The Vatican Museums
The Vatican Museums make up the richest and most extensive museum collection in the world. The Raphael Stanze and the Sistine Chapel are worth the price of entrance alone.

Pantheon
The most complete ancient Roman structure in the city, the Pantheon, finished around 125AD, is still to be marveled at for its enormous dome. Inside, you can visit the tomb of Raphael.

Porta Portese Flea Market
The Porta Portese flea market straggles all the way down Via Portuense to Trastevere train station, a riot of antiques, bric-a-brac, old clothes and pure junk.

The Church of Sant'Ignazio
In the centro storico, the church of Sant'Ignazio has a marvelous and often overlooked trompe l'oeil false cupola, covered in figures in various states of action and repose.

The Church of San Clemente
With a Mithraic temple in its lower levels, an earlier Christian church above, and a medieval basilica above that, San Clemente is Rome's unique history in microcosm.

The Galleria Borghese
Just opened after a drawn-out (even by Italian standards) refurbishment, the Galeria Borghese is one of the city's finest small collections, with a fantastic array of Bernini statues.

Giolitti
In the heart of the old city, Giolitti may be Rome's best place to enjoy great ice cream, with no fewer than seventy flavours on offer until 2am each morning.

Piazza Navona
Piazza Navona is perhaps the closest Rome has to a central square: go to be a tourist, stroll past the pavement artists and check out Bernini's typically grandiose Fountain of the Four Rivers.

The Church of Immaculate Conception
A must for fans of the macabre, the Church of Immaculate Conception has the bones of some 4000 Capuchin monks set out in patterns on the walls or simply left as skeletons and wrapped in their original gowns.
 

The Tour

Begin at Piazza Venezia, the square in front of the elaborate marble mountain that is the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II. On the west side of the piazza is Palazzo Venezia, built in the 15th century for the Venetian Cardinal Pietro Barbo, who became Pope Paul II and who totally renovated the facade of the adjacent church of San Marco, on Piazza San Marco on the south side of the palace. From Piazza Venezia, head north on Via del Corso, making sure to walk on the right-hand side of the street so that you can get a good view of the attractive facade of Palazzo Doria Pamphilj, one of Rome's grandest palaces.

The entrance to its sumptuous art gallery and state apartments is on Piazza del Collegio Romano. After a look at how an aristocratic family lives, take Via di Sant'Ignazio to the enchanting 18th-century rococo Piazza di Sant'Ignazio, designed by architect Raguzzini as if it were a stage set. But then, of course, theatricality was a key element of almost all the best baroque and rococo art. Nowhere is this more evident than in the church of Sant'Ignazio, where the ceiling frescoes hold a surprise or two.

Behind the "stage set," Via del Burrò leads to Piazza di Pietra, where the onetime Rome Stock Exchange is set inside the columns of an ancient temple. From here it's just a few steps along Via dei Bergamaschi to Piazza Colonna, named for the celebrated Colonna di Marco Aurelio at its center. North of the column, Palazzo Chigi, a 16th- and 17th-century building, serves as the seat of the prime minister. Next door is Palazzo Montecitorio, where the Chamber of Deputies (lower house) of the Italian Parliament meets.

Just off Via del Tritone is little Santa Maria in Via, where the well water in the church is said to have miraculous powers. Across Via del Tritone, a busy thoroughfare that climbs to Piazza Barberini and Via Veneto, Piazza San Silvestro is a hub of public transportation and location of the main post office. It is also on the edge of a shopping district that has few equals elsewhere in the world. From Via del Tritone on the south to Piazza del Popolo on the north, from the Tiber on the west to Villa Borghese on the east, this is a fabulous trove of specialty shops and boutiques offering all types of fashions, jewelry, household goods, and anything else you might want -- including the well-maintained rest-room facilities in the Rinascente department store, which occupies the block at the corner of Via del Corso and Largo Chigi. You can detour in and out of the area's narrow byways as your fancy takes you, attracted by handsome window displays.

At some point, head north on Via del Corso again to Piazza San Lorenzo in Lucina to see the Bernini works in San Lorenzo in Lucina and perhaps linger in one of the fashionable cafés on this pretty square. At the west end of the piazza, take Via del Leone to Largo Fontanella Borghese to see the portal of Palazzo Borghese and browse at the stalls selling old books and prints around the corner in airy Piazza della Fontanella Borghese, where you can get an even better idea of the palace's size. Follow Via della Fontanella Borghese, lined with smart shops, to Largo Goldoni, site of an information kiosk.

From Largo Goldoni you enter Via Condotti and get a head-on view of the Piazza di Spagna and the church of Trinità dei Monti. On Via Condotti you can get from Bulgari to Gucci to Valentino to Ferragamo with no effort at all, except perhaps that of navigating the crowds. On weekend and holiday afternoons the square, along with Via del Corso and neighboring streets, is packed with teenagers out for a mass stroll. They perch on the steps and around the low-lying Fontana della Barcaccia in the middle of the piazza. To the right of the Spanish Steps, the Keats and Shelley Memorial House gives you an idea of how England's Romantic poets lived in what was then Rome's bohemian quarter. Two doors down is Casa Museo G. De Chirico, the house and studio of the Metaphysical painter Giorgio De Chirico (1888-1978), now a museum.

The column at the far end of the piazza, adjacent to the American Express office, supports a statue dedicated to the Immaculate Conception. Each December 8, a crack unit of the Rome Fire Department sends one of its best men up a ladder to replace the garland crowning the Madonna, and the pope usually stops by in the afternoon to pay his respects. Just in front of the column stands Palazzo di Propaganda Fide, brain center of the far-flung missionary activities of the Jesuits.

Follow Via di Propaganda to the church of Sant'Andrea delle Fratte, where you can pause under the orange trees in the cloister. From Via Sant'Andrea delle Fratte, turn left onto Via del Nazareno and cross busy Via del Tritone to Via della Stamperia. On the right-hand side of Via della Stamperia is Palazzo Poli, which houses the Calcografia dello Stato. A few paces beyond is the old building in which the Accademia di San Luca, with a gallery of old masters, is located. As you near the end of Via della Stamperia, you can probably hear the sound of Fontana di Trevi, a baroque extravaganza of sculpture and cascading waters.

From the fountain, Via Lucchesi leads you to Piazza della Pilotta and Via della Pilotta, where ornate bridges overhead connect Palazzo Colonna with the Colonna family's gardens on the slope of the Quirinal Hill. The west side of the palace is flanked by the church of Santi Apostoli. On the ceiling, the early-18th-century artist Baciccia painted one of his swooping, swirling illusionist frescoes. Opposite the church is another of Rome's splendid patrician palaces, 17th-century Palazzo Odescalchi, used as a model for aristocratic palaces throughout Europe.

Timing:

Not counting shopping, this walk could take from 3½ to 5 hours, allowing for visits to the galleries and for a few coffee or ice-cream breaks. It certainly should be done on days when the shops are open, even if you're only window-shopping. Though the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj is open most days of the week, the Galleria in Palazzo Colonna is open only on Saturday morning.

Arco di Costantino

The city of Ancient Rome is home to many triumphal arches. They are found practically at every turn, standing proud and strong, proclaiming yet another victorious win for the "eternal city". In fact, there are so many that visitors can spend an entire afternoon touring and pondering these gargantuan trophies. The Arch of Constantine, however, holds a bit more meaning than any of its peers. It marks a great turning point in world history.

In 315 AD, this arch was dedicated to celebrate the emperor Constantine’s victory over his rival and co-emperor, Maxentius, in 312 AD. The night before that crucial military blow, Constantine had a vision of a cross spread across the sky. Proclaiming he owed his victory to Christ, the now sole emperor legalized and installed Christianity as the state religion in gratitude. In no time at all, it seems, the entire Western World turned away from the pagan practices of old and adopted the religion of a once unpopular and fiercely despised group of believers.

So, that is the meaning WITHIN this one arch among many, but to seek any meaning ON the arch proves to be a confusing and senseless task. By the fourth century the Roman Empire had already started to dwindle. As a result, this arch was rather hastily built and quilted together with reliefs, medallions and statuary scavenged from earlier monuments. Any tangible or recognizable decoration found will most likely pertain to the emperor Trajan.