Essential
Museums & culture· Monti
Colosseum
The largest amphitheatre ancient Rome ever built, opened in AD 80 for gladiator fights and animal hunts in front of some 50,000 people.
Collection · Rome
Rome essentials
8 placesFreeUpdated November 5, 2026
The Colosseum and the Forum, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, the Spanish Steps, St Peter's and the Vatican Museums.
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Places in this collection
8 places
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- Essential
Museums & culture· Monti
Roman Forum and Palatine Hill
The political and religious heart of ancient Rome, a valley of temples, arches and the Via Sacra below the hill where the emperors lived.
- Essential
Museums & culture· Centro storico
Pantheon
A Roman temple nearly 1,900 years old, later a church, crowned by a concrete dome that opens to the sky through a nine-metre oculus.
- Essential
Special place· Trevi
Trevi Fountain
Rome's most famous baroque fountain, built against a palace façade and tucked into a small square at the end of narrow lanes.
- Essential
Museums & culture· Vatican
St Peter's Basilica
The Vatican's great church, with Michelangelo's dome and Pietà inside and Bernini's colonnaded square in front.
- Essential
Museums & culture· Vatican
Vatican Museums
The popes' collections, from classical sculpture to the Raphael Rooms, with the Sistine Chapel at the end of the route.
- Essential
Special place· Centro storico
Piazza Navona
A long square that keeps the shape of Domitian's stadium, with Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers at its centre.
- Essential
Special place· Tridente
Spanish Steps
The 18th-century stairway climbing from the Barcaccia fountain to the church of Trinità dei Monti. Sitting on the steps is not allowed.
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Before you go
How to see Rome's essentials
Two days, two halves
Give one day to ancient Rome (Colosseum, Forum and Palatine) and one to the Vatican. The Pantheon, Trevi, Navona and the Spanish Steps are a few minutes' walk apart and fit into a single afternoon.
Colosseum tickets are named
Tickets go on sale at ticketing.colosseo.it 30 days ahead, carry your name and are checked against your ID at the gate. The same ticket covers the Forum and the Palatine.
Trevi has paid hours
Since February 2026 it costs €2 to go down to the fountain between 9:00 and 22:00 (from 11:30 on Mondays and Fridays). Outside those hours access is free and crowds are much thinner.
Vatican: book and dress
Book the Vatican Museums at museivaticani.va; they close on Sundays except the last one of the month. St Peter's requires covered shoulders and knees.
Checked on November 3, 2026. Opening hours and tickets can change, so check each place’s website before you go.
