southern Rome
This mausoleum is dedicated to the victims of Rome’s worst WWII atrocity. Buried here, outside the Ardeatine Caves, are 335 Italians shot by the Nazis on…
Ancient Rome
The Casa delle Vestali, situated in the heart of the Roman Forum, was home to the Vestal Virgins who tended the sacred flame in the adjoining Tempio di…
Southern Rome
The ruins of this 19th-century soap factory in Ostiense, built in 1899, are the site of an experimental museum of street art. Home to a handful of…
Chiesa di Sant’Andrea della Valle
Centro Storico
A must for opera fans, this towering 17th-century church is where Giacomo Puccini set the first act of Tosca. Its most obvious feature is Carlo Maderno’s…
Centro Storico
Together with the adjacent Piazza di Montecitorio, this stylish piazza is Rome’s political nerve centre. On its northern flank, the 16th-century Palazzo…
Chiesa di Sant’Andrea al Quirinale
Tridente, Trevi & the Quirinale
It’s said that in his old age Bernini liked to come and enjoy the peace of this late-17th-century church, regarded by many as one of his greatest. Faced…
Southern Rome
A favourite location for films and TV, Quartiere Garbatella was originally conceived as a workers’ residential quarter, but in the 1920s the Fascists…
Trastevere & Gianicolo
Featured in the opening scene of Paolo Sorrentino's Oscar-winning La grande bellezza (The Great Beauty; 2013), this monumental white fountain with its…
Chiesa di Santa Croce in Gerusalemme
Monti, Esquilino & San Lorenzo
One of Rome’s seven pilgrimage churches, the Church of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem was founded in 320 by St Helena, mother of the emperor Constantine, in…
Ancient Rome
On the Roman Forum, the Curia was the meeting place of the Roman Senate. According to tradition, it was originally built by Tullo Ostilio, the third of…
Santuario della Scala Santa & Sancta Sanctorum
San Giovanni & Testaccio
The Scala Santa, said to be the staircase Jesus walked up in Pontius Pilate’s palace in Jerusalem, was brought to Rome by St Helena in the 4th century…
Monti, Esquilino & San Lorenzo
This huge neoclassical palace was built in 1882 as an exhibition centre, though it has since served as headquarters for the Italian Communist Party, a…
Trastevere & Gianicolo
If this church were in another town, it would be a highlight, but in Rome it's just another church. Atmospherically forlorn, with weeds sprouting between…
Rome
Full of towering pine trees, atmospheric palms and scattered villas, this splendid but often ungroomed 19th-century park once belonged to Prince Giovanni…
Porta San Sebastiano & Museo delle Mura
Southern Rome
Marking the start of Via Appia Antica, the 5th-century Porta San Sebastiano is the largest of the gates in the Aurelian Wall. During WWII the Fascist…
Chiesa di San Carlino alle Quattro Fontane
Tridente, Trevi & the Quirinale
A masterpiece of Roman baroque, this tiny building was the first church designed by Francesco Borromini. His clever design – which includes a play of…
Southern Rome
Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas’ cutting-edge Roma Convention Centre: La Nuvola (2016) – the largest building to open in Rome in half a century – is a…
Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Roma
Rome
Along with MAXXI, this is Rome’s most important contemporary-art centre. Occupying a converted Peroni brewery, it is curating a free experimental program…
Monti, Esquilino & San Lorenzo
Housed within the splendidly restored Palazzo Merulana, this impressive museum exhibits artworks sourced from the Elena and Claudio Cerasi Foundation (the…
Rome
Dug between the 2nd and 5th centuries, this vast network of moody tunnels was known as the Queen of Catacombs. It was an important early Christian burial…
Centro Storico
The baroque Palazzo Braschi houses the Museo di Roma’s eclectic collection of paintings, photographs, etchings, clothes and furniture, charting the…
Trastevere & Gianicolo
These polished brass stones, shaped square like a Roman cobble and engraved with the name of a local Jewish resident, marks the exact spot where Holocaust…
Chiesa della Trinità dei Monti
Tridente, Trevi & the Quirinale
Sitting in majesty above the Spanish Steps, this landmark church was commissioned by King Louis XII of France and consecrated in 1585. Apart from the…
