Spanish Steps

If it is sunny, you'll catch a few young people and older gentlemen sitting at the base of a statue in the middle of the open space. The statue is a brooding, hooded Giordano Bruno—an excommunicated Dominican monk and one of the earliest cosmologists who held the idea of an infinite universe. He was burnt at the stake for heresy on this spot on 17 February 1600. The piazza is used as a marketplace during the day, and party central for college students and tourists at night. When the sky gets dark and the street lamps go on, the Campo de' Fiori fills with people and lovers wander arm in arm in the crowd. Over the buzzing of conversation and the occasional burst of laughter you may hear a young vocalist belt out O Sole Mio at the top of his lungs as change plunks into his accordion case.

Like Pasquino, the Facchino is one the so-called "speaking figures" which are peculiar to Rome. He is looking out of the Banco di Roma building. The man depicted is holding a barrel in his hands and is carrying water. It is sometimes said that he is looking similar to Martin Luther, but more probably a porter who died while carrying a barrel is depicted here.

Also based on a Michelangelo architectural plan, this compact gallery is well endowed in classical sculpture and paintings. Highlights include the small 1st-century-BC bronze Lo Spinario, a Greek statue of a little boy picking a thorn from his foot; the Lupa Capitolina (Capitoline Wolf), a rare Etruscan bronze statue probably dating from the 5th century BC; and (in the entrance courtyard), the massive head, hands, foot and kneecap from a colossal statue of Constantine the Great. The palace also contains a Pinacoteca (Picture Gallery) with paintings mainly from the 16th and 17th centuries - highlights include: Caravaggio's Fortune-Teller and his curious John the Baptist; The Holy Family, by Dosso Dossi; Romulus and Remus, by Rubens; and Titian's Baptism of Christ.

The museum is dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte and his family. After Napoleon's death in 1821 the Pope gave permission to his family to settle down in Rome. His sister married Prince Camillo Borghese.

Baroque church more noted for its position at the top of the Spanish Steps than it is for the church. Backdrop for numerous movies including Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday.

This is the largest square in Rome. It sometimes hosts pop concerts and is the focal point for Rome's New Year's Eve celebrations. The twin churches Santa Maria dei Miracoli (1681) and Santa Maria in Montesanto (1679) used to provide a clear welcome to Rome for those coming from the north. Much older, to the north of the piazza is yet another Santa Maria (see below). The Piazza del Popolo is considered as one of the most beautiful squares in Europe. It was enlarged and two streets, the Via di Ripetta and the Via del Babuino were added by order of Pope Sixtus V. In the middle of the square is an obelisk (see below). In 1809-1816, Giuseppe Valadier, Roman architect of French origin, gave the square its characteristic oval shape.

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.

It was immortalised in 1960 by the Federico Fellini film La Dolce Vita. It is also the location of the US Embassy, in the massive Palazzo Margherita. Via Veneto went into a period of decline in the 1980s but has returned to popularity and the roadside cafes are the place to be seen if you are into that sort of thing.

Completed in 1762 to a design by Nicola Salvi, this spectacular Baroque fountain features a mythological sculptural composition of Neptune, god of the sea, flanked by two Tritons: one Triton labours to control a violent sea-horse, the other controls a pacified creature, both symbolising the dual nature of the world's oceans. The location of the Trevi fountain marks the terminus of the ancient Aqua Virgo aqueduct, completed in 19 BCE in order to supply the Baths of Agrippa, and is so named on account of its position at the junction of three roads (tre vie). The legend says that one who throws a coin in the fountain shall one day return to Rome. The coins in the fountain are regularly collected to finance charities. The fountain has been made even more famous by the 1954 film, Three Coins in the Fountain, and by a famous scene in Federico Fellini's film La Dolce Vita. According to popular superstition and custom, throwing coins with one's right hand over one's left shoulder into the Trevi Fountain is a practice endowed with good luck. Throwing one coin ensures that the thrower will return to Rome; throwing two coins will ensure that the thrower will fall in love with a beautiful Roman girl (or handsome boy); throwing three coins, finally, ensures that the thrower will marry that girl or boy in Rome itself. The fountain is one of Rome's most famous attractions, but the square isn't exactly as large as St. Peter's, therefore it might be packed with crowds almost like at a rock festival. For this reason it's reportedly also a pickpocket hotspot, so do watch your pockets and bags here!

Next door to the Pyramid, this fine gate in the Aurelian Wall is named after St. Paul as the Via Ostiense leads to the basilica of St. Paul's Outside the Walls (see Rome/South).

This is an important place of pilgrimage for Catholics because of the supposedly miraculous powers of an image of the Virgin Mary. The first miracle was in 1740 when a traveller being attacked by a pack of dogs called out to the Virgin’s image for rescue and the dogs calmed down. The image was moved to Rome in the Second World War and is credited with saving the city from destruction, as a result of which Romans vowed to construct this new sanctuary.

Built after 1631, the crypt of the church contains a macabre display - a series of chapels decorated with the bones of 3700 dead friars. The bones are glued to the walls and ceilings in bizarre and striking decorations.

Regular shows plus an excellent astronomical museum.

The remains of the ancient Roman archives, where Cicero and Seneca did research. Visible from the Forum and accessible through the Capitoline Museum.