Fun and offbeat Rome

The Capuchin Crypt - The chapels of this crypt are covered in intricate mosaics, hung with elaborate chandeliers, and decorated with sculptural images—all of them created using thousands upon thousands of bones from dead monks... » more

Don the helmet and leather armor, grab a sword and shield, and spend the day learning the moves of an ancient Roman gladiator... » 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

Labyrinths of underground tunnels carved with shelves and niches for the deposition of ancient Christian bones. Spooky, plus some great paleo-Christian art... » more

Not so much weird as a singular event available nowhere else on earth. Unlike the Middle Ages, when you had to have excellent connections to see the Bishop of Rome (that's the Pope's real title), these days papal audiences are pretty easy to come by—so long as you're willing to share the moment with several thousand other audience members... » more

Since the middle ages, if Romans have something to say about the state of their city or nation, they say it anonymously via these talking statues, the op-ed pages of the medieval world... » more

A peek-a-boo view of St. Peter's dome through the gates of the last surviving knightly order from the era of the Crusades... » more

Screaming faces and leering monsters form the doors and windows of this palazzo near the top of the Spanish Steps... » more

The Acea Art Center is a bona fide deus ex macchina experience. They've prettied up the old Montemartini power plant to house over 400 gorgeous ancient Roman sculptures from the Capitoline Museums collections that haven't been seen by the public in decades. They’re displayed evocatively against a backdrop of the power plant's inky black iron machinery, much of it so massive and muscularly mechanical that it looks more like a metaphor of early industry than actual working devices, like it came from a Fritz Lang movie set... » more

A stage-set of a piazza out front leads to a church interior that is not all it seems to be—watch the dome carefully as you walk up the aisle towards it... » more

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