The 27 best things to do in Rome

The problem when visiting Rome is deciding what to not do: there are such a lot of church buildings, archaeological websites, piazzas and work to see {that a} lifetime is hardly sufficient. Don’t attempt to cram an excessive amount of in; Rome strikes at a slower tempo than many northern Italian cities, and to take pleasure in it it is best to take trip in pavement cafés in addition to shuffle around the Sistine Chapel.

Learn on for our specialists’ ideas for the perfect issues to do in Rome, together with at evening and strange choices. That can assist you plan your metropolis break, we even have guides for Rome’s greatest eating places, accommodations, nightlife, procuring, free issues to do and spend a weekend there. 

What may very well be extra Roman than zipping across the Colosseum on the again of a Vespa? An effective way to see sights away from the centre of city, which will be difficult to get to in any other case. In a half-day personal tour you’ll see an incredible take care of the pleasant folks at Scooteroma. Select a traditional itinerary to soak up town’s highlights or a themed tour to give attention to something from meals to road artwork.

Insider’s tip: Save your self the stress of Roman site visitors and be pushed in convoy by the specialists; this selection means you may also prepare to be picked up wherever fits you.

Contact: scooteroma.com
Value: £££

Taking a tour with a personal information can carry ruins to life or assist you to to skilfully negotiate intriguing backstreets, nipping into bucolic courtyards and fairly church buildings you wouldn’t know have been there. Even a go to to the notoriously crowded Vatican Museums can turn out to be an entertaining breeze. Agnes Crawford, a transplanted Brit with an grasp’s diploma from Edinburgh in architectural historical past, has been main excursions in Rome since 2001. She and her knowledgeable archaeologist colleagues specialize in personalised excursions.

Insider’s tip: Point out any particular pursuits when reserving and your itinerary might be tailor-made to go well with. A visit to Ostia Antica is at all times a success with kids.

Contact: understandingrome.com
Value: £££

It’s troublesome to consider that the Pantheon, a temple to all of the gods, has been standing right here for nearly 2,000 years; even the bronze doorways are nonetheless intact. Hadrian constructed it on the positioning of an earlier temple and it was accomplished in 125 AD. It’s the best-preserved historical constructing within the metropolis: its salvation was its conversion right into a church in 608 AD. The spectacular concrete dome has an open oculus and is a marvel of engineering that has impressed architects ever since. The kings of united Italy are buried right here, as is the artist Raphael.

Web site: pantheonroma.com
Nearest metro: Spagna
Value: £

Augustus marched residence from three years of subjugating his previously fractious empire in 13BC, and the Senate promptly commissioned a monument. 4 years later the Ara Pacis was inaugurated: an ‘altar of peace’ inside marble partitions gloriously carved with friezes hailing the emperor, his household, and normal prosperity. Pieced collectively through the twentieth century, it’s now housed in a Richard Meier-designed museum.

Contact: arapacis.it
Nearest metro: Flaminio
Value: £££

The artwork assortment of the Doria-Pamphilj household is really magnificent, as is the household’s palazzo, the place works are displayed in line with a 1760 stock. Creative highlights embody a hanging portraits of the Pamphilj pontiff Harmless X by each Velazquez and Bernini, in addition to masterpieces by Caravaggio, Titian, and Raphael. The chatty audio information narrated by half-British Prince Jonathan Doria-Pamphilj is included within the ticket value

Contact: doriapamphilj.it
Nearest metro: Spagna
Value: £££
Guide tickets

Highly effective Roman households within the Sixteenth and seventeenth centuries prided themselves on their collections of classical statuary, they usually had no qualms about bringing in a sculptor of their very own to exchange lacking arms and noses. Therefore lots of the outstanding historical statues displayed in Palazzo Altemps’ gallery of collections from 4 dynasties look surprisingly intact. There’s an Ares patched up by Bernini, and an Athena returned to her full glory by Alessandro Algardi.

Insider’s tip: The constructing itself can be splendid; look out for the cherubs within the Chapel. Entrance to Crypta Balbi, Palazzo Massimo and the Baths of Diocletian is included.

Contact: coopculture.it
Nearest metro: Flaminio
Value: ££
Guide tickets

Half circus, half sports activities enviornment, Rome’s most well-known classical damage is unmissable – particularly now that they’ve prolonged the customer path to the underfloor passageways by means of which gladiators and wild beasts made their entrances. The huge enviornment – formally known as the Amphiteatrum Flavium – was inaugurated in 80 AD, and seated effectively over 50,000 individuals.

Insider’s tip: The audio guides are value investing in however test yours features earlier than straying removed from the rental kiosks; not all of them work.

Contact: parcocolosseo.it
Nearest metro: Colosseo
Value: ££
Guide tickets

Head for Acqua Madre hammam – this city spa in an unassuming road within the former Jewish Ghetto is a (literal) dive into the previous. The brick-vaulted rooms chart the identical journey from tepidarium, to calidarium, to steam rooms and again once more that the ancients have been following two millennia in the past, making this the closest factor within the metropolis to a really Roman thermal expertise.

Insider’s tip: A variety of therapeutic massage choices can be found, a few of which use fanghi (mineral-rich mud) and salts from the Useless Sea.

Contact: acquamadre.it
Nearest metro: Colosseo
Value: ££

That is the world’s oldest public museum, relationship again to a 1471 donation to the individuals of Rome by Pope Sixtus IV. Its gems, now unfold by means of two palazzi on Michelangelo’s Piazza del Campidoglio, embody Rome’s emblem (the bronze she-wolf), Bernini’s outstanding statue of Pope City VIII, an image gallery with work by Caravaggio, Tintoretto, Titian and others, and the second century AD equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius (the one within the piazza outdoors is a replica).

Contact: museicapitolini.org
Nearest metro: Colosseo
Value: ££
Guide tickets

Within the Eighties, archeologists set to work digging down by means of Renaissance and medieval layers to the courtyard and foyer of a theatre constructed by the rich Spaniard Cornelius Balbus in 13BC. The result’s Crypta Balbi, an interesting small museum displaying a vertical timeline of Roman life. Ask on the ticket workplace when excursions of the excavations begin. Upstairs, intelligently introduced shows present how road ranges rose although centuries of constructing, scavenging and restoring.

Insider’s tip: There’s an exquisite view throughout Rome’s rooftops from the highest ground. The ticket can be legitimate for Palazzo Altemps, Palazzo Massimo and the Baths of Diocletian.

Contact: coopculture.it
Nearest metro: Colosseo
Value: £

Beneath the council places of work of the Province of Rome lies Le Domus Romane, a deal with for anybody pissed off by the uncommunicative nature of lots of the metropolis’s ruins. The stays of a swanky residence of a well-heeled Roman has been delivered to life with a multimedia expertise, reworking gloomy excavations into vivid reproductions of a frescoed, peopled Roman dwelling, full with indoor water options. The go to lasts 75 minutes, with a radical however entertaining narration.

Insider’s tip: There are 4 visits in English every day (test web site for occasions), and reserving really useful.

Contact: palazzovalentini.it
Nearest metro: Colosseo
Value: ££
Guide tickets

The guts of the traditional metropolis occupied the valley of the Discussion board, which hosted each the Historic Roman seat of presidency and the conurbation’s regulation courts, temples, monuments of triumph, and outlets. Above the Discussion board, the beautiful Palatine Hill is the place Romulus legendarily based Rome, and the place emperors corresponding to Augustus constructed their palaces.

Insider’s tip: Entrance to the Discussion board and Palatine additionally consists of entrance to the Colosseum, legitimate the identical day with one entrance to every website. Guide on-line to minimise queuing, and attempt to go at both finish of the day for fewer individuals.

Contact: coopculture.it
Nearest metro: Colosseo
Value: ££
Guide tickets

An acronym for Seven Distinctive Locations to Expertise in Rome, the Tremendous move offers entry to a clutch of historical villas, temples, and different buildings that have been beforehand closed to the general public. Situated on the Palatine hill, the websites embody the Criptoportico Neroniano, Aula Isiaca–Loggia Mattei, Home of Augustus, Home of Livia, Temple of Romulus, Santa Maria Antiqua, and Domus Transitoria, in addition to the Palatine Museum. 

Insider’s tip: Buy a Full Expertise ticket (Colosseum-Roman Discussion board-Palatine Hill-SUPER) that additionally consists of entrance to the restricted Enviornment ground contained in the Colosseum on-line upfront.

Contact: coopculture.it
Nearest metro: Colosseo
Value: ££
Guide tickets

This inventive treasure trove – one of many greatest museums on the planet – will be somewhat overwhelming. The trick is to select areas to go to and keep on with them. In addition to the holy grail of the Sistine Chapel, there’s a lot to take pleasure in alongside the best way, from hanging classical statues such because the Laocoon, to Pinturicchio’s pleasant Borgia Room frescoes, from magnificent decorations by Raphael to an Egyptian museum full with mummies.

Insider’s tip: It’s effectively value reserving a timed slot on-line. Midweek late afternoons are the perfect occasions to go to minimise crowds. The museum is open and free for all guests on final Sunday of each month.

Contact: museivaticani.va
Nearest metro: Ottaviano
Value: ££
Guide tickets

In a skyline punctuated by numerous domes and cupolas, Michelangelo’s hovering masterpiece atop St Peter’s Basilica reigns supreme. For a stunning, 360-degree view over the rooftops of the Everlasting Metropolis, take the elevator up from the ground-floor degree of the basilica, then climb the ultimate 320 steps to the 136-meter-high panoramic perch on the high. 

Insider’s tip: Go for the elevator or get your coronary heart pumping by strolling up the 231 steps to the primary viewing platform overlooking the dome’s inside and sq. outdoors. The ultimate slim, spiral staircase to succeed in the higher viewing platform is for the extra adventurous guests.

Contact: museivaticani.va
Nearest metro: Ottaviano
Value: £
Guide tickets

The creepy crypt beneath the Capuchin church has been spun right into a Franciscan monk ‘expertise’, full with shows of the knotted whips of flagellating friars and circumstances of artefacts seized by missionaries. There’s additionally a St Francis canvas supposedly by Caravaggio, although it’s often considered a replica.

Insider’s tip: Head straight for the primary draw: the crypt the place generations of monks’ bones, are organized artfully in patterns on partitions and ceilings, and common into macabre chandeliers. A jolly signal on the entrance reads ‘You can be what we now are’.

Contact: museoecriptacappuccini.it
Nearest metro: Barberini
Value: ££
Guide tickets

Agostino Chigi, banker to Pope Julius II, threw the wildest events of the early Sixteenth century on this pleasure villa on the banks of the Tiber. He commissioned Raphael to fresco the place with classical scenes. The artist and his college students carried out his designs to the letter, most impressively within the Loggia of Psyche, the place the garlands of fruit and flowers embody species that had solely lately arrived from the New World.

Insider’s tip: Within the upstairs salon look out for graffiti left by troopers through the Sack of Rome on the painted view of Sixteenth-century Trastevere.

Contact: villafarnesina.it
Nearest metro: Colosseo
Value: £

The Galleria Borghese was constructed within the early seventeenth century by Cardinal Scipione Borghese to deal with his assortment of artwork, each historical and fashionable. Downstairs sees sculpture jostle alongside a few of Bernini’s biggest works (don’t miss Apollo and Daphne), and there’s a gaggle of Caravaggios in Room VIII. The image gallery upstairs is full of a veritable catalogue of Italian portray: Raphael, Titian, and way more.

Insider’s tip: Visits need to be booked upfront by way of the web site or telephone, and run on two hour timeslots – although in the event you flip up at a quiet time of yr, there could also be nonetheless be areas that very same day.

Contact: galleriaborghese.beniculturali.it
Nearest metro: Spagna
Value: £££
Guide tickets

The Palazzo Massimo alle Terme is a Nineteenth-century palazzo that homes one other of Rome’s superlative collections of classical artwork. Masterpieces on the bottom and first flooring embody Augustus as Excessive Priest, a Discus Thrower and a Greek bronze boxer, and a brilliant assortment of Imperial portraits. However it’s the second-floor reconstructions of rooms from luxurious historical homes, full with brightly-coloured wall ornament, that’s this museum’s actual excessive level.

Insider’s tip: Make a beeline for the painted leafy, plant-and-bird-filled triclinium (eating room) from Livia’s villa north of Rome. The ticket consists of entrance to Crypta Balbi, Palazzo Altemps and the Baths of Diocletian.

Contact: coopculture.it
Nearest metro: Termini or Repubblica
Value: ££
Guide tickets

San Clemente is one in all Rome’s most worthwhile however least publicised sightseeing treats. The historically-layered cake descends from a street-level medieval and early-Renaissance church, with frescoes by Masolino, by way of a fourth-century early Christian church to the basement stays of a second-century insula (residence block), full with a shrine to Mithras. When down right here, hear for the sound of operating water: an historical sewer passes shut by earlier than dumping its contents within the Tiber.

Web site: basilicasanclemente.com
Nearest metro: Colosseo

It took rampaging Goths to shut down the Baths of Caracalla, an enormous thermal tub advanced based in AD 217 (they severed the water provide in AD 537). In addition to two enormous gyms, an open-air pool, and rooms of various temperatures, as much as 1,500 historical shoppers at a time might take pleasure in a library, outlets and landscaped gardens. Nonetheless immediately, the towering ruins are extraordinarily spectacular, although the sculptures that littered the place are actually largely in Naples’ archaeological museum.

Insider’s tip: The summer season season of the Rome Opera Home is held right here; it’s spectacularly floodlit on balmy evenings (see operaroma.it for programme).

Contact: coopculture.it
Nearest metro: Circo Massimo
Value: ££
Guide tickets

The Appian Approach, since in 312 BC, was the chosen approach to transfer troops southwards. It was additionally the well-off historical Roman’s burial venue of selection. Few of the spectacular mausoleums survive above floor however be sure you see that of Cecilia Metella. Early Christians had much less grand tombs, buried underground in lots of miles of catacombs. The most important advanced is San Callisto, the place 9 popes and dozens of martyrs have been amongst these laid to relaxation in 12 miles of tunnels.

Insider’s tip: Again above floor the Appia Antica past Cecilia Metella is bucolic, and there’s a nice cafe at by way of Appia Antica 175 (appiaanticacaffe.it) which rents out bikes.

Contact: catacombe.roma.it
Nearest metro: Circo Massimo
Value: ££
Guide tickets

MAXXI is contained in a daring piece of up to date structure within the hip Flaminio district was designed by archistar Zaha Hadid. The contents of the Museum of twenty first Century Arts (MAXXI) do not at all times dwell as much as its eye-catching exterior, however though the everlasting artwork assortment (now visitable without spending a dime Tuesday-Friday) is just not the world’s most enjoyable, MAXXI phases excellent exhibitions and retrospectives, particularly on architectural themes.

Insider’s tip: The piazza outdoors is well-used by locals, and a jolly spot for a espresso. Proper behind the museum, you may discover Neve di Latte, one in all Rome’s actually nice new-generation ice-cream outlets.

Contact: maxxi.artwork
Nearest metro: Flaminio
Value: ££

When the Romans vanquished the cultivated Etruscans of central Italy, they labored exhausting to expunge their reminiscence. This intriguing tradition finds an eloquent voice by way of the wonderful artefacts of the Nationwide Etruscan Museum. The life-sized husband and spouse reclining on the lid of their sarcophagus look distinctly clubbable, and the statue of Apollo from the temple at Portonaccio is a movingly lifelike masterpiece.

Insider’s tip: The museum is housed in an exquisite Sixteenth-century villa constructed for Pope Julius III, partly by Michelangelo. Look out for the beautiful sunken nympheum on the finish of the courtyard.

Contact: museoetru.it
Nearest metro: Circo Massimo
Value: ££

One of the vital unlikely – and arguably extra satisfying – venues in Rome’s panoply of historical choices, this decommissioned energy station has had its enormous generators, boilers and cogs polished as much as present a dramatic backdrop for selection items from the Capitoline Museums’ storerooms. What counts as a ‘minor’ historical art work or architectural ornament in Rome, in fact, can be a significant centrepiece elsewhere; the dreamy muse Polymnia and a towering statue of the goddess Fortuna are circumstances in level.

Insider’s tip: The Centrale is visitable on a joint ticket with the Capitoline Museums. Go to the museum’s web site for updates on kids’s actions and the occasional jazz live performance.

Contact: en.centralemontemartini.org
Nearest metro: Circo Massimo
Value: £

One among Italy’s most stunning gardens, Giardino di Ninfa was laid out between the Twenties and the Sixties by the Anglo-Italian Caetani household on the positioning of an deserted medieval village 37 miles south of Rome. The identify comes from the nymphaeum on the positioning, referred to by Pliny the Youthful.

Insider’s tip: If you happen to don’t have a automobile, take the prepare to Latina (on the primary Naples line) after which a taxi. It’s only open about 30 days a yr, principally over weekends and public holidays, test web site for particulars. Reserving is crucial.

Contact: frcaetani.it/portfolio/giardino-di-ninfa
Value: ££

Typically abandoned, Ostia Antica is Historic Rome’s impressively preserved port, as soon as a buzzing city in its personal proper. The Med is 2 miles away and the river has now modified its course, however for effectively over 600 years Ostia buzzed with maritime commerce from the far reaches of the empire. Look out for the traditional bar-restaurant, with the day’s menu nonetheless frescoed on the partitions.

Insider’s tip: Get there by way of a 30-minute, €1.50 (£1.30) hop on a commuter prepare from Piramide (it’s a brief stroll from Ostia Antica station). The traditional theatre continues to be used for performs and live shows through the summer season: see ostianticateatro.it for particulars.

Contact: ostianticateatro.it
Value: ££
Guide tickets

Each attraction and exercise on this curated record has been tried and examined by our vacation spot knowledgeable, to give you their insider perspective. We cowl a spread of budgets and types, from world-class museums to family-friendly theme parks – to greatest go well with each sort of traveller. We replace this record recurrently to maintain up with the most recent openings and supply updated suggestions.