Temple of Antoninus and Faustina

A medieval church dating from the 6th century and home to the Bocca della Verità (Mouth of Truth). The Bocca della Verità at the entrance to the church is thought to be a 1st-century manhole cover. It is believed that if you put your hand in the mouth and tell a lie, the hand will be bitten off. Queues for the privilege of risking this can get rather long. Don't ignore the church, which is a gem, and has a separate entrance. Its mosaic floor in the Cosmatesque style is more rustic and less intricate than some others (Santa Maria in Trastevere, for example), but its simplicity gives it a solidity not found in the more ornate styles. S.M. in Cosmedin has a fine medieval choir enclosure and the tallest medieval belfry in Rome.

Completed in 179 BC.

Borghese Gallery and Museum is a lovely display in a beautiful villa setting, which concentrates on the quality rather than the size of its collection. There are some very notable works by Antonio Canova and Gian Lorenzo Bernini here, Bernini's Apollo and Daphneis quite amazing. It also houses some of Caravaggio paintings, well worth the admission charge. Originally, the gallery was one of the most magnificent private art collections in the world. It was founded by Cardinal Scipione Borghese. At the beginning of the 19th century, Prince Camillo Borghese sold great parts of the collections to Paris where today they belong to the most valuable exhibits of the Louvre. Since 1902 the villa and the gallery are owned by the Italian state. The number of people admitted is limited to 360 every 2 hours, so it is best to make a well in advance for the time slot you want. Cameras and photography are allowed. Plan to arrive at the museum at least 15 minutes prior to your entry time, to obtain your ticket from Will Call and to deposit purses, strollers, backpacks, bottles, and other bulky items in the cloak room. If you are late for your reservation the museum may not allow you to use your ticket.

With its strange Liberty- style buildings with influence from the Art Nouveau of the 1920s this small bunch of blocks is one of the most interesting, and less known, landmarks of the city. A must see.

Erected in 203. You can see it close up from Via della Curia also (without entering the Forum).

Not, as commonly believed, named after the country but after the city of Strasbourg (Argentoratum in Latin), from which came a courtesan of Pope Alexander VI who lived nearby. Four Roman Republican-era temples, Pompey's theater and a Roman public toilet ("Latrina") have been excavated. The Pompey Theater is the site where Julius Caesar was stabbed to death by senators in 44 BC. The largo is also home to a large number of cats which are tended by the local animal rights organization - purportedly a jab at Mussolini who excavated the area and is said to have hated cats. As of September 2024 no cats could be seen at least from the street.

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).

Good collection of Renaissance and Baroque art, including by Velasquez, Titian, Raphael, and Bernini, all owned by the Doria Pamphilj family. Excellent audio guides really bring the paintings to life.

Minor basilica in 17th-century baroque style with good art inside. In a smaller Italian city, this might be a prime attraction, but in Rome, with its abundance of great churches, this is merely a pleasant church of secondary interest to visit if you are in the area.

This is a large tomb built by the Roman Emperor Augustus in 28 BC in the form of a stone ring covered by an earth mound. A brick wall, 87 m in diameter, carried an earth mound covered with cypresses. On top of the hill stood a bronze monument of the emperor. The building was 44 meters high. At the beginning of the alley, which led to the tomb were two Egyptian obelisks. On both sides of the doorway bronze plates describe the "Res gestae", the deeds of the emperor. The urns of Augustus, Marcellus, Octavia, Agrippa, Drusus and other members of the Julian Claudian dynasty were revered here. In the Middles Ages the building served as citadel of the Colonna family. It was destroyed by Pope Gregor IX in 1241. The body of Cola di Rienzo. a popular leader of the people in the mid-14th century, was burnt in this monument. The Mausoleo di Augusto is not open to the public, and is fenced off.

Located a short walk west of the Colosseum, this well-preserved monumental arch was erected (soon after 315) to commemorate the victory of Constantine, the first Christian emperor, over his rival Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312. In general design, the Arch of Constantine imitates the century-earlier Arch of Septimius Severus (nearby in the Forum). The three arches are decorated utilizing mainly materials plundered from other imperial monuments by Trajan, Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius. The quality of its sculptural decoration, however, betrays the slow degradation that Classical Roman sculpture had experienced in the 3rd century AD.

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 ...").

A 19th-century addition to the square, made to balance the Fontana del Moro.

In addition to Santa Maria in Cosmedin there is a lot to be seen around this piazza. Opposite the church is the round temple dedicated to Hercules Invictus (the Unconquered Hercules), and not far from that the rectangular Fortuna Virilis, both constructed in the 1st Century. Opposite, to the back of the piazza is the Arch of Argentari and behind that the church of San Giorgio in Velabro, the front of which was repaired after being damaged by a terrorist bomb in July 1993.

This museum is built on top of the excavation site of the Balbi Crypt, a building from the first century A.D. which underwent considerable modifications in the following centuries. Through the building's history, the museum gives us glimpses of what Roman life across the ages was like. Free visits of the ruins are possible. The Essedra ruins are only accessible on Saturdays and Sundays, at 10:45, 11:45, 12:45, 14:45 and 15:45.