The most visited heritage city in the world and the physical foundation of Western civilisation. Rome, the “Eternal City,” contains within a day’s walk the Colosseum (the largest amphitheatre ever built), the Pantheon (the best-preserved ancient building in the world and the most influential single structure in Western architecture), the Roman Forum, and the Renaissance and Baroque churches, palaces, and fountains of the papal city that shaped two thousand years of European culture.
At a glance
The Historic Centre of Rome (UNESCO WHS 1980; extended 1990 to include Vatican City and the Basilica of San Paolo fuori le Mura; population of Rome approximately 2.87 million (the capital of Italy; the largest city in Italy; the most visited city in Italy)) has been continuously inhabited for approximately 2,800 years (the traditional founding date of Rome is 753 BCE — the date recorded in the Roman tradition; the archaeological evidence suggests an earlier continuous occupation of the Palatine Hill from at least 900 BCE). The city was the capital of the Roman Republic (509–27 BCE), the Roman Empire (27 BCE–476 CE Western Empire; 476–1453 CE Eastern (Byzantine) Empire), the Papal States (754–1870), and modern Italy (from 1871). The physical extent of the historical city (Rome within the Aurelian Walls (3rd century CE; approximately 19 km of walls; the largest walled city in Roman history; still largely intact and walkable) contains the densest concentration of archaeological remains, medieval churches, Renaissance palaces, and Baroque fountains in any city in the world; the archaeological layers of Rome (the most complex urban stratigraphy in Europe: at many locations in the city, 5–10 archaeological layers from different centuries are stacked on top of each other; the building of one era’s Rome required the destruction of the previous era’s Rome — this process of layering created the unique character of the city and the most complex archaeological site in Europe)).
Key facts
- The Colosseum: the most recognisable ancient structure in the world. The Colosseum, the Flavian Amphitheatre, Amphitheatrum Flavium, has its construction history in the caption below. What happened inside it was the munera gladiatoria, gladiatorial combat, the most famous element of Roman public entertainment, presented by wealthy patrons or by the emperor as a public benefaction: the political instrument of “bread and circuses”, panem et circenses, the phrase from Juvenal that remains the most famous summary of Roman populist politics. The fighters came in types. The Retiarius carried net and trident, the lightest armed and the most mobile. The Secutor wore a helmet with small eye-holes and the heaviest armour, designed specifically to fight him — the most logical pairing in the arena. The Murmillo had a large fish-shaped crest on his helmet and a rectangular scutum shield, and was matched against the Thraex. There were also the venationes, the animal hunts, for which caged exotic beasts — lions, tigers, elephants, crocodiles, hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses — were brought from across the empire to be fought by bestiari, the beast hunters. Below the arena ran the hypogeum, a hidden network of tunnels and cages from which animals and men were raised to the sand by 36 lifts through trap doors. The building’s later history is one of loss. In the medieval period it was stripped of its travertine for building material — the Colonna, the Farnese and other Roman families quarried it openly, in the most famous case of archaeological spoliation in European history. Today the threat is exhaust pollution, the vibration of traffic and the chemical erosion of the stone, against which restoration and consolidation have been under way since the 1990s: the most expensive ongoing archaeological project in Italy.
- The Pantheon: the best-preserved ancient building in the world and the most influential structure in Western architecture. The Pantheon (Πάνθεον, “All Gods”) as it stands was completed approximately 125 CE under Hadrian, r. 117–138 CE. The portico still carries the dedication M·AGRIPPA·L·F·COSTERTIVMFECIT — “Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, consul for the third time, built this” — because Hadrian deliberately kept the name of the man who had raised the first Pantheon here in 27 BCE, destroyed by fire: an act of historical piety. The dome is the most influential element in the building and the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world, 43.3 m across — exactly the height from the floor to its apex, so that the interior fits a perfect sphere. Its thickness falls from 6.4 m at the base to 1.2 m at the oculus, the 9-m opening at the crown, and the concrete changes as it rises: heavy travertine aggregate at the bottom, then progressively lighter tuff, brick and pumice toward the top — the most sophisticated concrete mix design of any ancient structure. The oculus is the only light source, since the building has no windows, and the beam that falls through it moves across walls and floor as the sun turns, so that the opening works as a sundial: at noon on the summer solstice the light lands on the entrance portico. Rain comes in too, and the floor slopes gently toward the centre, where 22 drainage holes take the water away. The building survives because it was consecrated as the church of Santa Maria ad Martyres by Pope Boniface IV in 609 CE — the single most important act of preservation in the history of ancient Rome, since the Pantheon is almost perfectly intact after 1,900 years precisely because it never stopped being a place of worship. Raphael, 1483–1520, the High Renaissance painter, has lain here since 1520 at his own request, and his is the most visited tomb inside; King Victor Emmanuel II, 1820–1878, the first king of a united Italy, has lain here since 1878.
- The Roman Forum and Palatine Hill: the birthplace of Western law, governance, and urban civilisation. The Foro Romano was the central gathering place of ancient Rome and is the most historically significant open space in the world. It was four things at once. A religious centre, with the temples of Saturn, of Castor and Pollux, of Vesta and of Julius Caesar. A civic centre, around the Curia Julia, the meeting house of the Senate, where some of the most consequential decisions in Western political history were taken. A commercial one, with the Basilica Aemilia and the Basilica Julia, the law courts. And a triumphal route: the Via Sacra, the “Sacred Way”, ran through it from the Arch of Titus to the foot of the Capitoline, and every Roman triumph — the ceremony in which a victorious general paraded his spoils and his prisoners through the city — came this way. Its most important single building is the Temple of Julius Caesar, Divus Julius, the first the Romans raised to a deified human being: Augustus built it on the spot where Caesar’s body was cremated in 44 BCE, founding the oldest Roman cult of a deified man and the most politically significant temple on the site. Above rises the Palatine, Collis Palatinus, the most prestigious address in ancient Rome and the origin of the word “palace”, palatium: the hill where tradition has Romulus founding the city, and where the emperors built their private residences from Augustus onward. The House of Augustus, Casa di Augusto, is the most important dwelling on the hill, and its bedroom keeps the original fresco decoration — the best-preserved painted interior of any Roman building in the world. The Domus Flavia, Domitian’s imperial palace of 81–96 CE, became the architectural model for every European royal palace for 1,500 years.
- Heritage: UNESCO World Heritage Site, Historic Centre of Rome, the Properties of the Holy See in that City Enjoying Extraterritorial Rights and San Paolo Fuori le Mura, inscribed 1980.
- GPS: 41.8902° N, 12.4922° E.
History
Legend gives Romulus and Remus and the date 753 BCE; archaeology gives settlements on the Palatine from at least 900 BCE, the Latin peoples, and then the Etruscans, who civilised early Rome. Their most important gift was the arch: the Etruscan corbelled arch became the true arch of the Romans, the key structural element of all their engineering. The last three kings ended with Tarquinius Superbus, expelled in 509 BCE, and the Republic began. It ran from 509 to 27 BCE and was the most politically inventive period in the city’s history, with SPQR — Senatus Populusque Romanus, the Senate and People of Rome — as the seat of legitimate authority, and with an expansion from the Tiber valley to the mastery of the Mediterranean in approximately 500 years. Then came the Social War, the Gracchi and the Civil Wars: Caesar against Pompey, Antony and Octavian against the Liberators. The Empire lasted from 27 BCE to 476 CE. Augustus opened it, and the Pax Romana, 27 BCE–180 CE, was the most peaceful and prosperous period in Mediterranean history, which built the monuments: the Pantheon of Agrippa and Hadrian, the Colosseum of Vespasian and Titus, Trajan’s Column, the Baths. The Western Empire fell in 476 CE, when Odoacer deposed Romulus Augustulus — the most debated “end” in history. From 590 CE, with Gregory I, papal Rome turned the ancient city into the capital of the Catholic Church, through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, until the sack of 1527 by Charles V’s troops: the most destructive event in Rome since the Visigoth sack of 410 CE, and the end of the High Renaissance here. Baroque Rome followed, with Bernini and Borromini, the Trevi Fountain and the great churches and fountains, and the city became the Italian capital in 1871. UNESCO WHS 1980.
What you see
The Ancient Rome circuit (the Colosseum (book in advance; the underground or arena floor visits are the best experiences; allow 2h); the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill (combined ticket with the Colosseum; allow 3h; the House of Augustus frescoes require a separate timed booking)). The Pantheon (free entry since 2023 requires advance booking; arrive before 9am or after 5pm to avoid crowds; the interior is the experience — the dome, the oculus, the side niches, the tombs). The Baroque fountains (the Trevi Fountain (evening; the most atmospheric time); the Four Rivers Fountain in Piazza Navona (Bernini, 1651; the finest single fountain in Rome; the central obelisk (an Egyptian obelisk but not actually from Egypt — Domitian had it made in Rome using Egyptian models for the Circus of Maxentius)); the Borghese Gallery (the most important collection of Baroque sculpture in the world; the Bernini sculptures (Apollo and Daphne; The Rape of Proserpina; David) are the most important works; requires advance booking; maximum 360 visitors per 2h slot; the most booking-critical attraction in Rome)).
Practical information
- Getting there: Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO; Fiumicino; 30 km west of Rome; the Leonardo Express train (non-stop; 32 min; EUR 14; from Fiumicino Airport directly to Roma Termini) or the FL1 regional train (45 min; EUR 8; stops at Trastevere and Tiburtina before Termini)). Ciampino Airport (CIA; 15 km south-east; budget airlines; Terravision/SIT bus to Termini (45 min; EUR 6)). Roma Termini (the main rail station; the most important transport hub in Italy; high-speed Frecciarossa/Frecciargento trains: Florence (1h 30min); Naples (1h 10min); Venice (3h 25min); Milan (2h 55min); Bologna (2h); the Termini complex (the largest railway station in Italy; the most confusing; the pickpocket hotspot — the most important security warning in Rome)). The Roma Pass (48h or 72h card; unlimited public transport + skip-the-line access to 2 museums; the most economical approach for multi-day visitors).
- The Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel: the single most important art collection in the world. The Musei Vaticani are by some measures the largest art museum in the world, assembled over 500 years by successive popes: the most important single collection in the history of Western art. The Sistine Chapel is the most visited room on Earth, with approximately 5 million visitors a year. It is the Papal chapel, and it holds the most important paintings in the Western tradition. Michelangelo painted the ceiling between 1508 and 1512, approximately 520 m², with nine central scenes from Genesis — the Creation of Adam, God dividing light from darkness, the Fall and the Expulsion from Paradise — and 12 figures of Prophets and Sibyls on the curved walls. He did not work lying on his back, as the popular image has it: he stood on a curved scaffold, upright, with his head tilted backward. On the altar wall he painted the Last Judgement between 1534 and 1541, aged 59 to 66: the most ambitious single-wall fresco in the Western tradition, with 300+ figures, and a Christ who judges without appeal — the most implacable image of Christ-as-judge in Christian art. In the right-centre of the composition he put his own face on the flayed skin held by St. Bartholomew: the most famous self-portrait hidden inside a religious painting. The Raphael Rooms, the Stanze di Raffaello, are the four rooms Raphael painted for Pope Julius II. In the School of Athens all the great philosophers of antiquity are gathered in a Greek architectural setting: Plato has the face of Leonardo da Vinci, and Heraclitus, sitting alone on a step, has the face of Michelangelo — added after Raphael had seen the scaffolding of the Sistine ceiling.
- Eating in Rome: the simplest great cuisine in Italy. There are four Roman pasta dishes. Cacio e pepe is Pecorino Romano, black pepper and pasta water: the simplest and the most technically demanding, since emulsifying cheese and pepper into a sauce without cream or butter is the most precise technique in Roman cooking. Carbonara is guanciale, egg yolk, Pecorino Romano and black pepper, the post-war dish of the city and the most disputed origin story in Italian food — possibly invented by Roman cooks using American military rations, eggs and bacon, after the liberation of Rome in 1944, possibly descended from an older tradition of cacio e uova. Amatriciana is guanciale, Pecorino Romano, tomato and black pepper, the tomato version of the gricia, from Amatrice, the town largely destroyed by the earthquake of 2016; the Roman restaurant version of the sugo all’amatriciana alla matriciana differs slightly from the one made in Amatrice, since Rome adds a little white wine. Gricia is guanciale, Pecorino Romano and black pepper — amatriciana without the tomato, the oldest of the four and the most underrated.
Getting there
Fiumicino Airport (FCO; Leonardo Express 32min to Termini EUR 14). High-speed trains: Florence 1h30, Naples 1h10, Milan 2h55. GPS: 41.8902, 12.4922.
Nearby
- Pompeii and Herculaneum (UNESCO WHS 1997). 230 km south of Rome (1h 10min by Frecciarossa to Naples, then 40min by Circumvesuviana regional train to Pompeii Scavi station). The most important archaeological sites in the world for understanding daily Roman life. Described in a separate CHO place card. The combination (Rome + Pompeii) is the single most important ancient heritage itinerary in the world.
- Tivoli (Hadrian’s Villa and Villa d’Este, UNESCO WHS). 30 km east of Rome (1h by COTRAL bus from Ponte Mammolo Metro B station). The most important ancient suburban complex in Italy and the finest Renaissance garden in the world. Villa Adriana, UNESCO WHS 1999, was built between 118 and 134 CE by Hadrian as his private retreat, and is the largest imperial estate of the Roman world: approximately 120 ha of gardens, buildings, pools and libraries, and the most architecturally inventive complex of the imperial period. Hadrian designed the buildings himself — he was the most architecturally gifted of the emperors, and the Pantheon in Rome is attributed to his direct involvement — and what he put up at Tivoli is more experimental than anything in the capital. The Maritime Theatre is a circular island villa inside a moat, with the emperor’s own room reachable only by a retractable bridge: the most private space in the entire Roman world. Villa d’Este, UNESCO WHS 2001, is the 16th-century villa of Cardinal Ippolito d’Este above the town, and the most important Renaissance garden in Italy, with 500 fountains. The Hundred Fountains run along a long terrace in 100 separate jets, and the Organ Fountain plays music driven entirely by the weight and flow of its water — the most technologically ambitious fountain of the Renaissance.
- Naples (UNESCO WHS 1995). 225 km south of Rome (1h 10min by Frecciarossa). The most intense, authentic, and overwhelming city in Italy. Naples, Napoli, has approximately 3 million people in its metropolitan area, which makes it the third-largest city in Italy and the largest in the south. Its Archaeological Museum of Naples, the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, holds the finest collection of ancient Roman art in the world, and the heart of it comes from Pompeii and Herculaneum, whose art survived intact precisely because the volcano buried it. The Alexander Mosaic, from the House of the Faun at Pompeii, is the largest ancient mosaic in existence, 5.82 × 3.13 m, showing the Battle of Issus of 333 BCE with Alexander the Great on his horse Bucephalus charging Darius III in his chariot: the most important ancient mosaic in the world. The Farnese Hercules is a 3rd-century CE Roman marble copy of a Greek bronze by Lysippos, 3.17 m tall and the most famous single sculpture in the museum. And the Gabinetto Segreto, the Secret Cabinet, gathers the erotic art of Pompeii and Herculaneum, once locked away from the public and now openly shown: the most important collection anywhere for understanding Roman erotic culture.
Sources
- Wikipedia, Colosseum. Pantheon, Rome. Roman Forum. History of Rome, accessed June 2026.
- UNESCO, Historic Centre of Rome, WHS reference 91rev, inscribed 1980.
- Mary Beard, SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, Profile Books, 2015.
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