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 Rome means history. So much to see - Republican meeting rooms, imperial temples, early Christian churches, Etruscan tombs, medieval bell towers, Renaissance palaces and baroque basilicas. In Rome a phenomenal concentration of history, legend and monuments coexists with an equally phenomenal concentration of people busily going about their everyday life. So get your cultural fill but be sure to leave time for more hedonistic concerns: eat wonderful pasta and get drunk on wine, architecture and sunshine.
Area: 150 sq km
Population: 3.8 million
Country: Italy
Time Zone: GMT/UTC +1 (Central European Time)
Telephone Area Code: 06
Tourist information: Piazza San Silvestro 18-20 (06 678 0788)
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Events
During Holy Week (Easter) Catholics from around the world make pilgrimages to Rome's various basilicas and to hear the Pope give his address at the Vatican. On Good Friday there's a procession of the Cross from the Colosseum to Capitoline Hill.
Testaccio is the place to be in summer, when one of Rome's best-preserved areas becomes a stomping ground for the young and hip. A festival of nightclubbery and general coolness goes down every evening from 10pm. Other summer festivals include Jazz at the Villa Celimontana and tropical music at the Foro Italico.
Along the River is held on the north bank of the Tiber throughout July - Rome turns into Los Angeles with beach volleyball, in-line skating and art shows. Trastevere is filled with street theatre, craft stalls and food booths during the Festa di Noantri (20-28 July).
Rome's public holidays include Liberation Day (25 April), Labour Day (1 May), the Feast of the Assumption (15 August), All Saints' Day (1 November), the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (8 December) and the Feast of Santo Stefano (26 December).
Public Holidays
6 Jan - Epiphany
Mar/Apr - Easter Monday
25 Apr - Liberation Day
1 May - Labour Day
29 June - Feast of St Peter & St Paul
15 Aug - Feast of the Assumption
1 Nov - All Saints Day
8 Dec - Feast of the Immaculate Conception
25 Dec - Christmas Day
26 Dec - Feast of St Stephen |
Shopping
The key shops are around piazza di Spagna: the chic clique includes Prada and Giorgio Armani. Mid-range high-street fashion can be found on via Nazionale, via del Corso and via Cola di Rienzo, while things are more offbeat in Trastevere, on via del Governo Vecchio and around Campo de’ Fiori. For second-hand clothes, try the via Sannio market, near San Giovanni metro (closed on Sun). Fresh produce is sold at street markets at Campo de’ Fiori and at piazza dell’Unità, near the Vatican. |
Trastevere
Although its traditionally proletarian nature is changing as the crumbling palazzi become gentrified, a stroll among the labyrinthine alleys of Trastevere still reaps small gems of a bygone past. Washing strung out from the apartments in best Mama-leone tradition has everyone sighing and reaching for the Kodaks.
The lovely Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere is the area's heart. It's a true Roman square - by day peopled by mothers with strollers, chatting locals and guidebook-toting tourists, by night with artisans selling their craft work, young Romans looking for a good time, and the odd homeless person looking for a bed. The streets east of the piazza is where you'll find the most photographed washing in the world. |
 Ancient Rome’s most impressive ancient ruins, the Forum and the Colosseum, are both nestled snugly between the Capitoline and Palatine hills. Little is left of the Forum’s humble piazza-turned-imperial-epicentre, just floor layouts and the odd scattered column and carved chunk of marble. Yet, so imposing are these remnants, that it’s possible to imagine the grandeur of the place where Caesars ruled.
Next to the Forum and the fourth-century Arch of Constantine stands the famed broken walls of the 1,975-year-old Colosseum. Gleaming after recent renovations, the amphitheatre is once again hosting performances, though not gladiatorial ones; today it hosts huge musical events and theatre. Behind it lie the grassy remains of the Circo Massimo, long ago the site of Roman chariot races.
Capitoline Hill, or Campidoglio, overlooks it all. Best reached via the steps rising from via del Teatro di Marcello, with its breathtaking centrepiece, piazza del Campidoglio. The piazza was originally designed by Michelangelo, and took more than a century to complete. On opposite sides of the piazza, the grand Palazzo Nuovo and the Palazzo dei Conservatori together make up the Capitoline Museums, www.museicapitolini.org). Initiated in 1471 by Pope Sixtus IV, these rank among the world’s oldest public museums and house excellent sculpture and Renaissance art.
On the brow of the hill, the church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli marks the spot where the lavish temple of Juno once stood, flanked by temples to her fellow gods, Jupiter and Minerva. Obscuring these sites from street level is the hulking form of the Vittoriano monument. Built at the turn of the 19th century, this monstrosity overlooks the transport hub of piazza Venezia, whose palace, the Renaissance Palazzo Venezia, was used by Mussolini as his headquarters.
Last but not least is the Pantheon. Built by Hadrian as a temple to the 12 classical deities, this is one of ancient Rome’s best-preserved remains. It towers over the piazza della Rotonda between focal piazza Navona and via del Corso in the heart of the centro storico. |
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