COLOSSEUM

Nearly 2000 years after it first opened, the Colosseum still dominates this part of Rome through sheer scale alone. Started under Emperor Vespasian in 72 AD and completed by his son Titus eight years later, it held up to 80,000 spectators for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles for almost four centuries. Though partially ruined by earthquakes and stone robbers, the engineering is extraordinary – a system of vaults, ramps and corridors that could fill and empty the entire building in minutes, with a network of underground tunnels and lifts beneath the arena floor used to raise animals and performers directly into the arena above. Tickets include access to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill and must be booked well in advance.

ROMAN FORUM

Spread between the Colosseum and Capitoline Hill, the Roman Forum was the political, religious and commercial centre of ancient Rome for nearly a thousand years – the place where laws were passed, trials held, religious ceremonies conducted and triumphal processions ended. What remains today is fragmentary: the Temple of Saturn and the Arch of Septimius Severus rising above the site, and the Via Sacra – the route taken by Caesar’s funeral cortège in 44 BC – cutting through it. Covered by the same ticket as the Colosseum and Palatine Hill, the combination of all three provides the clearest understanding of how Rome operated beyond the spectacle of its most famous monuments.

VATICAN CITY

The Vatican Museums contain one of the densest concentrations of art ever assembled – long galleries filled with Egyptian antiquities, Greek and Roman sculpture, Renaissance maps, tapestries and paintings accumulated across 500 years of papal collecting – and the route through them ends in the Sistine Chapel, where Michelangelo’s ceiling and Last Judgment together represent perhaps the most ambitious artistic undertaking in Western history. St Peter’s Basilica, accessible separately and without charge, deserves just as much time – the extent of the interior is actually hard to prepare for, and Michelangelo’s Pietà, Bernini’s baldachin and the climb to the dome all warrant attention in their own right.

PANTHEON

Completed in 125 AD under Emperor Hadrian, the Pantheon is the best-preserved building in ancient Rome and still the largest unreinforced concrete dome ever constructed. The oculus – the circular opening at the dome’s centre – is the only light source inside, and the effect it creates as it moves across the interior walls throughout the day remains extraordinary after nearly two thousand years. Entry is now ticketed and advance booking is recommended, particularly in summer. Just outside, Piazza della Rotonda stays busy from early morning onwards; nearby Piazza Navona is unmistakeably Baroque Rome – Bernini fountains, outdoor cafés and façades constructed directly over the footprint of Emperor Domitian’s ancient stadium.

TREVI FOUNTAIN

Designed by Nicola Salvi, inspired by Bernini and completed in 1762 by Giuseppe Pannini, the Trevi Fountain is one of those landmarks that risks becoming over-familiar through photos until you see quite how large, loud and dramatic it is in person. Timing your visit is important: dawn is the best window – the crowds build quickly from mid-morning and rarely thin until well after midnight, with everyone participating in the coin-throwing ritual regardless of how sceptical they claim to be beforehand. Those early hours reveal the scale and theatrical confidence of Salvi’s design: Neptune’s chariot emerging from the rock face, the triumphal arch framing the entire composition and water crashing continuously into the basin below.

SPANISH STEPS

The 135 steps connecting Piazza di Spagna to the church of Trinità dei Monti were laid in the 1720s and quickly became a gathering point for artists, writers and visitors. Keats spent his final months in the house beside the steps, now a small museum dedicated to his life and work. In spring, the steps are covered in azalea displays; in summer, people sit along them watching the city move around them. Via Condotti, which runs directly from the base of the steps, contains some of Rome’s most established fashion houses – Bulgari, Gucci, Valentino among them – so a private shopping tour with a personal stylist can be a more measured way through what could otherwise be overwhelming.

TRASTEVERE

Across the Tiber from the historic centre, Trastevere has always felt slightly apart from the rest of Rome, despite its popularity. Laundry hangs above narrow cobbled side streets that lead unexpectedly towards quieter churches and smaller neighbourhood squares. Scooters squeeze through impossibly tight corners. Family run trattorias serving Roman classics – cacio e pepe, coda alla vaccinara and supplì among them – spill onto piazzas that stay busy with a mix of locals, students and visitors deep into the evening. Private cooking classes with local chefs go further into the techniques and ingredients behind the cooking than a restaurant visit alone, and guided food tours cover Trastevere’s markets and smaller producers in greater depth.

VILLA BORGHESE

After the density of central Rome, Villa Borghese, Rome’s answer to Central Park, provides a noticeable release of space and shade – 197 acres of tree-lined paths, lakes, umbrella pines and a terrace at the Pincio that gives one of the best elevated views across the city. At its centre, the Galleria Borghese houses one of the most concentrated collections of Baroque sculpture and painting anywhere in the world: six Bernini sculptures, six Caravaggio paintings and works by Raphael, Titian and Rubens in a single villa. Admission is strictly timed, limited to two hours and entry numbers are tightly controlled, so advance booking is essential. The upside is something far calmer than many of Rome’s larger museums and galleries.