Rome

Italy · 8 sights · guided virtual tour

Welcome to Rome, the capital of Italy and the Eternal City. It lies in the central-western part of the Italian peninsula, along the Tiber, and is called the City of Seven Hills. Rome's history spans 28 centuries: it was the capital of the Roman Kingdom, the Republic and the Empire, then of the Papal States, and it later became the birthplace of the Baroque. Inside its boundaries lies a whole country, Vatican City, the only example in the world of a country within a city. The poet Tibullus first called Rome the Eternal City in the 1st century BC. Let's step into its history.

Sights

1. Colosseum ▶ Listen

   In front of you rises the Colosseum, the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built. Work began under Emperor Vespasian in 72 and was completed in AD 80 under his son Titus. Crowds of around 65,000 people came to watch gladiators, animal hunts, executions and re-enactments of famous battles, and for a short time even mock sea battles. After the entertainment ended in the early Middle Ages, the building lived many other lives: as housing, workshops, a fortress, a quarry and a Christian shrine. Look in your pocket for an Italian 5 cent coin, and you will find the Colosseum on it.

2. Pantheon ▶ Listen

   Step inside the Pantheon, the temple of all the gods, and look up. Above you is a coffered concrete dome with a round opening, the oculus, open to the sky. Almost two thousand years after it was built, it is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. The height to the oculus and the width of the interior are exactly the same, 43 metres. Emperor Hadrian completed the present building, but he re-inscribed it with Agrippa's name from the older temple, which is why its date is uncertain. Since AD 609 it has been a church, which helped it survive so well.

3. Trevi Fountain ▶ Listen

   Listen to the water of the Trevi Fountain, the largest Baroque fountain in the world, 26 metres high and 49 metres wide. Designed by Nicola Salvi and completed by Giuseppe Pannini in 1762, it stands at a junction of three roads, tre vie, which gave it its name. The fountain marks the end of an ancient aqueduct, the Aqua Virgo. According to legend, in 19 BC a young girl helped Roman engineers find a source of pure water outside the city. Look closely at the façade, and you will see that very scene carved in stone.

4. Roman Forum ▶ Listen

   Walk into the Roman Forum, the valley between the Palatine and Capitoline Hills that was once the heart of ancient Rome. It began as a marketplace, and for centuries it was the centre of daily life: here Romans held triumphal processions and elections, public speeches and criminal trials. Some of the oldest shrines of the city stood here, including the Temple of Vesta and the house of the Vestal Virgins. Julius Caesar built a new Senate House here. Today it is a sprawling field of ruins, called by some the most celebrated meeting place in all history.

5. Spanish Steps ▶ Listen

   Here are the Spanish Steps, a monumental stairway of 135 steps climbing a steep slope from the Piazza di Spagna to the church of Trinità dei Monti at the top. The name comes from the Spanish Embassy to the Holy See at the bottom. The architects Francesco de Sanctis and Alessandro Specchi designed the stairway, but only after generations of heated debate over how to build on this slope. A French diplomat, Étienne Gueffier, who died in 1660, left part of his fortune to pay for the steps.

6. Castel Sant'Angelo ▶ Listen

   On the bank of the Tiber stands Castel Sant'Angelo, a mighty round building that began as a tomb. Emperor Hadrian built it between 134 and 139 AD as a mausoleum for himself and his family, crowned with a garden and a golden chariot. His ashes were laid here, and later emperors followed, the last recorded being Caracalla in 217. The popes then turned it into a fortress and castle dedicated to Saint Michael the Archangel. Here is a surprise: this was once the tallest building in Rome. It is now a museum.

7. Piazza Navona ▶ Listen

   Look at the long oval shape of Piazza Navona. It is no accident: the square follows the outline of the Stadium of Domitian, built in the 1st century AD, where the ancient Romans came to watch games. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the stadium fell into ruin and was quarried for stone. In the 17th century, the square became a showcase for Baroque design, with work by Bernini and Borromini. In the centre, the Fountain of the Four Rivers stands in front of the Church of Sant'Agnese in Agone.

8. Palatine Hill ▶ Listen

   Climb the Palatine Hill, the centremost of the seven hills of Rome and one of the most ancient parts of the city, called the first nucleus of the Roman Empire. Before imperial times, the hill was mostly home to the houses of the rich. Then, starting with Augustus, the emperors built their palaces here. Today the hill is a large open-air museum, and the Palatine Museum displays many finds from the excavations.

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