Rome, Italy

What to do in Rome, Italy

Ancient Rome.

Arch of Constantine

This is the largest and best-known and last arch of Ancient Rome. It was built to celebrate the 10th year of Emperor Constantine's reign and his victory against Maxentius in 312AD to reunify the Roman Empire.

Casa de Livia

The decidedly modest home of Livia, wife of Augustus, is remarkably well-preserved and features frescoes depicting mythological scenes, including an encounter between Hermes and Io.

Coliseum

The Amphitheatrum Flavium is one of the most recognizable buildings in the world, commissioned in 72AD by Emperor Vespasian as an entertainment stadium for the people. Rowdy crowds numbering up to 55,000 could quickly enter and exit the building through its innovative maze of arcades, staircases, and corridors. After falling into disuse in 523AD, it was heavily looted for stone to build palaces, bridges, and the Basilica of St Peter, causing much more damage than the simple passage of time. Restoration and protection did not begin until the 19th century.

Forum

This was the focal point of the Empire, though it began as a simple market that later evolved, by the 2nd century BC, into a complex of offices, law courts, temples, and assorted government buildings.

Palatine Hill

Predating the Forum, this hill is where legend holds that the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, were suckled by a wolf. Whatever the truth of its origins, Iron Age remains from the 9th century BC have been unearthed here. Its excellent location lured such dignitaries as Cicero, Mark Antony, and the emperor Augustus Caesar to make their homes there. Succeeding emperors continued to live on the hill until the Emperor Domitian built a vast imperial residence over the Palatine, thus coining the term "palace.".

Via Sacra

This road, The Sacred Way, linked all the main Forum buildings and is the oldest surviving street in Rome. Triumphal processions would flow down this route and culminate at the Temple of Jupiter on Capitol Hill.

Monumental Rome.

Capitoline Hill

The hill was once the epicenter of the Roman Empire, where the city's first and holiest temples stood, including the most sacred Temple of Jupiter. By the Middle Ages it had fallen into ruin and so remained until 1538, when Pope Paul III restored its grandeur for Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Its highlights today are the Piazza del Campidoglio and the staircase ramp by Michaelangelo.

Pantheon

Emperor Hadrian built this temple in the 1st century BC to honor of the 12 Olympic deities on the site of an earlier temple built by Marcus Agrippa. The world's best-preserved ancient monument, we owe its excellent condition to its conversion into a 7th century AD church, which deterred construction stone looters.

Piazza Navona

This plaza is built on the site of the 86AD Stadium of Domitian, which was dismantled in the Middle Ages and transformed into a market and jousting field. When its famous fountains were commissioned in the 17th century, it took on yet another personality as an elegant oasis for resting. Charged simply with raising an obelisk above a fountain, Bernini instead created a marble sculpture called the Fountain of the Four Rivers, one of the most amazing in Rome.

Temple of Vesta

This is a 1930s recreation of the home of the "sacred flame" that symbolized the life of the Empire and was guarded by Vestal Virgin priestesses who lived in a neighboring house. The House of the Vestal Virgins retains the interior courtyard floor, headless statues of the senior vestals, and some man-made pools.

Trevi Fountain

Begun in 1732 by Nicola Salvi and Pietro Bracci, this is the biggest fountain in Rome. The city's many fountains were meant to be simply a source of water, but their creators made art of necessity. Trevi is a sensational study in movement, with the stone carvings representing the ocean, and Neptune, god of the sea, presiding at its center. This fountain gained worldwide recognition when Anita Ekberg splashed around it in Fellini's film La Dolce Vita.

Christian Rome.

Catacombs

Early Christians were not permitted burial inside the city walls, so they turned to the catacombs. These are underground passages that linked graves and crypts and also served as meeting places for the persecuted fledgling religion. Christian insistence on equality and justice was seen as a threat to the security of the state and they were duly punished for their "insurrection." Many martyrs and saints were buried here up to the 1st century AD, and pagans had also been buried here as early as the 4th century BC because of the lower cost.

Vatican City

Not actually a part of Rome, it is a sovereign state headed by the Pope. With its own head of state, palace, army, worldwide political relationships, currency, postal system and stamps, you would expect it to be much bigger than it is. But what it lacks in size, it makes up for in substance.

Sistine Chapel

Arguably the most outstanding masterpiece ever created by the hand of man is the Michelangelo's frescoed ceiling depicting key passages from the Pentateuch. On the great wall of the altar, Michelangelo depicted The Last Judgment, with Christ the Judge dominating the center of this apocalyptic scene. The walls have panels by other masters, like Botticelli's Temptation of Christ.

St Peter's Basilica

Emperor Constantine commissioned a basilica to replace the altar marking the grave of the martyred St Peter (which was unearthed in the exact spot indicated by tradition). Though it was meant to last 1,000 years, it was crumbling by the mid-15th century so, in 1506, Pope Julius II laid the foundation stone for a new basilica. It is the largest and most important Catholic church in the world, and its greatest feature is Michelangelo's dome. It has a series of columns interspersed with windows, the largest of which is the Loggia of the Benedictions, from which the Pope imparts his blessing to the faithful gathered in the square.

Vatican Hill

This is believed to be the site of the crucifixion of St Peter in the Imperial Gardens in 61AD. Around 200AD, an altar was raised to mark his tomb, known as the Necropolis.

Vatican Museums

By far one of the greatest art collections in the world is found in Vatican City. In addition to priceless works by Renaissance masters, there is an extraordinary collection of historically important work by Byzantians, as well as early Christians, that makes palpable the intensity of faith that kept the new religion alive in the face of relentless persecution.

Vatican Palace

A large group of buildings, a few of which serve as the residence of the Pope and the Pontifical Court and most of which house museums, galleries, libraries, and archives, make up the palace.

Out and About Rome.

Appian Way

The Via Appia, dating from 312 BC, was the road used by Roman legions, and much of the original paving remains. Fashionable Romans were buried here and the early Christians dug their catacombs underneath. The mass crucifixion of the noble rebel Spartacus and his slave army in 71 BC lined the route in a gruesome forest of death all the way to Capua. Yet, today, this is many a Roman's favorite place to stroll, as the scenery, historic presence, and ancient trees create a setting as magnificent as the world can offer.

Day Trips.

Cápri

At the far end of the Sorrentine peninsula lies the island of Capri, a vacation getaway at least since Emperor Tiberius retreated here for bouts of hedonistic excess until his death in 37AD. The Blue Grotto and the island's stunning landscape and views have inspired writers and artists for centuries, and led to its natural evolution as a tourist destination. Many ferries from Rome service the island.

Florence

When interest in Renaissance art surged to the forefront of aesthetic appreciation in the 19th century, Florence was reborn as a shrine to the movement. The signature landmarks of the marble Baptistery and the Duomo are stupendous, but the treasures of the city are actually indoors, in the galleries, chapels, and museums that contain an inexhaustible collection of the spiritual hand of the Renaissance artist. It was here that the Medicis made their fortune in banking and turned the city into a center of patronage for the burgeoning masters.

Naples

124 miles south of Rome lies this "Capital of the South," large, overbearing, and noisy, which is just the way its fiercely loyal citizens like it. You may be taken aback at first, but then you realize that these abrupt elements are the city's very attraction, akin to the chaos of New York City. In Naples, you get the sensation that you have stumbled upon some sort of Italian Casbah unlike any other in Europe.

Pompeii

The larger of the two cities destroyed by the infamous eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79AD (the other was Herculaneum), which buried the town and its people, Pompeii was one of the Campania region's most important commercial centers. The volcanic ash and layers of pumice effectively froze the village in time, giving us a priceless, though tragic, image of exactly how imperial citizens lived.

Sorrento

Atop the rocky cliffs jutting off its peninsula 150 miles South of Rome, Sorrento is a brazen seaside resort that has drawn travelers from around the world for over 200 years. The lively atmosphere stays true to its unpretentious southern Italian roots, and it the perfect place to explore the rugged Amalfi shore and bay islands.