Things to Do in Rome: The Best Sights, Experiences & Hidden Spots

Rome rewards walking more than almost any city in Europe. The historic centre is dense with things worth seeing, and the best approach is to group sights by neighbourhood rather than by category — the Forum and Colosseum together, the Vatican with the Castel Sant’Angelo, Trastevere for food and evening atmosphere.

Ancient Rome

The Colosseum, Roman Forum & Palatine Hill — sold as a combined ticket (€18, book online). The Colosseum is the obvious centrepiece: an arena built for 50,000 spectators, completed in 80 AD, where gladiatorial combat and animal hunts were staged for 400 years. The Forum is where Republican Rome conducted its public life — the Via Sacra, the temples, the senate house. Palatine Hill above it is where the emperors built their palaces; the views over the Forum and Circus Maximus are some of the best in Rome.

The Pantheon — built by Hadrian around 125 AD, it is the best-preserved ancient building in the world. The dome’s concrete oculus admits natural light and remains technically remarkable nearly 1,900 years after construction. Free entry (registration required at rome.pantheonroma.com).

Piazza Navona — built over the stadium of Domitian, whose curved shape it retains. Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers is the centrepiece. Crowded, touristy, but genuinely beautiful.

The Vatican

Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel — the world’s largest museum collection, culminating in the Sistine Chapel ceiling (Michelangelo, 1508–1512). Book well in advance. The Gallery of Maps, Raphael Rooms, and the pinecone courtyard are as impressive as the Sistine itself, and less photographed.

St. Peter’s Basilica — free entry. The largest church in the world and architecturally extraordinary. Climb the dome for the best aerial view of Rome (€8 with lift, €6 on foot).

Castel Sant’Angelo — the circular mausoleum of Emperor Hadrian, later converted into a fortress and papal refuge. The rooftop terrace has excellent views of the Tiber and the city.

Piazzas and neighbourhoods worth seeing

Campo de’ Fiori — a daily produce market in the morning, the liveliest drinking square in central Rome by night. The statue at the centre is of Giordano Bruno, burned as a heretic on the spot in 1600.

Piazza di Spagna — the Spanish Steps (built by the French, named for the Spanish Embassy) are one of Rome’s iconic gathering spots. Beautiful in the evening.

Testaccio — the neighbourhood built around the city’s former slaughterhouse (now a cultural centre). The best Roman food, the covered market, and the Non-Catholic Cemetery where Keats and Shelley are buried.

Day trips

Pompeii and Herculaneum are 3 hours south by train. Ostia Antica (Rome’s ancient port city) is 45 minutes west — less crowded than Pompeii and almost as impressive. Tivoli has Hadrian’s Villa and the Villa d’Este gardens.