Rome Travel Guide: Everything You Need to Know

The Colosseum is the largest amphitheater ever built and the most enduring symbol of Roman civilization. Construction began under Emperor Vespasian in 72 AD and the structure held up to 80,000 spectators for gladiatorial contests, animal hunts, and public spectacles. Standing inside it, looking up at the four tiers of arches and imagining the full structure when its marble cladding was intact, is one of the great architectural encounters available anywhere.

The Roman Forum immediately adjacent to the Colosseum was the commercial, religious, and political center of ancient Rome. Walking through it with even a basic understanding of what each structure was used for transforms it from a field of old stones into the central public space of the most powerful civilization in Western history. Combine the Colosseum and Forum on the same ticket, which is purchased in advance online.

• Combined ticket (Colosseum, Forum, Palatine Hill): approximately 18 euros
• Book: weeks in advance at coopculture.it to skip the queue entirely
• Best time: first entry slot of the day or late afternoon

Vatican City is an independent state within Rome and contains the greatest concentration of Renaissance art in the world. St Peter’s Basilica, the largest church in Christendom, took over 120 years to build and contains works by Michelangelo, Bernini, and Raphael within a single building. The climb to the dome offers the best panoramic view of Rome available at any height.

The Vatican Museums contain 54 galleries of extraordinary art culminating in the Sistine Chapel, where Michelangelo’s ceiling is exactly as extraordinary as its reputation suggests. The Gallery of Maps, the Raphael Rooms, and the Pinacoteca gallery contain works that would be headline attractions at any museum in the world but are often rushed through by visitors focused only on reaching the Sistine Chapel.

Book Vatican Museums tickets online at least two weeks in advance in peak season. The museums are free on the last Sunday of each month, which results in extremely long queues forming from early morning.

The Trevi Fountain is the largest and most elaborate Baroque fountain in Rome, completed in 1762 after nearly 30 years of construction. Neptune stands at the center of a triumphal arch facade on the Palazzo Poli, commanding two seahorses representing the contrasting moods of the sea. The tradition of throwing a coin over your left shoulder with your right hand to ensure a return to Rome draws millions of visitors annually and generates approximately 1.5 million euros per year, which is donated to a Roman charity.

The fountain is spectacular at any hour but extraordinary in the very early morning before the crowds arrive. Walking to the Trevi at 6am on a summer morning gives you five to ten minutes of relative solitude in front of one of the world’s great works of public art.

The Pantheon is the best-preserved building of ancient Rome and one of the most influential structures in the history of Western architecture. Built around 125 AD under Emperor Hadrian, the unreinforced concrete dome with its central oculus remains the largest of its kind in the world nearly 1,900 years after construction. The engineering that made it possible was not surpassed until the Renaissance.

The Pantheon is now a working church and charges a small entry fee. Walking in from the bright Roman street into the diffused light falling from the oculus above is one of the great architectural experiences in Europe. Visit in the rain to see the water falling through the opening into the drainage channels below, exactly as designed by ancient Roman engineers.

The Borghese Gallery in the Villa Borghese gardens is the finest small museum in Rome and one of the great collections in the world. The Bernini sculptures, including Apollo and Daphne, The Rape of Persephone, and David, are among the most technically extraordinary works in marble ever created. Caravaggio paintings including Boy with a Basket of Fruit and David with the Head of Goliath are in the same rooms.

Entry is strictly timed and limited to two hours per group. Tickets must be booked well in advance at galleriaborghese.it. The limitation on visitor numbers means the experience of viewing these works without crowds is unlike any major museum in Rome.

Trastevere on the west bank of the Tiber is the most atmospheric neighborhood in Rome for evening dining and wandering. The narrow cobbled streets, ivy-covered medieval buildings, and the beautiful Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere create a neighborhood that feels more like a village than part of a major European capital. The restaurants here range from tourist traps to genuinely excellent local trattorias. Walk away from the main piazza to find the latter.

Testaccio is the neighborhood most Romans point to when asked where they actually eat. The area around the old slaughterhouse, now a contemporary art museum, contains the covered Testaccio Market, several of Rome’s most celebrated traditional restaurants, and the best street food in the city. Trapizzino (triangular pizza pockets with fillings) was invented here. The supplì (rice croquettes) at Supplì Roma are extraordinary.

The Centro Storico between the Pantheon and the Campo de’ Fiori contains the greatest density of beautiful streets, squares, churches, and monuments in Rome. The Piazza Navona, built on the footprint of an ancient stadium, contains Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers. The winding medieval streets between these landmarks are some of the finest urban walking in Europe. The neighborhood is expensive and tourist-heavy but remains genuinely beautiful.

• Cacio e pepe: Rome’s most distinctive pasta dish. Tonnarelli pasta with Pecorino Romano cheese and black pepper. Deceptively simple and extraordinarily difficult to make well. Da Enzo al 29 in Trastevere does the definitive version
• Carbonara: the real carbonara uses no cream. Guanciale (cured pork cheek), egg yolk, Pecorino Romano, and black pepper on rigatoni. Order it anywhere in Testaccio and you will be eating it properly
• Supplì: fried rice croquettes with a melted mozzarella center. The Roman street food of choice, available from dedicated supplì shops and pizza al taglio counters throughout the city
• Gelato: real gelato is made fresh daily with natural ingredients and served from stainless steel containers with lids. If the gelato is piled high in colorful mountains, it is almost certainly commercial. Seek out gelaterie where it is stored in covered metal pans
• Pizza al taglio: pizza by the slice sold by weight, baked in rectangular trays. The Roman style uses a longer, slower fermentation than Neapolitan pizza and produces a lighter, crispier result. Forno Campo de’ Fiori is the most celebrated source