Capitoline Hill
The Capitoline Hill, between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the seven hills of Rome. By the 16th century, Capitolinus had become Campidoglio in Italian. The English word capitol derives from Capitoline. The Capitoline contains few ancient ground-level ruins, as they are almost entirely covered up by Medieval and Renaissance palaces (now housing the Capitoline Museums) that surround a piazza, a significant urban plan designed by Michelangelo.
E-mail:info.museicapitolini@comune.roma.it; Website:
www.museicapitolini.org/en/index_msie.htm; Opening time: Museums open Tuesday to Sunday 9am to 8pm; Admission: €6.50, concessions available
Roman Forum (Foro Romano)
The Roman Forum, sometimes known by its original Latin name, is located between the Palatine hill and the Capitoline hill of the city of Rome. It is the central area around which the ancient Roman civilization developed. Citizens referred to the location as the "Forum Magnum" or just the "Forum".
The oldest and most important structures of the ancient city are located in the forum, including its ancient former royal residency the Regia and the surrounding complex of the Vestal virgins. The Old Republic had its formal Comitium there where the senate, as well as Republican government began. The forum served as a city square and central hub where the people of Rome gathered for justice, and faith. The forum was also the economic hub of the city and considered to be the center of the Republic and Empire.
Address: Via dei Fori Imperiali; Telephone: (06) 3996 7700; Opening time: Daily 9am to 7.30pm (April to September) and 9am to 4.30pm (October to March); Admission: Free
The Colosseum
The Colosseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre, is an elliptical amphitheatre in the center of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire. It is one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and Roman engineering.
Occupying a site just east of the Roman Forum, its construction started between 70 and 72 AD under the emperor Vespasian and was completed in 80 AD under Titus, with further modifications being made during Domitian's reign (81–96). The name "Amphitheatrum Flavium" derives from both Vespasian's and Titus's family name (Flavius, from the gens Flavia).
Capable of seating 50,000 spectators, the Colosseum was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles. As well as the gladiatorial games, other public spectacles were held there, such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology. The building ceased to be used for entertainment in the early medieval era. It was later reused for such purposes as housing, workshops, quarters for a religious order, a fortress, a quarry, and a Christian shrine. It has been estimated that about 500,000 people and over a million wild animals died in the Colosseum games.
Address: Piazza del Colosseo; Telephone: (06) 700 4261; Transport: B line metro to Colosseo station; bus 60, 75, 85, 87, 175, 810 or 850; electric minibus 117; tram 3 or 8; Opening time: 8.30am to 7.30pm (April to August), 8.30am to 7pm (September), 8.30am to 6.30pm (October), 8.30am to 4.30pm (November to 15 February), 8.30am to 5pm (16 February to 15 March), 8.30am to 5.30pm (16 March to end March); Admission: €8
Pantheon
The Pantheon originally built by Marcus Agrippa as a temple to all the gods of Ancient Rome, and rebuilt in the early 2nd century AD. A near-contemporary writer, Cassius Dio, speculates that the name comes from the statues of many gods placed around the building, or from the resemblance of the dome to the heavens. The intended degree of inclusiveness of the dedication to "all" the gods is debated.[citation needed] Since the French Revolution, when the church of Sainte-Geneviève, Paris, was deconsecrated and turned into a secular monument, the Panthéon, the generic term pantheon may be applied to any building in which illustrious dead are honoured or buried.
Address: Piazza della Rotonda; Telephone: (06) 6830 0230; Opening time: Monday to Saturday between 8.30am and 7.30pm and Sunday from 9am to 6pm; Admission: Free
The Spanish Steps and Piazza di Spagna
The Spanish Steps are a set of steps in Rome, Italy, climbing a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the church of Trinità dei Monti. The Scalinata is the longest and widest staircase in Europe.
The monumental stairway of 138 steps was built with French diplomat Étienne Gueffier’s bequeathed funds of 20,000 scudi, in 1723–1725, linking the Bourbon Spanish Embassy to the Holy See, today still located in Palazzo Monaldeschi in the piazza below, with the Trinità dei Monti above.
Transport: Take Metro Linea A to the Spagna stop; bus 60 and 492 to Piazza Barberini or 117 to Piazza di Spagna
Trevi Fountain (Fontana di Trevi)
The Trevi fountain is at the ending part of the Aqua Virgo, an aqueduct constructed in 19 BC. It brings water all the way from the Salone Springs and supplies the fountains in the historic center of Rome with water. The central figure of the fountain, in front of a large niche, is Neptune, god of the sea. He is riding a chariot in the shape of a shell, pulled by two sea horses. Each sea horse is guided by a Triton. One of the horses is calm and obedient, the other one restive. They symbolize the fluctuating moods of the sea. On the left hand side of Neptune is a statue representing Abundance, the statue on the right represents Salubrity. Above the sculptures are bas-reliefs, one of them shows Agrippa, the girl after whom the aqueduct was named.
Transport: Take the bus to Piazza San Silvestro
St Peter’s Basilica (Basilica di San Pietro)
The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter, officially known in Italian as the Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano and commonly known as St. Peter's Basilica, is located within the Vatican City. St. Peter's Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world, holding 60,000 people.[1] It is the symbolic "Mother church" of the Catholic Church and is regarded as one of the holiest Christian sites. It has been described as "holding a unique position in the Christian world" and as "the greatest of all churches of Christendom". In Catholic tradition, it is the burial site of its namesake Saint Peter, who was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus and, according to tradition, first Bishop of Rome and therefore first in the line of the papal succession. A strict dress code is in place for the Basilica and no shorts, bare shoulders or miniskirts are allowed (for men and women).
Address: Piazza San Pietro; Telephone: (06) 6988 1662; E-mail:
stpetersbasilica@gmail.com; Website:
www.stpetersbasilica.org; Transport: Metro Ottaviano or bus to Piazza del Risorgimento; Opening time: Daily between 7am and 7pm (April to September) and 7am to 6pm (October to March). Dome: 8am to 6pm (until 5pm in winter). Necropolis: Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm; Admission: Free. Dome: €4 (€5 with lift); Necropolis: €10
The Sistine Chapel & Vatican Museums
Sistine Chapel is the best-known chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope in Vatican City. Its fame rests on its architecture, evocative of Solomon's Temple of the Old Testament and on its decoration which has been frescoed throughout by the greatest Renaissance artists including Michelangelo, Raphael, Bernini, and Sandro Botticelli. Under the patronage of Pope Julius II, Michelangelo painted 12,000 square feet (1,100 m2) of the chapel ceiling between 1508 and 1512. He resented the commission, and believed his work only served the Pope's need for grandeur. However, today the ceiling, and especially The Last Judgement, are widely believed to be Michelangelo's crowning achievements in painting. The Vatican Museums, in Viale Vaticano in Rome, inside the Vatican City, are among the greatest museums in the world, since they display works from the immense collection built up by the Roman Catholic Church throughout the centuries.
Address: Viale Vaticano; Telephone: (06) 6988 4947; E-mail:
musei@scv.va; Website:
www.vatican.va; Transport: Metro to Musei Vaticani or Ottaviano station; tram 19 or bus 32, 81 or 98 to Piazza del Risorgimento; Opening time: Monday to Friday 8.45am to 4.45pm, Saturday 8.45am to 1.45pm (8 March to 29 October and 27 December to 6 January); daily 8.45am to 1.45pm, last entry at 12.20pm (7 January to 6 March and 2 November to 24 December); Admission: €12, concessions €8. Free on the last Sunday of every month