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 · Europa
The Colosseum: how to visit it, which ticket to choose and what to really look at
13 min read Monuments & landmarks · EuropaThe Pantheon in Rome: what to see, what the ticket costs and why the dome stands up
13 min read Museums & masterpieces · EuropaTour 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.
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Book the Capitoline Museums Book now
Underground Trevi 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 · Europa
The Colosseum: how to visit it, which ticket to choose and what to really look at
13 min read Monuments & landmarks · Europa
The Roman Forum and the Palatine: what to see and how to read the ruins
13 min read Monuments & landmarks · EuropaThe Pantheon in Rome: what to see, what the ticket costs and why the dome stands up
13 min read Monuments & landmarks · EuropaThe Appian Way: 5 things to discover on the queen of roads, a UNESCO site (updated 2026)
12 min read Monuments & landmarks · EuropaVisiting Ostia Antica: one of the most beautiful archaeological parks in the world (updated 2026)
11 min read Museums & masterpieces · EuropaNational 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 · Europa
Tour of the Vatican Museums in Rome: 9 masterpieces you absolutely must know (updated 2026)
14 min read Museums & masterpieces · EuropaVisiting the Capitoline Museums: 8 must-see works you should know (updated 2026)
13 min read Museums & masterpieces · EuropaGalleria Borghese Rome: 10 masterpieces you absolutely must see (updated 2026)
17 min read Museums & masterpieces · Europa
Doria Pamphilj Gallery: 6 works to see in the finest private collection in Rome
13 min read Museums & masterpieces · Europa
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 13 articles
The works not to miss
Monographs: a single work, or a single cycle, told in full. They are scattered between the Vatican Museums, the Galleria Borghese, St Peter’s and the churches of the centre, and they are the cases where knowing what to look for genuinely changes what you see.
Monuments & landmarks · Europa
Curiosities about the Sistine Chapel: 5 Anecdotes You Do Not Know (updated 2026)
10 min read Museums & masterpieces · Europa
Raphael’s School of Athens: all the secrets of this timeless masterpiece (updated 2026)
9 min read Museums & masterpieces · Europa
David with the Head of Goliath: the painting Caravaggio used to beg for pardon
9 min read Museums & masterpieces · Europa
Sick Bacchus and Boy with a Basket of Fruit: the two Caravaggios Scipione got through a seizure
9 min read Museums & masterpieces · Europa
Truth Unveiled by Time: the statue Bernini carved for himself
9 min read Museums & masterpieces · Europa
The two busts of Scipione Borghese: the crack that made Bernini start again
8 min read Museums & masterpieces · Europa
Bernini at the Borghese Gallery: the works nobody looks at
10 min read Monuments & landmarks · Europa
Bernini’s works in St Peter’s: seven masterpieces in one building
11 min read Monuments & landmarks · Europa
Bernini’s works in Rome’s churches: five stops, all of them free
11 min read Monuments & landmarks · Europa
Bernini in Rome: palaces, angels and the last sculpture
11 min read Museums & masterpieces · Europa
Borromini’s perspective gallery at Palazzo Spada: nine metres that look like thirty-five
8 min read Travel guides · Europa
The Borromini you cannot visit: four works you look at from the street
9 min read Travel guides · Europa
Borromini’s works in Rome: what they are, which ones you can visit, and in what order
11 min read 5 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. Borromini’s churches make the list longer: San Carlino, Sant’Ivo and the four free stops of his Roman itinerary.
Monuments & landmarks · Europa
St Peter’s Basilica: what to see, what you pay for and what you do not
14 min read Museums & masterpieces · Europa
Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome: great masterpieces and a dark past (updated 2026)
9 min read Monuments & landmarks · Europa
San Carlino alle Quattro Fontane: the church that fits inside a pier of St Peter’s
9 min read Monuments & landmarks · Europa
Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza: Borromini’s spiral, and why you cannot go in today
8 min read Monuments & landmarks · Europa
Borromini in Rome’s churches: four free stops, from the facade to his tomb
10 min read 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 · Europa
The Trevi Fountain: the history, what you are looking at and the new access rules
12 min read Monuments & landmarks · Europa
The Triton Fountain in Rome: 5 things to know and a few anecdotes (updated 2026)
8 min read Monuments & landmarks · Monumenti
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 · Europa
The Coppedè district in Rome: a unique place suspended between dream and reality (updated 2026)
7 min read Monuments & landmarks · Europa
The Priory of Malta on the Aventine: the most romantic spot in Rome (updated 2026)
12 min read Monuments & landmarks · Europa
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.
6 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.
Travel guides · Europa
Bernini’s fountains in Rome: which ones are really his and how to see them in a day
15 min read Monuments & landmarks · Europa
Bee Fountain: Bernini’s smallest fountain and the mistake that cost dear
9 min read Monuments & landmarks · Europa
Fontana della Barcaccia: the sinking boat at the Spanish Steps
11 min read Monuments & landmarks · Europa
Fountain of the Four Rivers: the story, the symbols and the legend that does not hold
13 min read Monuments & landmarks · Europa
Altare della Patria: everything you should know about the Vittoriano in Rome (updated 2026)
11 min read Travel guides · Italy
The history of Rome in brief: from its founding to today (updated 2026)
9 min readExhibitions on now in Rome
All the guides to Rome- closes in 5 days Vasari e Roma Musei Capitolini, Palazzo Caffarelli
- closes in 5 days Flowers. Meravigliosa Natura Chiostro del Bramante
- closes in 12 days Ettore Scola. Non ci siamo mai lasciati Museo di Roma, Palazzo Braschi
- closes in 19 days Metamorfosi. Ovidio e le arti Galleria Borghese
- closes in 26 days 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 15 November 2026 Moda in luce 1955-1975. Roma fra glamour e innovazione industriale Musei Capitolini, Centrale Montemartini
- until 22 November 2026 Fuochi sul Tevere. Roma attraverso gli occhi di Kanutas Ruseckas Museo nazionale di Castel Sant’Angelo, appartamento del Castellano
- until 13 December 2026 Diego Rivera e la costruzione dell’arte moderna in Messico nel XX secolo Musei Capitolini, Villa Caffarelli