Rome Discovery Guide
Why Visit Rome the Smart Way
Rome is the only city where three thousand years of continuous building are visible from one street corner: an imperial temple that became a church and still carries its original roof, a stadium that became a square, an emperor's mausoleum that became a fortress. Nothing here was preserved so much as reused, and the layering is the whole experience.
Two things complicate it. Roman summers are hot and dry, and the ticketed sites are at their most crowded in exactly the middle hours when the heat is worst. And the Vatican is a sovereign state — its hours, dress code, security and ticketing are its own, and coordinate with nothing on the Italian side.
So book the big sites direct and early, and build each day around the entry time you hold rather than the other way round. Give the Vatican a day of its own. And keep the free half of Rome for the middle of the day: churches with Caravaggios and a light switch by the door, fountains you drink from, an evening in Trastevere or Testaccio.
How to Experience Rome
Ancient Rome
The Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine on one combined ticket, best early or late; the Pantheon, which has been roofed continuously since AD 126 and still has the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world; and the Baths of Caracalla for scale without crowds.
The Vatican
The Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel — book a timed slot, go at opening or on a late evening, and accept that the last kilometre of corridor is a crush. Saint Peter’s Basilica is free, with a separate queue and a dome you can climb.
Free art
Caravaggios in San Luigi dei Francesi and Santa Maria del Popolo, Michelangelo’s Moses in San Pietro in Vincoli, and Bernini in half a dozen churches — all free, all with a coin-operated light.
Walking
Piazza Navona, the Trevi Fountain and Campo de’ Fiori in a morning; the Appian Way on a Sunday when it closes to traffic.
Evening
Trastevere, Monti or Testaccio, eaten late.
Where to Find Authentic Cultural and Historical Character
Rome is a capital city that behaves like a large, chaotic, deeply provincial town, and Romans rather like it that way.
Romanita
There is a distinct Roman character — sardonic, fatalistic, quick with an insult and slow with paperwork — and a dialect to go with it. Romans are famously unimpressed by their own city’s monuments, which they walk past on the way to work, and equally unimpressed by Milan, the north, the government and each other.
The prevailing attitude to bureaucracy, traffic and public services is an amused shrug. Things work eventually or they do not.
The church
The Vatican is a separate state inside the city, the pope is the bishop of Rome, and the church’s presence is architectural and institutional as much as devotional — there are over 900 churches, and religious observance is lower than the skyline suggests.
Neighbourhood
The rione you come from matters, and Testaccio, Trastevere and Garbatella all have strong local identities.
Football
Roma and Lazio divide the city and the division is taken extremely seriously.
Travel Profile
- Local Name(s) Roma
- Best Known For Colosseum and Roman Forum • Vatican Museums and St Peter's • Pantheon • Trevi Fountain • Trastevere
- Travel Styles Cultural tourism • History • Archaeology • Museums and galleries • Architecture • Food and drink • Spiritual travel • City breaks
- Travel Environments Historic cities • Urban neighbourhoods • Rivers
- Getting Around Leonardo Express from Fiumicino to Termini in 32 minutes; three metro lines and a €1.50 hundred-minute BIT across metro, bus and tram; a permit-only ZTL over the historic centre; Civitavecchia under an hour away by train
Responsible Travel Tips
Book the big sites ahead with timed entry. The Colosseum, Borghese Gallery and Vatican Museums all sell out, and turning up hoping is how people lose half a day in a queue.
Do not sit on the fountains or the Spanish Steps. This is enforced with fines — the city introduced them after decades of wear and rubbish — along with rules against eating messily at monuments and wading in fountains.
Refill your bottle. The nasoni — cast-iron street fountains with a curved spout — run continuously with clean drinking water from the ancient aqueducts, and there are around 2,500 of them. Buying bottled water in Rome is unnecessary.
Eat away from the monuments. Restaurants with photographs on the menu next to the Pantheon are a tax on not knowing better; walk ten minutes into Monti, Testaccio or Trastevere’s back streets.
Cover up in churches, which are places of worship and enforce it at the major ones.
When to Visit Rome
Best Time to Visit Rome
The nicest time to travel to Rome are in April, May, September and beginning of October. These are beautiful months with about perfect weather. It could extend to part of June if heat waves did not come yet.
At the end of October and November is the rain season, not only small rain from time to time but pouring and persistent rain.
In December, although it is colder (but rarely snows), it is a nice month to get a feel of the Roman Christmas ambiance. Winter months can also be a good time because the air is fresh with a nice blue sky. No need for a winter coat, a warm sweater usually does the trick.
There are also some tourism/pilgrimage increase at the Vatican at Christmas and Easter.
Travel Cost Levels in Rome
What a day costs, by how you travel
Relative cost across the city
Lowest — the outer quarters, Pigneto, San Lorenzo and anywhere beyond the ring road
Average — Monti, Testaccio, Trastevere and most of the residential centre
Highest — the streets immediately around the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps and the Vatican
Rome is cheaper than Paris or London for food and drink and comparable for accommodation. The single biggest saving is eating and sleeping ten minutes from a monument rather than next to one.
