Basilica Aemilia

Between the Pantheon and Via del Corso. A stunning example of Baroque art. The ceiling frescoes are especially fine, including a trompe l'oeil dome by the master Andrea Pozzo.

Finished in 29 BC, marks the spot of Caesar's spontaneous cremation and Mark Antony's funeral speech, made famous by Shakespeare in his play Julius Caesar ("Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears ...").

This little church is hard to find but well worth the extra effort although it is often closed when you get there. One of Borromini's masterpieces. It is located only a block from Piazza Navona, but not usually visible from the street, as you must enter the courtyard of an old palazzo to reach the church. Sant'Ivo is a small church the dome of which is shaped like the Star of David, but with every other point rounded. The steeple seen from the outside looks like it has a staircase wrapped around it that ascends to heaven. As the church was commissioned by the Barberini family that produced a number of popes and whose family symbol was the bee—some say the steeple resembles the stinger of the insect.

A truly monumental stairway of 135 steps (similar to climbing eight flights of stairs), built with French funds between 1721 and 1725 in order to link the Bourbon Spanish embassy to the Holy See (still located in the piazza below), with the Bourbon French church (its monastery founded in 1495) above. Don't sit on them though, or eat, or push a baby stroller on them, or do anything else that might obstruct pedestrians, make them dirty, or cause additional wear and tear, or else you will have to pay a fine that ranges from €250 to €400.

A pleasant fountain in an out-of-the-way square. It was originally meant to have four dolphins rather than turtles, but the dolphins proved to be too large for the water pressure, so the turtles were added as an afterthought.

Home of the President of the Italian Republic, and the Quirinal Gardens. Built in 1573 as a papal summer residence, and has since also served as the residence for the pope and later for the king of Italy.

The Collegio Romano was a college of the Jesuit order. Many popes, cardinals and bishops were educated here. Since 1870 it has been a secular (non-monastic) school. The coat of arms on the doorway is that of Pope Gregory XIII (1572–1585). The tower was erected in 1787 and served as an observatory. Until 1925 all clocks in Rome were set after that of the Collegio Romano.

A strange building, constructed by Reginald Pole, an English cardinal and later Archbishop of Canterbury, allegedly on the spot where he was able to escape from assassins sent by the English King Henry VIII.

The temple of the Emperor Hadrian was consecrated in 145 AD by Emperor Antoninus Pius. The remains of the antique temple were incorporated into a new building that served as the Papal Customs House. It was finished around 1690 and today accommodates the Stock Exchange (Borsa).

The enormous building at the southeast end of the Circus Maximus is the headquarters of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). From its roof are undoubtedly the best views of Rome, but you will need to know someone who works there to get past the strict security.

The 4th rebuilding of the meeting place for the Roman Senate, once converted into a church during the Middle Ages, but now restored since the 1930s.

Built in 141 AD and dedicated to the Empress Faustina; after her husband emperor Antoninus Pius died in 161 AD the temple was rededicated to the couple.

By Bernini, in the very centre of Piazza Navona. Incorporates an Egyptian obelisk and symbolises four of the world's great rivers (the Ganges, the Nile, the Danube and the Plata), representing the four continents known at the time.