Rome: Free Sights

The only ancient Roman temple to survive the millennia intact is also one of the most amazing architectural spaces in Rome, an expansive cylinder swaddled in precious marbles, topped by a vast concrete hemisphere, and pierced by a wide shaft of sunlight from the oculus at the center... » more

A graceful arc of stairs—set off by azaleas in spring and always overflowing with chattering Romans and tourists—is tied in an off-center double bow to an elegant hillside at the very heart of Rome's trendiest shopping district... » more

Sit at a café table on the oblong Piazza Navona square—built atop the oval of an ancient Roman stadium, lined by palaces and churches, and centered on Bernini's fantastic Four Rivers fountain—and just watch the carnival of Roman life spin past you... » more

The world's most famous wishing well is a riot of sculpture and favorite late-night gathering place in Rome... » more

The grandeur of Imperial Rome, laid out in a series of public spaces, markets, and triumphal columns by successive emperors, you can admire with a quick stroll or bike ride down Via dei Fori Imperiali: The Forum of Trajan, the Forum of Augustus, the Forum of Nerva... » more

few steps from one of Rome's main city bus stops lies a trio of ancient temples crawling with stray cats and overflowing with weeds, and the crumbling set of steps upon which Julius Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March... » more

An ancient Roman sewer-covering carved into a grotesque face with a gaping mouth that legend holds will bite off the fingers of anyone who dares stick in his hand and tell a lie... » more

Rome's morning flower and produce market fills a piazza at the very heart of the centro storico; by the lunch hour it is ringed with traditional trattorie; by evening the pubs open and the square transforms yet again into a major hub of Rome's nightlife scene... » more

This huge oval space, centered on an fountain sprouting ancient Egyptian obelisk of Ramses II, between the banks of the Tiber River and the terraced 19th-century Pincio Gardens leading up to Villa Borghese Park once formed part of the gardens belonging to the family of the crazed and despised Emperor Nero. After complaints that Nero's ghost haunted the pine grove on the site, the church razed it and built the amazing church of Santa Maria del Popolo, crammed with art and architectural works by Caravaggio, Bernini, Raphael, and Pinturicchio... » more

This early blueprint for the Colosseum survives even though medieval builders grafted a series of apartment buildings on top of it (don't tell me the Romans don't know how to recycle)... » more

Slung into the Murcia Valley between the Palatine and Aventine hills, the elongated grassy jogging oval known as the Circo Massimo was once the largest stadium in all of Rome, a 2,000-foot-long track where the empire threw its most extravagant chariot races to entertain crowds of up to 300,000 screaming spectators... » more

The remains of an ancient Roman amphitheater in the basement of a contemporary Roman restaurant (killer pasta all'amatriciana, too)... » more

The Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II (Italy's first king, Victor Emmanuel II)—the undisputedly ugliest and most pretentious building in all of Rome—now has one saving grace: you can now climb it for a magnificent panorama over the heart of ancient Rome... » more

Rome's favorite public pundit and editorial cartoonist has been on the job for centuries now, dispensing his wit, wisdom, and barely concealed rage at the problems facing society from the corner of a palazzo just off Piazza Navona... » more

The emperor's exploits and most famous victories spelled out comic-strip fashion in a spiral up this giant marble pillar along the Via del Corso... » more

The forgotten forum, a pair of teensy, utterly ancient temples slung between the back side of the Capitoline Hill and the Tiber River, across from the Mouth of Truth, in what was until modern time a cow pasture... » more

A peek-a-boo view of St. Peter's from the top of the Aventine Hill—and the entrance to the private fiefdom of an order of knights that has survived since the Crusades... » more

The prettiest bridge across the Tiber River is strung with statues of angles designed by Bernini and leads right to the Pope's private castle, Castel Sant'Angelo... » more

The artists who once owned this palazzo near the top of the Spanish Steps laid out an unusual unwelcome mat in the form of turning the door and window frames into the gaping maws of monstrous faces... » more

Proof that not everyone makes it to the afterlife on the first try... » more