The Porter

This massive early 17th-century Baroque fountain was built to celebrate the re-opening of an old Roman aqueduct. Water played an important role in this area in Roman times as the grain was milled here using water mills.

Where you can find the building of the House of Representatives.

Very ornately done and beautiful inside, but don't expect any information in English. All information panels are only in Italian. It's still a beautiful site though even if you don't read Italian. According to tradition St.Cecily suffered a particular cruel death as a martyr. She was scalded, suffocated and beheaded by three strokes on her neck. As she was singing all the time during her martyrdom she is considered the patron of music. The building of today shows a mixture of various styles, from the porticus of the 12th-century to the 18th-century facade.

The stadium is on the west bank of River Tiber, about three km directly north of the Vatican. It is part of a sports complex that was built for the 1960 Olympic Games, including the Olympic swimming pool and the tennis complex where the annual ATP/WTA Italian Open is held. The main stadium holds more than 80,000 and was extensively rebuilt, with a roof added, for the 1990 World Cup (soccer) finals.

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.

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.

Ara Pacis is an altar to peace commissioned by the Roman Senate on 4 July 13 BC to honor the triumphal return from Hispania and Gaul of Augustus. It is universally recognised as a masterpiece. Following discovery of this work under a building in Rome, Mussolini built a protective building for it near the Mausoleum of Augustus, where it was reconstructed. A new building on the same site as Mussolini's was opened in 2006 and has been controversial. The mayor at the time said he would tear down the new structure. The basement of the new building features occasional exhibitions. You can see much of it from outside the building. Paying to go inside adds some background info, but not much more.

The most extensive collection of Etruscan art and artifacts anywhere. Fantastic collection and well worth the admission charge. A difficult museum to find, but a lovely display in a beautiful villa setting.

Ballroom-like church which crowns part of the Capitoline Hill. Don't be fooled by the plain stone exterior.

It was built in 27 BCE, by Augustus' right hand man Marcus Agrippa, and later remodeled by the Emperor Hadrian (AD 125-128). This ancient temple was built as a temple to all the gods of the Roman state but has served as a Christian church since the 7th century. It is the only building from the Graeco-Roman world which has remained substantially intact and in continuous use throughout to the present day, and as it is still a functioning church, silence is requested during your visit. The Pantheon is celebrated for its large dome. From inside you'll see traces of the former bronze ceiling, melted down during the reign of Pope Urban VIII to make weapons for the fortification of the Castel Sant' Angelo. The hole in the center of the ceiling, though, is an original feature designed for architectural reasons (the dome would collapse without it.) If it happens to be raining, you should definitely go to the Pantheon to see the rain pouring into the building through the hole in the ceiling. There are holes in the ground that drain the water. The spectacular doors are Romans, but not the original. The original bronze beams of the pronao were melted down by Pope Urban VIII and might have been used to create Bernini's Baldacchino, or canopy, in Saint Peter's. The dome is the largest masonry dome in the world, larger than that of Saint Peter. The building now appears to be built in a depression, but this was not the original appearance. The street level at the sides and rear has risen about 10 metres (33 ft) since its construction due to the accumulation of debris from 2,000 years of settlement. This has necessitated the maintenance of the deep trench that keeps the building from being buried. The Pantheon was free for many years, but fees began being charged in 2023.

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).

On top of the Capitoline hill. The piazza was designed by Michelangelo. The Capitoline Museum is housed in the palaces flanking the piazza. You can walk behind the Palazzo Senatorio, where Rome's government meets, to a wonderful viewpoint which overlooks the entire Roman Forum. In the centre of the square you can admire an exact copy of the Statue of Marcus Aurelius on horseback; the original is kept in one of the two museums, to preserve it from pollution.

This building was erected in the 16th century for Cardinal Girolamo Capodiferro. One century later it was acquired by another powerful Cardinal, Bernardino Spada, and was restored by Borromini, who created the forced perspective optical illusion in the arcaded courtyard.

The building is in one of the most hidden corners of the city center among Piazza Navona and Castel Sant'Angelo. It served as residence for the Orsini family. Nowadays it is private property and one can only glance at the courtyard and the amazing fountain inside, erected in 1618 by architect Antonio Casoni. However, the brief moment is worth it.

An ancient Egyptian obelisk brought to Rome in 10 BC.

Named after St. Francis of Assisi, who stayed nearby. Inside the Paluzzi-Albertoni chapel is one of Bernini’s masterpieces, the statue of the Blessed Ludovica Albertoni. The column in front of the church comes from the ruins of Veii (see Rome/North).

Simple and elegant lines make up this building, whose construction began in 1480 for Count Girolamo Riario, nephew of Papa Sisto IV, and was taken up by architect Martino Longhi for the new owner, Cardinal Marco Sittico Altemps. Today it houses one of the branches of the National Museum of Rome, showcasing ancient and Renaissance sculptures, and the results of the 16th/17th-century fashion for 'completing' ancient sculptures missing heads or arms.

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.

This is a treasure-trove of art. There are a couple of paintings by Caravaggio: "The Crucifixion of Saint Peter" and "The Conversion of Saint Paul" (in a dim alcove to the left of the altar, both at right angles to the viewer, with a machine wanting €2 to switch on the lighting) together with a sculpture by Bernini, frescoes by Pinturicchio and mosaics by Raphael. Part of the Dan Brown tour, this church featured in Angels and Demons, although the Vatican did not allow filming inside.