Foro Romano (Roman Forum) and Palatino (Palatine)
The Roman Forum is today a confusing expanse littered by marble fragments, columns and floor layouts. But with a little imagination, you can begin to envisage what was the political, commercial and social heart of ancient Rome, the symbolic centre of an Empire stretching to Greece, Sicily and Carthage. Fire, barbarians and pillaging builders in medieval and Renaissance times contributed to the Forum's present state of disrepair. The site was only fully revealed during the excavation work of the 19th century. A bird's-eye view is gained from behind Piazza del Campidoglio. Grab an audio guide to help make some sense of it all while you have a closer look. Among the best preserved monuments are the AD203 triumphal Arch of Septimius Severus (built to celebrate victory over the Parthinians) and the remains of Caesar's rostra, from where his great speeches were declaimed. Also impressive are the former atrium of the House of the Vestal Virgins and the adjacent Temple of Vesta, a circular building where the vestal virgins were entrusted in keeping the eternal flame alight. Just up from the Arch of Titus in the Forum is the Palatine hill from where once the spectacular palaces of the Roman emperors overlooked the administrative centre and the racecourse Circus Maximus: today their hulking ruins remain.

Piazza di Santa Maria Nova 53 (off Via dei Fori Imperiali)
Tel: 06 3996 7700.
Website: www.pierreci.it
Opening hours: Daily 0830-1915 (Apr-Aug); 0830-1900 (Sep); 0830-1830 (Oct); 0830-1630 (Nov-Mar), last entry one hour before closing time.
Free admission for Foro Romano. There's a charge for the Palatine and Palatine Museum, but this includes entry to the Colosseum (go here first to avoid long queues).

Colosseo (Colosseum)
Near to Via Sacra and the fourth-century Arco di Costantino (Arch of Constantine) lies the gigantic oval of the Colosseum - 186m (620ft) long, 153m (510ft) wide and about 47m (157ft) high. Emperor Vespasian began construction in AD72 and work was completed eight years later by his son Titus. It was the scene for entertainment that one can hardly comprehend - gladiatorial conquests between men, lions and wild beasts, with death guaranteed. The ‘games' were finally outlawed in the fifth century. The stadium has been pillaged over the centuries and rocked by earthquakes. Today, only its skeletal framework remains, with the winding passages used to force animals up to the battlefield of the arena, formerly underground, now exposed.

Piazza del Colosseo
Tel: 06 3996 7700.
Website: www.pierreci.it
Opening hours: Daily 0830-1915 (Apr-Aug); 0830-1900 (Sep), 0830-1830 (Oct), 0830-1630 (Nov-Mar), last entry one hour before closing time.
Admission charge (ticket includes entry to the Palatine).

Pantheon
The awe-inspiring Pantheon is the best-preserved and most beautifully proportioned of Rome's ancient monuments. Thought to have been built by Hadrian between AD119 and AD128, this was once a Roman temple. It was converted to a Christian church in AD608 - the key to its miraculous survival. The radius of the dome is exactly equivalent to the height and a 9m (30ft) hole, known as the oculus, in the dome's centre allows light (and rain) into the building. Once the interior would have been decorated by statues of deities - now it houses the tombs of kings Vittorio Emmanuele II and Umberto I, and the painter Raphael. The incredible, vast brass doors belonged to the original Roman building.

Piazza della Rotonda
Tel: 06 6830 0230.
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 0900-1930, Sun 0900-1730.
Free admission

Cappella Sistina & Musei Vaticani (Sistine Chapel & Vatican Museums)
The merest glimpse of Michelangelo's depiction of The Creation is worth the queues and crowds you have to negotiate to visit the Vatican Museums. Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to paint frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel - built as a private chapel of the popes between 1475 and 1480. Work began in May 1508, the frescoes were unveiled in August 1511, and completed in October 1512. Twenty-two years later, Pope Clement VII asked Michelangelo to decorate the wall behind the altar, with the subject of the Last Judgement chosen by Clement's successor Paul III. Michelangelo surpassed his amazing earlier work with this muscular explosion. Pope Pius IV was scandalised by the display of nudity and the offending genitalia had to be concealed by hastily painted loincloths - most have been removed during restoration work. Look out for the artist's own aged face below the figure of Christ. Although eclipsed by Michelangelo's artistry, the Renaissance paintings that line the walls are also wonderful works, created by the masters - including Michelangelo's own teacher, Ghirlandaio, and Botticelli.

The Vatican Museums alone could easily eat up a day or two of a trip to Rome. Highlights include the Stanze di Raffaello (Raphael's Rooms), the Etruscan Museum (depicting Italy before the Romans) and the Pio-Clementino Museum, which includes the classical masterpieces Laocoön and the Apollo Belvedere.

Viale Vaticano 100
Tel: 06 6988 3333.
Website: www.vatican.va
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 0900-1800 with last entry at 1600, Sat 0845-1400 with last entry at 1200.
Admission charge, free last Sun of the month.

Basilica di San Pietro (St Peter's Basilica)
St Peter's Basilica lies above a former shrine, which is said to mark the burial ground of the saint. Pope Julius II and his architect Bramante pulled down the original 1000-year-old structure in 1506, in order to build a shiny new basilica. Construction lasted 120 years, during which time a team of architects and artists (including Alberti, Bramante, Raphael, Peruzzi, Sangallo the Younger and Michelangelo) struggled over this enormous edifice. Michelangelo was responsible for the huge dome and supporting drum but died in 1564, before work was completed in 1590. 

The basilica's interior is an unashamed display of the power of the Church. Amid the grandeur (in the first chapel on the right) lies Michelangelo's tender Pietà (1498/9). Arnolfo da Cambio's bronze statue of St Peter (1296), in the central aisle, is famed for its foot worn to a nub by pilgrims' kisses. Bernini's extravagant Throne of St Peter (1665), above the papal altar (made with bronze purloined from the Pantheon) dominates the far end of the nave. Optional extras include a trip (via lift or stairs) into the dome, the Vatican Gardens (pre-booked guided tours only), and the Vatican Grottoes, containing papal tombs (opening hours are the same as those for the basilica, and admission is free). Access to the Necropolis below the grottoes (the legendary site of St Peter's remains) is allowed with written permission only.

Every Sunday at noon, when he's in town, the Pope addresses his flock from a window overlooking the colonnaded, keyhole-shaped Piazza San Pietro, which fronts the basilica.

Piazza San Pietro
Tel: 06 6988 1662.
Website: www.stpetersbasilica.org
Opening hours: Daily 0700-1900 (Apr-Sep); daily 0700-1800 (Oct-Mar).
Free admission. 

St Peter's Dome
Opening hours: Daily 0800-1800 (Apr-Sep); daily 0800-1645 (Oct-Mar).
Admission charge.

Necropolis
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 0900-1700. Only pre-arranged groups of less than 15 people may enter. For details, see the Vatican website (www.vatican.va). You should email the Ufficio Scavi, Fabbrica di San Pietro (scavi@fsp.va) in advance, with the number of visitors, names, language and contact info, giving a selection of dates and times for possible visits.
Admission charge.

Vatican Gardens/Vatican Guided Tours Office
Fax: 06 6988 4019.
Organised tours take place on Tue, Thur and Sat at 1100 from Mar-Oct and Sat at 1100 from Nov-Feb and should be booked several days in advance via fax.
Admission charge.

Musei Capitolini (Capitoline Museums)
The oldest public collection in the world, the Capitoline Museums are made up of two separate buildings: the Palazzo dei Conservatori and the Palazzo Nuovo. They house ancient and baroque sculptures, from the 5th-century BC wolf suckling Romus and Romulus to Gian Lorenzo Bernini's wild head of Medusa. There's the original of the 2nd-century AD equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, a copy of which stands in the middle of the Piazza del Campidoglio, and a fine array of Renaissance and baroque art by Titian, Tintoretto and Caravaggio, as well as the country's most important collection of Roman sculpture. Entry is through the Palazzo dei Conservatori.

Piazza del Campidoglio 1
Tel: 06 8205 9127.
Website: www.museicapitolini.org
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 0900-2000, last entry at 1900.
Admission charge.

Fontana di Trevi (Trevi Fountain)
The Trevi Fountain almost fills an entire piazza amidst a tangle of streets off Via del Tritone. It is said that a virgin discovered a three-way (tre-vie) spring here, causing the fountain to be built. The baroque extravaganza was designed by Nicolò Salvi for Pope Clement XII and completed in 1762. It's pure melodrama, with statues (representing Abundance, Agrippa, Salubrity, the Virgin and Neptune guiding a chariot drawn by sea horses) with a Renaissance palace for their backdrop and craggy rocks in the foreground. Later the extraordinary, foaming fountain achieved iconic status when Anita Ekberg frolicked here in Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1959). Try and come here early in the morning or late at night to avoid the ubiquitous throngs tossing coins over their shoulders - it's said that a coin cast in these waters will ensure a return visit to Rome.

Piazza di Trevi
Opening hours: Daily 24 hours.
Free admission.

Piazza di Spagna (Spanish Steps) and Keats-Shelley Memorial House
The Piazza di Spagna district is little changed from 18th-century prints depicting the area - and is still dominated by the elegant sweeping staircase known as the Spanish Steps. These were designed in 1723-26 by Francesco de Sanctis to link Via del Babuino with Via Felice - the first great street planned by Sixtus V (1585-90). Reminiscent of the grand ascent to the Sacré Coeur in Paris, the steps lead up to the 16th-century Trinità dei Monti. From here, spectacular views over the city rooftops more than warrant the steep climb. The Spanish Steps acquired their name from the neighbouring Spanish embassy but the area is more intimately associated with England - even becoming known to the rather provincial Romans as er ghetto de l'Inglesi (English Ghetto, in Roman dialect). The tourists on the Grand Tour of the 18th and 19th centuries (including Keats, Shelley, Byron and the Brownings) helped establish the district's reputation as a cosmopolitan artistic quarter. At the foot of the steps lies the boat-shaped Barcaccia Fountain, designed in 1627 by Pietro Bernini, father of the more famous Gian Lorenzo. To the right stands the modest Keats-Shelley Memorial House, in the building where 25-year-old John Keats died of tuberculosis in 1821. Exhibits include pictures and prints, private letters, an urn bearing Shelley's ashes and a lock of Keats' tawny red hair.

Keats-Shelley Memorial House
Piazza di Spagna 26
Tel: 06 678 4235.
Website: www.keats-shelley-house.org
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 0900-1300 and 1400-1800, Sat 1100-1400 and 1500-1800.
Admission charge.

Piazza Navona
This dramatic piazza, lined with cafes and restaurants, lies at the heart of the centro storico (historic centre). Its oval shape follows the form of the former stadium, built in AD86 by Emperor Domitian. During the Renaissance, the site was flooded to stage mock naval battles. The piazza gained its current form in the mid-17th century, when Pope Innocent X commissioned Borromini to design the Church of Sant'Agnese. In front of the church, Bernini built the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers), adorned with powerful figures representing the four great rivers (the Nile, the Danube, the Ganges and the Rio de la Plata, or River Plate) which in turn represented the four areas of the world known in Borromini's time (Africa, Europe, Asia and America respectively).

Opening hours: Daily 24 hours.
Free admission.

Villa & Galleria Borghese
Just to the east of the Spanish Steps lies an unexpected expanse of bucolic tranquillity - the sculpture-scattered parklands landscaped in the 17th century for Cardinal Scipione Borghese (nephew of Pope Paul V). Villa Borghese (www.villaborghese.it) includes the city zoo (www.bioparco.it), Piazza di Siena horse-jumping arena, mock ancient temples, and an artificial lake. The park also harbours Rome's most glorious gallery, the Casino Borghese, a treasure trove of sculpture and antiquities, with breathtaking Roman mosaics and masterpieces by Caravaggio, Titian and more, all housed in rococo splendour. If you manage to do one cultural thing while wandering the park, make it this (reserve your ticket in advance online or by phone; they're allotted according to two-hour time slots).  Nearby is the Museo Nazionale Etrusco (National Etruscan Museum) in Villa Giulia, with its remarkable sarcophagus of the reclining Bride and Bridegroom from Cerveteri, and the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna (National Gallery of Modern Art), featuring Italian art of the 19th and 20th centuries housed in a massive neo-classical palazzo built in 1912. Lesser-known venues include the modern art museum Carlo Bilotti (www.museocarlobilotti.it); a delightful small scale children's cinema Cinema dei Piccoli (www.cinemadeipiccoli.it); the Casa del Cinema (www.casadelcinema.it); the Silvano Toti Globe Theatre (www.globetheatreroma.com), which puts on plays in summer and features some original-language productions; Teatro dei Burattini San Carlino - a puppet theatre; and games centre Ludoteca. The Villa Borghese Card offers reductions and free entry to special events.

Galleria Borghese
Piazzale del Museo Borghese 5
Tel: 06 841 3979.
Website: www.galleriaborghese.it
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 0830-1930, last entry at 1700.
Admission charge.

Villa Giulia
Piazzale di Villa Giulia 9
Tel: 06 8205 9127.
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 0830-1930, last entry at 1830.
Admission charge.