Rome Travel Guide

The Colosseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre, is the enduring symbol of ancient Rome, inaugurated in AD 80 as an arena that held some 50,000 spectators. Gladiators and wild beasts fought here, and mock naval battles were once staged by flooding the floor. Its four-tier arcaded façade and mastery of concrete and vaulting shaped architecture for nearly two millennia. Today only a ruined shell remains, yet it is still majestic; the restored hypogeum of gladiator passages and a reconstructed arena floor let visitors step back into the empire's splendour and its cruelty.

The Pantheon is the most complete and greatest surviving building from ancient Rome. Famous for its huge dome and the oculus skylight, it has stood nearly two thousand years and remains a pinnacle symbol of Roman engineering, a stunning sight in Rome. The Pantheon stands in Rome's center, one of the most complete and best-preserved buildings from ancient Rome (standing and in use for nearly two millennia). Built in Roman times as a temple to all the gods (hence its name), later converted to a church, it survived. Most astonishing is its unparalleled huge dome: a perfect hemispherical concrete dome by the Romans, with a span so large (diameter equals height, over forty meters) that, nearly two thousand years on, it remains the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome, a pinnacle marvel of Roman engineering. More wondrous, at the dome's center is a circular oculus (eye), the only natural light source: a beam of light pours through, moving across the grand, solemn hall with the sun, solemn, sacred and poetic (on rainy days, rain also falls through). Entering, looking up at the perfect dome and the pouring light, one is stunned by Roman ingenuity. Raphael and others are buried here. Visiting Rome and admiring the intact, stunning Pantheon, looking up at the dome's light, is a stunning sight.

Tucked into a tiny piazza where Roman alleys collide, the Trevi Fountain was begun in 1732 under Pope Clement XII and took thirty years to complete — Rome's largest and most celebrated Baroque fountain. Oceanus stands on a shell chariot at the centre, flanked by Tritons leading horses, one calm and one restless, embodying the sea's two tempers, while the facade of Palazzo Poli serves as the fountain's natural stage. The legend of tossing a coin over your right shoulder into the water made it world-famous, funding charity with thousands of euros daily. There is no off-season: before 7 am is the only window for an empty fountain shot.

St Peter's Basilica rises on St Peter's Square in Vatican City, the Catholic Church's holiest shrine and a summit of Renaissance architecture. Masterminded in turn by Bramante, Michelangelo and Bernini, its dome — designed by Michelangelo — reaches about 136 metres. Inside lie treasures like the Pietà, and from the cupola you survey Rome; it is the ultimate landmark for pilgrims and travellers alike.

The summit of Baroque fountain-making: 26.3 metres tall and about 49 wide, unrolled against the facade of Palazzo Poli and finally completed in 1762, after architect Nicola Salvi's death. Oceanus charges forward in his chariot as water tumbles down tiered rocks into a broad basin. Toss a coin over your left shoulder with your right hand, legend says, and you will return to Rome - the roughly 3,000 euros scooped from the basin daily has gone to charity since 2007. Fellini's La Dolce Vita fixed its nights into film history.

The Temple of Portunus stands in the Forum Boarium area beside the Tiber in Rome and is one of the better-preserved ancient Roman temples. It was dedicated to Portunus, a god linked to harbours and shipping; the building is rectangular, with a colonnade and a pediment, and it survived largely intact because it was long used as a church. Around it lie the cattle market and river port of ancient Rome, with the round Temple of Hercules Victor and the Bocca della Verità nearby, so it can be walked together with the Tiber embankment. The area gives a sense of the ancient river port and its temples; visits centre on the exterior, and arrangements for opening and entry follow on-site notices.