Book the Colosseum Book now
Rome is not visited in chronological order: you walk through it. In one morning you go from the travertine of the Colosseum to the dome of the Pantheon, and by the afternoon you are standing in front of a Caravaggio in a church with no ticket desk. Here you will find guides to the stops worth the queue, the works worth looking for and the itineraries I built on foot.
3 articles
Start here
If this is your first time in Rome, start with these three. The Colosseum is timed entry and the same ticket covers the Roman Forum and the Palatine; at the Vatican Museums the only way past the queue is to book. The Pantheon is the quickest of the three and sits halfway between the other two, so it works well as a break.
Monuments & landmarks
The Colosseum: how to visit it, which ticket to choose and what to really look at
13 min read Monuments & landmarksThe Pantheon in Rome: what to see, what the ticket costs and why the dome stands up
13 min read Museums & masterpiecesTour of the Vatican Museums in Rome: 9 masterpieces you absolutely must know (updated 2026)
14 min read Sponsored
Experiences to book in Rome
Discover the best things to do nearby: tours, museums and experiences you can book online, skip the queues, at the best price.
Book the Vatican Museums Book now
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Book the Pantheon Book now
Book the Capitoline Museums Book now
Underground Trevi tour Book now
St Peter’s and the dome Book now
Get the Roma Pass Book now
Ostia Antica from Rome Book now
Appian Way bike tour Book now
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6 articles
Ancient Rome
The Colosseum ticket also covers the Roman Forum and the Palatine, so it pays to see them one after the other rather than spread them across three days. Ostia Antica is the alternative to Pompeii that sits half an hour from Rome: a whole city, with its streets and its houses. And what was dug out of these places ended up in the Museo Nazionale Romano, which is where you understand what you have just seen.
Monuments & landmarks
The Colosseum: how to visit it, which ticket to choose and what to really look at
13 min read Monuments & landmarks
The Roman Forum and the Palatine: what to see and how to read the ruins
13 min read Monuments & landmarksThe Pantheon in Rome: what to see, what the ticket costs and why the dome stands up
13 min read Monuments & landmarksThe Appian Way: 5 things to discover on the queen of roads, a UNESCO site (updated 2026)
12 min read Monuments & landmarksVisiting Ostia Antica: one of the most beautiful archaeological parks in the world (updated 2026)
11 min read Museums & masterpiecesNational Roman Museum: 6 works to see and how the combined ticket works
14 min read 6 articles
Museums and galleries
The Galleria Borghese admits visitors in timed slots and booking is compulsory for every ticket, free ones included: book that one before the others. The Doria Pamphilj is not a museum, it is the home of a family that still lives there, with the paintings hung where the men who bought them put them. The Capitoline and Palazzo Barberini are the two you can take slowly.
Museums & masterpieces
Tour of the Vatican Museums in Rome: 9 masterpieces you absolutely must know (updated 2026)
14 min read Museums & masterpiecesVisiting the Capitoline Museums: 8 must-see works you should know (updated 2026)
13 min read Museums & masterpiecesGalleria Borghese Rome: 10 masterpieces you absolutely must see (updated 2026)
17 min read Museums & masterpieces
Doria Pamphilj Gallery: 6 works to see in the finest private collection in Rome
13 min read Museums & masterpieces
Palazzo Barberini: 7 artworks to see, from the two Caravaggios to La Fornarina
14 min read Museums & masterpieces
The Farnesina Collection: the contemporary art hidden inside Italy’s Foreign Ministry (updated 2026)
5 min read 2 articles
The works not to miss
These two works are in the same place, the Vatican Museums, and you see them on the same visit. I have pulled them out of the rest because they are the case where knowing what to look for genuinely changes what you see: the Sistine Chapel and the School of Athens are read, not looked at.
2 articles
Churches
Churches are the free part of Rome, and they are no consolation prize: Santa Maria del Popolo holds Caravaggio, Raphael, Bernini and Carracci in the same building, with no ticket desk. St Peter’s is the exception, because the basilica is open to walk into but climbing the dome is separate.
3 articles
Fountains
Three fountains and three periods. The Trevi is the one everyone knows and the only one that needs a strategy about timing. Bernini’s Triton sits in a square you cross without noticing it. The Naiads are in front of Termini station, so they are probably the first thing you see when you arrive.
Monuments & landmarks
The Trevi Fountain: the history, what you are looking at and the new access rules
12 min read Monuments & landmarks
The Triton Fountain in Rome: 5 things to know and a few anecdotes (updated 2026)
8 min read Monuments & landmarks
The Fountain of the Naiads in Piazza della Repubblica: the secrets of a scandalous masterpiece (updated 2026)
6 min read 3 articles
Unexpected Rome
Three places the tours never reach. Through the keyhole of the Priory of Malta, on the Aventine, you see the dome of St Peter’s framed by an avenue of hedges. Coppedè is more a corner than a district and you can walk it in half an hour. Villa Torlonia earns the detour for its little houses.
Monuments & landmarks
The Coppedè district in Rome: a unique place suspended between dream and reality (updated 2026)
7 min read Monuments & landmarks
The Priory of Malta on the Aventine: the most romantic spot in Rome (updated 2026)
12 min read Monuments & landmarks
Villa Torlonia and its enchanted houses: a beautiful, little-known place in Rome (updated 2026)
8 min read 2 articles
Itineraries
Two ways of putting everything else in order. If you have three days, the itinerary is already built and it accounts for the distances, which in Rome are the variable that ruins plans. If you only need to decide which museums, the other guide compares them and tells you which day each one closes.
2 articles
All the Rome guides
This is where everything that does not belong to a single block ends up: the short history of the city, if you want the context before you go, and the places that fit more than one category.
Exhibitions on now in Rome
All the guides to Rome- closes in 27 days Vasari e Roma Musei Capitolini, Palazzo Caffarelli
- closes in 27 days Flowers. Meravigliosa Natura Chiostro del Bramante
- until 13 September 2026 Ettore Scola. Non ci siamo mai lasciati Museo di Roma, Palazzo Braschi
- until 27 September 2026 Andrea Pazienza. Non sempre si muore MAXXI, Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo
- until 4 October 2026 Robert Mapplethorpe. Le forme della bellezza Museo dell’Ara Pacis
- until 11 October 2026 Vermeer at Palazzo Barberini. Woman in Blue Reading a Letter Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica, Palazzo Barberini
- until 18 October 2026 Troia e Roma. Miti, leggende, storie del Mediterraneo antico Parco archeologico del Colosseo
- until 18 October 2026 Ercolano. L’arte di vivere Museo nazionale di Castel Sant’Angelo
- until 25 October 2026 After. Un percorso di lavoro. Fendi / Karl Lagerfeld 1985 Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea
- until 15 November 2026 AEGYPTUS. Dal Nilo al Mediterraneo Museo dell’Arte Salvata, Aula Ottagona delle Terme di Diocleziano
- until 15 November 2026 Miriam Cahn. Ciò che mi guarda MACRO, Museo di Arte Contemporanea di Roma
- until 13 December 2026 Diego Rivera e la costruzione dell’arte moderna in Messico nel XX secolo Musei Capitolini, Villa Caffarelli