Tourism

The activity of traveling for pleasure.

The Fountains of The Eternal City

Rome's fountains mark the ends of its aqueducts. The Trevi, Bernini's Tritons, the three in Piazza Navona, and the street taps that still run free.

Piazza Navona

Piazza Navona keeps the shape of the Roman stadium beneath it. A guide to its three fountains, the Bernini myths and what lies nearby.

Villa Borghese

Rome's great park: eighty hectares of gardens, a lake with a temple on it, and the Galleria Borghese, the one museum in Rome you cannot visit on impulse.

The Spanish Steps

French money, an Italian architect and a Spanish name. The story of Rome's most famous staircase, the fountain below it, and why sitting is now fined.

Vatican museums

Seven kilometres of galleries, from a single statue bought in 1506. What to see in the Vatican Museums, what the names actually mean, and how to get in.

St. Peter's Basilica

The largest church in the world, built over a Roman necropolis. Its dome, its Bernini interiors, the chains that hold it together, and how to visit.

The Sistine Chapel

Sixtus IV built it, Michelangelo made it famous, and cardinals still elect popes in it. The ceiling, the Last Judgment and how to visit.

Tourism
Art

Domus Aurea, The Golden House of Rome

Nero's Golden House lies buried beneath the Oppian Hill. What survives, what was stripped away, and how the site is visited today.

Tourism
Art

The Pantheon in Rome, Work of Genius

Still the largest unreinforced concrete dome ever built. How the Pantheon was engineered, what was stripped from it, and what it costs to enter now.

The Roman Forum

Two centuries of excavation have uncovered the square where Rome governed itself. What survives, what was quarried away, and how to read the ruins.

Rome, The Colosseum

The Flavian Amphitheatre held fifty thousand people. What survives of its arena, tunnels and tiered seating, and what has changed for visitors.

Rome, the eternal city, ancient and modern

Rome combines ancient monuments with busy modern life. A guide to its fountains, ruins and galleries, including the sites that now charge for entry.

Tourism