Rome

Entry runs on timed slots. One ticket also covers a single visit each to the Roman Forum and the Palatine within twenty-four hours. The arena floor where the fighters stood, and the tunnels under it, need a ticket of their own. That one sells out far earlier.

Broken columns and floor slabs are most of what survives, and without a guide one looks much like another. Climb the Palatine and the whole plan opens at once, which is when it makes sense. There is no shade to speak of, so go in at opening in high summer.

The crown of the dome stands open to the sky, so rain falls straight through and drains down holes still set in the floor. No unreinforced concrete dome built since has been larger. Admission has been charged since 2023, and only the first Sunday is free.

The city collects the coins for charity, and that job is why the basin opens late on Monday and Friday mornings. The steps at the water take a capped number at a time, in one side and out the other. The square above is open at night.

The long oval comes from Domitian's chariot stadium, which the square was laid straight onto. Bernini did the fountain of four rivers and Borromini the church front facing it, and the two loathed each other. Restaurants on the rim charge you for the seat.

The museums shut on Sundays. The last one of the month is the exception and is free, which puts a queue along the outside walls. The visit runs in one direction only, so the Sistine Chapel comes after every gallery ahead of it. No camera is allowed inside.

The dome is 551 steps up, and the lift only reaches the roof. The stair narrows as it climbs and the wall leans with the curve of the dome, tipping you with it. Dress is checked in the square, and shorts will not get you into the church either.

Entry is by booked slot and everyone is turned out after two hours, so arriving without a ticket wastes the journey. Four Bernini marbles hold a room each, and on the Apollo and Daphne the chisel goes right out to where her fingertips split into leaves.

Raised as the tomb of the emperor Hadrian, then a fortress and a prison, it keeps the spiral ramp turning up through the middle. A covered passage runs along the wall to the Vatican, and popes really did flee along it. The roof terrace looks over the river.

Cars are kept off it on Sundays and public holidays, so hire a bike and go on one of those. Paving laid before the common era runs on with the ruts of cart wheels still cut into it. The catacombs along the verge are entered only with a guide.

Early eighteenth-century steps climb to the church of Trinita dei Monti, with a half-sunk boat fountain at the foot. Since 2019 sitting on the steps earns a fine. Take photos standing and rest at the balustrade outside Trinita dei Monti.

Cobbled lanes west of the Tiber, centred on Santa Maria in Trastevere, whose gold mosaics glow out over the square. By evening the lanes outside the restaurants fill solid. On Sunday mornings a big flea market sets up at Porta Portese to the south.

A vegetable and flower market by morning, a square of bars by night. The hooded statue in the middle is Giordano Bruno, the philosopher burned on this spot in 1600. No stalls on Sundays, and traders fold their awnings by early afternoon.

Two palaces on Michelangelo's Campidoglio square make up the museum. The Marcus Aurelius on horseback out in the square is a copy; the original stands indoors under a glass roof. The underground passage linking the buildings has windows over the Roman Forum.

A colossal white-marble monument to unified Italy's first king, which Romans call the wedding cake. At its centre lies the Unknown Soldier's grave, watched by a guard of honour. The glass lift at the back needs a separate ticket.

Put an eye to the keyhole in the Knights of Malta's gate and St Peter's dome sits framed beyond a long garden path. A queue forms at the door. Nearby, the Orange Garden terrace is packed each evening with people waiting for sunset beyond the river's rooftops.

A twelfth-century church sits on a fourth-century one, which sits on first-century Roman buildings and a shrine of Mithras. Going below takes its own ticket. On the lowest level you hear underground water running behind the wall.

Early third-century public baths whose brick walls still stand several storeys high, with patches of floor mosaic left. Far quieter than the Colosseum. On summer nights the Rome Opera stages open-air performances with the ruins as the set.

One of Rome's four major papal basilicas. Pope Francis, who died in 2025, is buried here, and a line of visitors comes to his tomb. The gilded ceiling is said to use the first gold brought back from the Americas.

This, not St Peter's, is the cathedral of the Pope as bishop of Rome. Across the road the Scala Santa, 28 steps said to be the ones Jesus climbed, is climbed on the knees, step by step. Anyone walking up uses the side stairs.

The terrace jutting over Piazza del Popolo looks past the twin churches and the obelisk towards St Peter's dome. Behind it the Villa Borghese park carries on, where bikes and rowing boats can be hired. The crowd peaks at sunset.

A stone face on the porch wall of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, said to bite the hand of a liar. Roman Holiday made it famous, and a photo queue is always there. Each person gets only a moment, so the line moves quickly.

The hill behind Trastevere, where the domes and bell towers of central Rome fit into one view. A cannon fires a single shot below the Garibaldi statue every day at noon. Come a few minutes early to claim a spot along the parapet.

The ruins of ancient Rome's port, with shops, public latrines, a theatre and apartment blocks surviving street by street. The Roma-Lido train from Piramide gets you there. Umbrella pines give shade, so it is easier walking than Pompeii.

A sixteenth-century villa on the Tivoli hills east of Rome, its terraced garden holding hundreds of fountains fed by gravity alone. The Avenue of the Hundred Fountains is the highlight. Many add the ruins of Hadrian's Villa nearby on the same day.

A covered market in what was once the abattoir quarter, with lunch counters mixed among the vegetable stalls. Across the street, Monte Testaccio is a hill built up from shards of ancient Roman oil jars. Stalls stay shut on Sundays.