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Italy
Rome
A city with too much in it. The skill is choosing what to skip.
Roofline, looking west. Gareth Williams · CC BY 2.0
Rome punishes completionists. There is more here than any trip can hold, and the visitors who enjoy it least are the ones trying to hold all of it. The ones who enjoy it most pick three or four things, arrive early, and spend the rest of the day on a terrace being unproductive.
The other thing nobody tells you: Rome is at its best at the edges of the day. The same square that is unbearable at two in the afternoon is close to empty at half past seven in the morning, and lovely again at dusk. Most of the advice that follows is really advice about timing.
Researched from published sources rather than a personal visit. Check before you go.
Published · practical details checked
Neighbourhoods
- Monti
- A short walk from the Forum but a different atmosphere entirely — small squares, workshops, and a neighbourhood that still feels lived in.
- Trastevere
- Ivy, cobbles and noise. Charming in the morning, extremely busy after dinner. Pick your street carefully if you are sleeping there.
- Testaccio
- The old slaughterhouse district, now the most reliable eating in the city and a market worth crossing town for.
- Pigna
- The dense centre around the Pantheon. Expensive, central, and unbeatable for walking everywhere.
Rome guides
Tables — 2
Tables · Pizza by weight
A pizza al taglio counter in Trastevere
Sample entry: trays in the window, cut with scissors, sold by weight.
Trastevere1/4Sample
Tables · Market
Mercato Testaccio
The neighbourhood market that is worth crossing the city for, especially at lunchtime.
Testaccio1/4
Drinks — 1
Drinks · Coffee bar
A standing coffee bar near the Pantheon
Sample entry: marble counter, no seats, ninety seconds from order to pavement.
Pigna1/4Sample
Stays — 2
Stays · Guesthouse
Rooms above a courtyard in Monti
Sample entry: five minutes from the Forum, in a neighbourhood that still has a greengrocer.
Monti2/4Sample
Stays · Apartment
A terrace apartment near Campo de' Fiori
Sample entry: a roof terrace with pots on it, four flights up, no lift.
Regola3/4Sample
Trips — 4
Trips · Ancient building
The Pantheon
A 1,900-year-old concrete dome with a hole in the top, still the largest of its kind.
Pigna1/4Trips · Viewpoint walk
Passeggiata del Gianicolo
The terrace above Trastevere with the whole city laid out below it, and almost no queue.
Gianicolense
Trips · Park
Villa Borghese gardens
Eighty hectares of umbrella pines above the centre, with a terrace over Piazza del Popolo.
Pinciano
Trips · Walk
The Trastevere lanes
Ivy, cobbles and ochre walls — an entirely different neighbourhood before and after dark.
Trastevere
More Rome, as we find it.
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