This makes for a magnificent scene, bristling with columns, triumphal arches, battered walls, temples converted into churches, and crisscrossed by paved streets, bearing witness to 12 centuries of history. Before starting a detailed exploration of th..

Lying alongside Via dei Fori Imperiali are the ruins of this forum begun by Trajan in 113. Construction was an ambitious project; part of the Quirinal Hill nearest the Capitol was removed, requiring the excavation of some 30m of soil. The forum is co..

Built in 1655 by Girolamo Rainaldi, the palace was part of a project by Michelangelo for the Senate House . With the Palazzo dei Conservatori , it houses the collections of the Capitoline Museums . The room of the Emperors has portraits of all t..

Designed and partially built by Michelangelo from 1536, the square is bordered by three palaces and a balustrade overlooking the statues of the Dioscuri; in the centre Michelangelo placed the statue of Marcus Aurelius (today a copy stands in its plac..

Piazza del Campidoglio is bordered by numerous palaces, including Palazzo Senatorio, built in the 12C and remodelled between 1582 and 1602 by Giacomo della Porta and Girolamo Rainaldi (today Rome’s town hall).

Based at the Palazzo dei Conservatori and Palazzo Nuovo , although part of the collection (notably items excavated in the rome region) are now on display at the Montemartini Power Station. Among the masterpieces are: the equestrian statue of Marcus ..

On the ancient hill that symbolises the might of Rome stands the church of Santa Maria d’Aracoeli plus Piazza del Campidoglio and its palaces: Palazzo Senatorio (the town hall), Palazzo dei Conservatori and Palazzo Nuovo (these last two housing..

Often copied, this is the Jesuit church par excellence. It combines the solemnity and simplicity of the Counter-Reformation with some incredibly exuberant interior decoration from a century later, at the very height of Baroque movement. Baciccia's f..

The Temple of Saturn comprises a 1C BC platform and eight 4C columns (the temple having been rebuilt after a fire). Saturn was the god of agriculture and the weather; at the winter solstice, celebrations took place in his honour and in anticipation o..

These were built by Caesar, Augustus, Trajan, Nerva and Vespasian; of the last two, nothing remains. Opened by Mussolini in 1932, Via dei Fori Imperiali cuts through the middle of them.

Trajan’s Column is an unparalleled masterpiece. Standing 38m tall, it incorporates bulging in its construction to avoid the illusion of concavity generated by its sheer height. Animated by the spiral course they follow, the hundred scenes of images d..

Just below the Basilica Julia stand the three fine Corinthian columns of the Temple of Castor and Pollux, the rising profile of their white marble evoking the magnificence with which Augustus sought to endow the city. The temple recalls the legend of..

The Pantheon is the best preserved Classical building anywhere; a pagan temple, it was converted into a church in the 7C. It is entered through a portico supported by sixteen monolithic granite columns, all original save the three at the left-hand en..

In this round temple built in the late 6C BC, the famous Vestals were in charge of keeping the sacred fire burning. Nearby is the Atrium Vestae, where the priestesses lived. The code they adhered to was strict: recruited at the age of 10, they served..

It is universally known since Anita Ekberg bathed in it, wearing an evening dress, in Dolce Vità . The monumental Trevi Fountain is a late Baroque masterpiece, erected by Nicola Salvi in 1732, on Pope Clement XII's orders. Its water comes from a 2..

Impossible to miss, this is the massive brick building standing in the Forum Romanum and showing some of its vaults along the Via dei Fori Imperiali. Work began under Maxentius in 305, and was completed by Constantine. This grandiose building housed ..

This Baroque masterpiece by Bernini (1651) stands at the centre of Piazza Navona . The statues represent four great rivers (the Danube, the Ganges, Rio del Plata and the Nile), symbolising the four corners of the earth.

Piazza Navona retains a long narrow layout, as dictated by Domitian when he had a stadium built here in 86 AD for games. Traffic is banned, making it a pleasant and lively meeting place where in the evenings street artists of all kinds can be seen pe..

Rome’s finest and best preserved triumphal arch stands in front of the Colosseum . Erected in 315 to commemorate Constantine's victory over Maxentius, it is abundantly decorated with scenes removed from 2C monuments. Recent research has shown that i..

Recently restored, this magnificent 15C palace today houses the Ludovisi-Boncompagni collection: in the first half of the 17C, Cardinal Ludovico decided to embellish his villa with a mass of statuary by the greatest artists of the age (including Bern..