Cities & Culture
The Eternal City — the Colosseum, the Forum, the Pantheon and Vatican City on the Tiber.
Rome is the capital of Italy and of the Lazio region, a city where the Roman Forum, the Colosseum and the Pantheon sit beneath Renaissance palazzi, Baroque churches and the Vatican City. A continuous urban settlement for nearly 3,000 years, it is one of the world’s great open-air museums and the historic centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
MAP & LOCATION
HISTORY & CULTURE
Rome grew from a cluster of villages on the Tiber into the capital of an empire that stretched from Britain to the Euphrates, and then into the seat of the Catholic Church — a continuous urban history of nearly three thousand years. The republic, established in 509 BC, built the institutions and the roads; the empire, from Augustus onward, built the monuments — the Forum, the Colosseum, the Pantheon. After the empire fell, the city shrank to a fraction of its population among the ruins, but the papacy kept it alive as a spiritual capital, and the Renaissance and Baroque popes rebuilt it as a showcase of their authority with churches, squares and fountains. Rome became the capital of united Italy in 1871, and the layers of all those periods — ancient, medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and modern — are visible in a single walk across the centre.
TOP THINGS TO DO
TOP ATTRACTIONS
FOOD & DRINK
Roscioli — a celebrated salumeria and trattoria near Campo de’ Fiori, Roman pastas and a peerless cheese counter
Armando al Pantheon — classic Roman cooking a stone’s throw from the Pantheon, book ahead
Da Enzo al 29 — the most loved of Trastevere’s honest trattorias, no-fuss carbonara and saltimbocca
Pizzarium — Gabriele Bonci’s by-the-slice pizza al taglio near the Vatican, arguably Rome’s best
Two Sizes — thin Roman-style pizza by the slice, eaten standing, near the Spanish Steps
HOTELS & STAYS
Hotel Locarno — a Liberty-style hotel near Piazza del Popolo, with a leafy courtyard and a rooftop
Hotel Raphael — a boutique hotel off Piazza Navona with a rooftop terrace over the rooftops
The Fifteen Keys Hotel — a small design hotel in Monti, a quiet base within walking distance of the Forum
Generator Rome — a stylish hostel near Termini, good value for a central stay
ITINERARIES
NATURE & WILDLIFE
Rome is a dense city, but it is threaded with green spaces that give it a surprisingly natural rhythm. The Villa Borghese gardens, the Pincio and the Janiculum offer shaded walks and panoramic views; the Appia Antica Regional Park preserves miles of ancient road, tombs and umbrella pines within the city; and the Tiber itself, with its tree-lined embankments and the Tiber Island, is a green spine through the historic centre. Beyond the walls, the Roman countryside of the Campagna — the rolling tufa hills, the aqueducts of the Parco degli Acquedotti and the lakes of the Alban Hills — is within a short bus or train ride.
PLAN YOUR VISIT
Rome has two airports: Fiumicino (Leonardo da Vinci), the main hub with a direct Leonardo Express train to Termini station in 32 minutes; and Ciampino, used by low-cost carriers, with bus connections to Termini. High-speed trains connect Rome to Florence (1h30), Naples (1h10), Milan (3h) and Bologna (2h).
Book the Colosseum/Forum/Palatine combined ticket, the Vatican Museums and the Galleria Borghese online in advance. The Borghese has timed two-hour slots and limited numbers, so it must be booked ahead even for a chance of entry.
Allow at least three full days. Rome rewards slow visits — the major sites alone (Colosseum, Forum, Vatican, Pantheon, Borghese) fill that time, and a fourth day lets you wander.
April to June and late September to October are ideal — mild, bright and less crowded. Avoid July and August if you can: the heat and the queues combine to make the major sites hard work. Winter is quiet, mild and cheap, with shorter queues at the Colosseum and the Vatican.
Sturdy shoes for the uneven cobbles and the ruins, a refillable water bottle for the nasoni (the city’s drinking fountains), and modest clothing for churches — shoulders and knees covered for St Peter’s and the Pantheon.
The historic centre is largely cobblestoned and the ancient sites are uneven, which makes wheelchair access difficult; the Vatican Museums and St Peter’s are the most accessible of the major sites, with lifts and ramps. Many pavements are narrow and traffic can be heavy.
WEATHER
Forecast data from Open-Meteo. Updated regularly.
TRAVEL GUIDES · STORIES
More here soon — the road is still being mapped.
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