Basilica di San Pietro (St Peter's Basilica)
St Peter's Basilica lies above a shrine said to mark the burial ground of the saint. Pope Julius II and his architect Bramante pulled down the original structure in 1506, in order to build the new basilica. Construction lasted 120 years, during which time Alberti, Bramante, Raphael, Peruzzi, Sangallo the Younger and Michelangelo struggled over this enormous edifice. Inside you’ll find Michelangelo's Pietà (1498/9) and Arnolfo da Cambio's bronze statue of St Peter (1296), which is famed for its foot worn to a nub by pilgrims' kisses. Extras include entry to the dome, the Vatican Gardens, and the Vatican Grottoes, containing papal tombs.


Piazza San Pietro
Rome
Italy
Tel: (06) 6988 3731.
Web: www.vatican.va
Opening hours: Daily 0700-1900 (Apr-Sep); daily 0700-1800 (Oct-Mar).
Admission Fee: No.
Disabled Access: Yes
UNESCO site: Yes


Campo de' Fiori
From Monday to Saturday, each day at dawn, stall holders at Rome's best-known and most picturesque fruit and vegetable market set up their wares at Campo de' Fiori. This down-to-earth square is surrounded by tumbledown orange-ochre facades, and is the only major piazza in Rome that is not overlooked by a church. It's a very different proposition to the more grandiose piazzas in other parts of the centro storico (historic centre), and is one of Rome's liveliest nightlife haunts (avoid after big football games). Come sunset, some of the city's liveliest wine bars and trattorie spill their tables out onto the cobbles, as locals and visitors alike flock here to eat and drink beneath the stars.

Campo de' Fiori, Rome
Italy
Admission Fee: No.
Disabled Access: Yes


Cappella Sistina & Musei Vaticani (Sistine Chapel & Vatican Museums)
A glimpse of Michelangelo's depiction of The Creation is worth the queues you have to negotiate to visit the Vatican Museums. Built as a private chapel for the popes, Pope Julius II commissioned the precocious artist to paint the ceiling frescoes and work was completed in October 1512. Although eclipsed by Michelangelo's artistry, the Renaissance paintings that line the walls are also masterful works, including some by Michelangelo's own teacher, Ghirlandaio. Highlights of the vast museum include Raphael's Rooms, the Etruscan Museum and the Pio-Clementino Museum, which includes the classical masterpieces Laocoön and the Apollo Belvedere.


Viale Vaticano 100
Rome
Italy
Tel: (06) 6988 4947.
Web: www.vatican.va
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 0900-1800 with last entry at 1600, Sun 0900-1400 with last entry at 1230.
Admission Fee: Yes (except the last Sunday of the month).
Disabled Access: Yes
UNESCO site: Yes


Colosseo (Colosseum)
Near the fourth-century Arch of Constantine stands the gigantic Colosseum - 186m (620ft) long and 153m (510ft) wide. Emperor Vespasian began construction in AD72 and work was completed eight years later by his son Titus. To mark its inauguration, Titus staged a run of games that lasted 100 days, during which 5,000 animals were slaughtered. Explore the massive amphitheatre (seating 50,000) and the skeletal remains of underground chambers where gladiators and beasts were held beneath the long-vanished arena floor. The ‘games' were finally outlawed in the fifth century and the stadium pillaged for marble in the Middle Ages.


Piazza del Colosseo
Rome
Italy
Tel: (06) 3996 7700.
Web: www.pierreci.it
Opening hours: Daily 0830-1815 (Apr-Aug); 0830-1800 (Sep), 0830-1730 (Oct), 0830-1630 (Mar), 08.30-16.00 (Nov-Feb).
Admission Fee: Yes.
Disabled Access: Yes
UNESCO site: Yes


Fontana di Trevi (Trevi Fountain)
It is said that a virgin discovered a three-way (tre-vie) spring here, causing the Trevi fountain to be built. The baroque extravaganza was designed by Nicolò Salvi for Pope Clement XII and completed in 1762. It's pure melodrama, with statues (representing Abundance, Agrippa, Salubrity, the Virgin and Neptune) with a Renaissance palace for their backdrop and craggy rocks in the foreground. Later the extraordinary, foaming fountain achieved iconic status when Anita Ekberg frolicked here in Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1959). Try and come here early in the morning or late at night to avoid the crowds.


Piazza di Trevi, Rome
Italy
Web: www.trevifountain.net/
Opening hours: Daily 24 hours.
Admission Fee: No.
Disabled Access: Yes
UNESCO site: Yes


Foro Romano (Roman Forum) and Palatino (Palatine)
Today the Roman Forum is a vast expanse of tumble-down, marble fragments, columns and floor layouts. But with a little imagination, you can envisage the political, commercial and social heart of ancient Rome. A bird's-eye view is gained from behind Piazza del Campidoglio. Grab an audio guide to help make sense of it all. Among the best-preserved monuments are the Arch of Septimius Severus (AD203) and the remains of Caesar's rostra, from where his great speeches were declaimed. Above it all is the Palatine hill where once the spectacular palaces of the Roman emperors overlooked the Forum.


Largo Romolo e Remo 5-6 & Via di San Gregorio 30
Rome
Italy
Tel: (06) 3996 7700.
Web: www.pierreci.it
Opening hours: Daily 0830-1815 (Apr-Aug); 0830-1800 (Sep); 0830-1730 (Oct); 0830-1630 (Nov-Mar), last entry one hour before closing time.
Admission Fee: Yes.
Disabled Access: Yes
UNESCO site: Yes


Galleria Doria Pamphilj
Galleria Doria Pamphilj harbours some of the extraordinary wealth of the Doria Pamphilj family, a pillar of Rome's papal aristocracy. Think gold, mirrors, red velvet and gilt, and walls covered in art, including paintings by Correggio, Caravaggio, Titian, Velázquez, Brueghel, and Dürer. The free audio guide features the voice of Jonathan Doria Pamphilj. This modern-day prince brings the palace alive, recalling childhood memories of roller skating along the parquet floor of the 18th-century ballroom - tiny indentations prove the truth of his tale. The rambling palace is still occupied, though the private apartments are closed to the public.


Via del Corso 305
Rome
Italy
Tel: (06) 679 7323.
Web: www.doriapamphilj.it
Opening hours: Mon-Sun 1000-1700.
Admission Fee: Yes.
Disabled Access: Yes


MACRO (Museo d'Arte Contemporanea di Roma)
Rome's municipal museum of modern and contemporary art is located not far from Piazza Fiume north of the city centre in a converted former Peroni brewery. The venue has recently had an extension of 10,000 sq m (107,639 sq ft) designed by French architect Odile Decq, with the courtyard between the brewery buildings topped by a graceful modernist glass pagoda. The venue pulls in big international names as well as young and local artists. Some shows are also displayed at another venue in the former slaughterhouse in Testaccio, MACRO Futura.

Via Reggio Emilia 54
Rome
Italy
Tel: (06) 6710 70400.
Web: www.macro.roma.museum
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 0900-1900.
Admission Fee: Yes.
Disabled Access: Yes


Mercati e Foro di Traiano (Trajan's Forum and Trajan's Markets)
Inaugurated in AD112-113, Trajan's Forum was the last built and most impressive of the Fora. The complex contained a main square, a basilica and two libraries, and was completed by the markets of the same name, a sort of Roman, and remarkably well-preserved, equivalent of a shopping mall. The markets contained about 150 small shops spread over six storeys. The building now houses the impressive new Museum of the Imperial Fora, containing ancient artefacts discovered in the surrounding forums. Trajan's column (which stands 38m/125ft high) is a remarkable example of Roman art, and was probably set between the two libraries on a base containing the burial urns of the Emperor and his wife. Its beautifully carved reliefs tell the tale of Trajan's war campaigns in Dacia (now Romania). On the top of the column stood a statue of the emperor. This was removed by Pope Sixtus V in 1585 and replaced with a statue of St Peter that faced in the direction of the basilica dedicated to the saint that was being built at the time. The Imperial Fora (the forums of Caesar, August, Nerva and Vespasian) can be seen from the Via dei Fori Imperiali for free.

Via IV Novembre 94
Rome
Italy
Tel: (06) 0608.
Web: www.mercatiditraiano.it
Admission Fee: Yes
Disabled Access: Yes


Musei Capitolini (Capitoline Museums)
The oldest public collection in the world, the Capitoline Museums are made up of two separate buildings: the Palazzo dei Conservatori and the Palazzo Nuovo. They house ancient and baroque sculptures, from the fifth-century-BC wolf suckling Romus and Romulus to Gian Lorenzo Bernini's wild head of Medusa. There's the original of the second-century-AD equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, a copy of which stands in the middle of the Piazza del Campidoglio, and a fine array of Renaissance and baroque art by Titian, Tintoretto and Caravaggio, as well as the country's most important collection of Roman sculpture.

Piazza del Campidoglio 1
Rome
Italy
Tel: (06) 8205 9127.
Web: www.museicapitolini.org
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 0900-2000.
Admission Fee: Yes.
Disabled Access: Yes


Pantheon
The Pantheon is the best-preserved of Rome's ancient monuments. Thought to have been built by Hadrian between AD119 and AD128, this was once a Roman temple. It was converted to a Christian church in AD608. The radius of the dome is exactly equivalent to the height and a 9m (30ft) hole, known as the oculus, allows light into the building. Once the interior would have been decorated by statues of deities - now it houses the tombs of kings Vittorio Emmanuele II and Umberto I, and the painter Raphael. The vast brass doors belonged to the original Roman building.


Piazza della Rotonda
Rome
Italy
Tel: (06) 6830 0230.
Web: www.turismoroma.it/cosa-fare/pantheon
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 0830-1930, Sun 0900-1800.
Admission Fee: No.
Disabled Access: Yes
UNESCO site: Yes


Piazza Navona
This dramatic piazza, lined with cafes and restaurants, lies at the heart of the centro storico (historic centre). Its oval shape follows the form of the former stadium, built in AD86 by Emperor Domitian. During the Renaissance, the site was flooded to stage mock naval battles. The piazza gained its current form in the mid-17th century, when Pope Innocent X commissioned Borromini to design the Church of Sant'Agnese. In front of the church, Bernini built the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers), adorned with powerful figures representing the four great rivers (the Nile, the Danube, the Ganges and the Rio de la Plata, or River Plate) which in turn represented the four areas of the world known in Borromini's time (Africa, Europe, Asia and America respectively).


Piazza Navona, Rome
Italy
Opening hours: Daily 24 hours.
Admission Fee: No
Disabled Access: Yes