So sad the Piazza Venezia and its' surrounding area was under construction during the time of our…read morevisit. This is one of the most iconic and central squares in Rome, and I can even see some of its' elegance peeking out from behind the construction area.

A must stop if you're looking for free things to do. There are options to pay like they have a…read moremuseum and some other stuff otherwise you could totally walk through the piazza completely free. Many picture areas and has bathrooms, though it was crowded.

Another great experience while in Rome. I walked up and got in line to pay for my ticket 5 Euros…read more(comes to about 6$ USD) For the people who purchased tickets on line was LONGER than the line for same day purchase tickets. This place is amazing to say the least! Architecture is breathtaking, so much history, and the final resting place for several famous figures such as Renaissance artist Raphael, and the first two kings of a unified Italy, Vittorio Emanuele II and his son Umberto I, along with Umberto's wife, Queen Margherita of Savoy, making it a significant mausoleum for Italian national heroes and celebrated artists Pro Tip the Trevi Fountain is a 5 min walk from this site

The Pantheon is an ancient Roman temple turned Catholic church, first built in the 2nd century…read moreunder Emperor Hadrian, then consecrated in 609 as the Basilica of St. Mary and the Martyrs, the title it holds to present day. It's an incredible building that's been in continuous use for almost 2,000 years. No Roman ruin, the Pantheon, but a marvel of ancient ingenuity pulled forth into the 21st century. Beautifully preserved and, with its layers of history, particularly emblematic of Rome. The exterior is striking, with the one-two of the grand columned portico and the enormous rotunda. There's an significant-looking inscription across the portico, with M·AGRIPPA·L·F·COS·TERTIVM·FECIT written in giant letters. They apparently translate to "Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, made this building when consul for the third time," a hilarious thing to have stamped on a historic landmark in size 1,000,000 font. The Pantheon is in the Piazza della Rotunda, which is also home to the Pantheon obelisk, one of Rome's thirteen ancient Egyptian obelisks. Roaming the piazza and seeing the Pantheon from the outside is free, but it's worth the small expense and hassle to see it from the inside. We visited on our last day in Rome, having already been to the Vatican and the Colosseum on guided tours. The Pantheon was easy enough to navigate on our own, and we were able to walk in without much trouble on a Saturday afternoon in November. The piazza was busy, more crowded than almost anywhere else we went on our trip, but the line to get tickets was manageable. (I will note that there are different lines for cash and credit card and the signage is not that apparent. We lost a few minutes in the wrong line.) We were inside within about twenty minutes. Almost two millennia after it was built, the Pantheon still holds the record for the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. It is a staggering piece of architecture, massive and majestic, an implausible freak of a monument. The coffered ceiling is spectacular, the recesses creating a geometric pattern that looks, from some angles, almost fake and two-dimensional. At the center of the dome is an uncovered oculus. It had been raining when we visited, and there was rainwater on the marble floor, roped off to protect clumsy tourists. The Pantheon felt like it was mostly dome, but the other elements were noteworthy too, plenty of sculpture and multi-colored marble. There are some important tombs, the most famous belonging to Raphael, who requested to be buried at the Pantheon. A pretty primo resting place. Unless you hate history and art and should have booked yourself a different trip, you have to see the Pantheon when in Rome. It's an amazing place, unlike anywhere else in the world.

Wow I love the Campo de Fiori. The name means the field of flowers, because it used to be a field…read moreof flowers and vegetable gardens here before it became this square. Unfortunately from the 16th to 19th century this place became a public execution site. Yikes. The most famous execution was Giordano Bruno in 1600, in which there is now a statue in his honor for freedom of thought. Happy thoughts, happy thoughts. Pass forward to present day. This area is lively with the open air markets where you can find vendors selling produce, flowers, spices, cheese, and artisanal goods. My boyfriend and I came here to explore the live market and also to look for souvenirs to bring home. The vendors here are really aggressive and I would have enjoyed it more if they gave me space to look instead of hound me to buy buy buy. Like chill dude can I look at what I'm buying. Sigh. We were here til closing time and even get to see how the vendors efficiently and quickly packed up their stalls and belongings to wrap up for the day. And of course... a great area to enjoy some gelato.

We're at Campo de' Fiori, Rome's oldest market and possibly the most enthusiastic display of…read moretourist traps per square meter. Once a site for public executions (Bruno's brooding statue still watches over), it now specializes in overpriced pasta and garlic braids. It's more performance art than produce. Vendors heckle, truffle oil flows freely, and yes, someone will try to sell you limoncello in a boot. I walked through as part of a food tour, which felt like the right way to enjoy the chaos, briefly, and with snacks elsewhere. Not the best market in Rome, but definitely the most theatrical.

If you visit early, you are able to get very nice pictures in the front and you won't have to pay…read more I recommend 6am ish, we had great lighting and even if there was a small crowd you just wait your turn and can get good pictures without waiting too long. I think they clean the fountain on monday and friday mornings so avoid those days. Another thing to note is that I never felt like I was at risk with pickpockets. There was always enough room and no one was acting strange.

This was our first stop in Rome and to be honest it was the worst. The fountain itself is large…read moreand beautiful, but the mass and rows of tourists pushing to get their selfies and willing to stand in line and pay 2 Euros to get a selfie left a bad taste in my mouth. I refused to pay the 2 Euros and stand in the long line to get a self indulgent picture. Although Trevi fountain wide and impressive, I liked the 1651 Baroque Four Rivers (Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi) by Bernini at is at Piazza Navona better. One of those River Gods had some impressive, muscular thighs. 8-)

The Colosseum is the most incredible thing I've ever seen on this planet. Nothing prepares you for…read morestanding in front of it in real life. The scale, the power, the history, everything about it is absolutely breathtaking. You can feel the history the moment you step inside. Knowing what happened there centuries ago gives you literal shivers. It's emotional, intense, and awe-inspiring all at once. Every stone tells a story, and it makes you feel so small in the best way possible. This is not just a landmark, it's an experience that stays with you forever. If you come to Rome and don't see the Colosseum, you missed everything. Rating: 10/10 -- unforgettable, unreal, legendary

Holy shit, the Colosseum. It's one of the craziest things I've ever seen, a massive historical…read moremarvel, a monument to human ingenuity and cruelty, the highs and lows of our entire existence. You have to see it before you die. No photograph, no movie, can fully conjure the real thing. Its scale, its majesty, the psychic bridge it provides to a violent and fascinating past. Standing in the Colosseum is about as close as I've gotten to time travel. We booked a three-hour tour with Crown Tours, covering the Forum, Palatine Hill, and the Colosseum. This was definitely the way to go. I loved both the simplified logistics and the live, on-site history lesson. That said, if you're not the guided tour type, the Colosseum does kind of speak for itself. We went around noon on a Friday during low season, when it was busy but nowhere near peak crowding. I imagine a summertime visit with kids would be pretty uncomfortable. But the Colosseum is worth a fair amount of physical suffering. Maybe not being mauled and eaten by lions, but definitely a little body odor and heat. The Colosseum is both the largest standing amphitheater in the world and the largest ancient amphitheater ever built. These may be the least surprising facts I've ever read on Wikipedia. The place is named for its colossal size, and honestly that alone would make it worth visiting. The size, though, is maybe its third or fourth most notable feature. The architecture is iconic. I was about to start describing it, but everyone knows what the Colosseum looks like: it looks like the Colosseum. It looks both more and less like the Colosseum up close and from within. I don't remember the striations in the travertine walls from any history books. The interior is breathtaking. Our guide sat us down and we gawked at the tiered seating and arena of this enormous world wonder, a place that once accommodated some 50,000 spectators for any given event, where an estimated 400,000 people and a million animals met violent ends. It's kind of wild that any of this was a) allowed and b) how people got their kicks, but the enthusiasm for brutality is comprehensible enough in 2025. I know exactly who would be in the stands with popcorn, watching people whose lives hold no value for them fighting to the death. Our tour ended on the ground floor of the Colosseum, and we wandered the upper level on our own, looking down at the arena and the exposed underground, which required its own ticket and didn't seem to have many visitors. We visited the gift shop and bought a postcard for our kids, though I don't quite know how to explain this place to our five- and three-year-old sons. I hope to bring them in person one day, when they're older and more knowledgeable about the ways of the world. There might be heat, there might be crowds, but they'll have to see the Colosseum.

The Spanish Steps are absolutely breathtaking!!…read more The Spanish Steps connect the Piazza di Spagna below with the stunning Trinità dei Monti church above. The Trinità dei Monti is worth a visit when you're here, it's full of history, artwork and phenomenal statues. The area around the Spanish Steps are chock full of fabulous restaurants and high end shops. The views from the top after climbing the 135 steps are glorious. You can see the Spanish embassy in the square below from the terraces above. We ate at a local Trattoria that did not disappoint. It has became a cultural hub for artists, writers and royalty. A luxury shopping landmark, and a quintessential symbol of Roman glamour, culture, and social life. I've been before and will come back. Such a sight to see and I LOVE Italy!!

The Spanish Steps were built between 1723 and 1725 to connect the Bourbon Spanish Embassy in Piazza…read moredi Spagna with the French church of Trinità dei Monti above. Thev steps were designed by architect Francesco de Sanctis, the staircase quickly became both a practical pathway and a grand public gathering place. The name "Spanish Steps" comes from the nearby Spanish Embassy to the Holy See, which gave the piazza its name centuries earlier. At the top sits the Trinità dei Monti church, while at the base is the famous Barcaccia Fountain, created by Pietro Bernini and his son, the legendary Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Over the centuries, the steps became a favorite meeting place for artists, writers, and travelers during Rome's Grand Tour era. Poets like John Keats spent time nearby, and today his former home beside the staircase is preserved as the Keats-Shelley House museum. Today, the Spanish Steps remain one of Rome's most iconic landmarks...a blend of Baroque elegance, history, fashion, and people-watching where Rome somehow manages to feel both glamorous and time less.

When we were in Vatican City in the afternoon, we skipped the plaza. We came back in the early…read moreevening and it was much less crowded. The square is directly in front of St. Peter's Basilica. Both are named after Saint Peter, an apostle of Jesus whom Catholics consider the first Pope. There is an obelisk in the center and 284 columns that create the elliptical shape of the square.

This is the area around the Vatican…read more It's gorgeous! I absolutely love the fountains and statues in this area. So much amazing architecture. When you step into this piazza, I feel like you get a sense of the Holy Spirit. I mean, how can you not when you are so close to the Vatican? There's a peaceful atmosphere here.

5 euro regular admission but I paid the 4 euro price for students. Well worth it if you want to…read morereset your nasal passages from car exhaust and cigarettes. The grounds are very large and you could spend hours here. You very much feel like you're in an isolated nature preserve and not in Rome. There's also a stone staircase with a fountain at the top that's just lovely. Keep going up to the garden's western limits and it's a short walk away from the Garibaldi monument and Fontana dell'Acqua Paola (once you leave you can't get back in)

Free to visit and get some of the most breath taking views of Rome. The gardens of the Janiculum -…read moreGianicolo in Italian - are composed of the remains of the gardens of Papal and aristocratic villas. Of themselves the gardens are like many Roman parks - a few trees and some scrubby grass. But the amazing terracing and the views of Rome are unbeatable. Take an afternoon off having visited the nearby Vatican and just laze here - there are plenty of bars and cafes so lunch or an afternoon ice cream are possible.

Vittoriano, also known as the Altar of the Fatherland. The Monument…read moreto king Victor Emmanuel II was built starting in 1885, designed by Giuseppe Sacconi, and inaugurated in 1911 to commemorate the 50th. See it as you walk around downtown Rome.

This building was right down the road from our hotel and we passed it a number of times. It is…read morebeautiful with nice statues on the front and back of building. I climbed up the back of building and caught the sunset.

Cool Piazza at the Northern City Wall and also a gateway to Villa Borghese. This piazza has an…read moreobelisk, two churches, two fountains and also restaurants. There is a huge shopping area with parallel streets of shops, one that goes to Piazza di Spagna, at the base of the Spanish Steps. Five Stars!

I came I saw and I conquered. Wow, what a great place is this blessed City. You could spend hours…read morein this area. Great restaurants and shopping too.