The Eternal City

A travel guide to help you plan a trip to Rome, Italy

The Roman Forum.

Top Sights
Favorite Hotels
Reid's List
Free Sights
Planning FAQ Rome is the Eternal City of piazze (squares) and your morning cappuccino in the local bar; of long, leisurely dinners and buzzing motor scooters; of cobblestoned streets, medieval quarters, fashionable evening strolls, Renaissance palaces, and splashing fountains. Rome has also been the seat of two great empires.

Ancient Rome left the city richly strewn with ruins and sights such as the Colosseum, Pantheon, and Roman Forum, but ancient Rome pops up everywhere—in the odd ancient marble colonnade embedded in a church wall, a row of medieval buildings that still follows the curve of an ancient theater, and countless basements and wine cellars built into the remains of ancient Roman houses. The era of Caesars and togas also cranked out tens of thousands of sculptures, of which the cream of the crop in the Vatican, Capitoline museums, and Museo Nazionale Romano merely scratches the surface.

The early Christians also left Rome littered with well over 900 churches. Many of these seem less houses of worship than pretty, marble-clad walls on which to hang centuries' worth of art by Renaissance and baroque masters. Works by Michelangelo, Raphael, Pinturicchio, Bernini, Borromini, Botticelli, and Caravaggio abound.

Sights By Category
• Top Sights
• Museums
• Ancient sites / ruins
• Churches
• Reid's list
• Free sights
• Michelangelo's Rome
• Bernini's Rome
• Caravaggio's Rome One of these churches outdoes the rest. As the Capital of Christendom, Rome is home to the ludicrously huge Mother church of St. Peter's and the pope's personal pad, Vatican City. The Vatican's museums are vast, but the crowds come primarily to crane their necks in awe at Michelangelo's masterpiece, the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

Someone once said it would take a lifetime to see all of Rome. I've had the great pleasure to live in Rome on and off since I was 11 years old, and I'd hazard that 100 lifetimes wouldn't be enough. They also say Rome wasn't built in a day (it's at about 2,800 years and counting), and while you can't reasonably expect to see it in one day either, you can get at least a healthy taste for it in three or four (see perfect itineraries).

Just be sure to toss that coin in the Trevi Fountain before you leave so you can be secure in the knowledge that, someday, you'll return to the Eternal City.

Don't know where to start the planning? Read my Rome FAQ to help you plan the perfect Roman holiday.

Top Sights 1) Vatican Museums 2) St. Peter's 3) Colosseum 4) Roman Forum 5) Imperial Fori 6) Pantheon 7) Spanish Steps 8) Trevi Fountain 9) Piazza Navona 10) Catacombs » more	Free Sights 1) Always free 2) Sometimes free 3) Churches 4) Parks 5) Markets 6) Experiences 7) Discounts » more	Reid's List 1) San Clemente 2) Santa Maria del Popolo 3) Largo Argentina 4) Galleria Borghese 5) Santa Cecilia in Trastevere 6) The Gianicolo 7) The Farnesina 8) The Capuchin Crypt 9) A Caravaggio pilgrimage 10) Biking the Appian Way » more
Fave Hotels • Marcus [under €100] • Des Artistes [under €100] • Coronet [€100–€150] • Aventino [€100–€150] • Abruzzi [€150–€250] • Raphael [over €250] » more	Best Eats • Dining in Rome • Gelato [sweet] » more	Planning FAQ • Getting to Rome • Rome itineraries • Getting around Rome • City layout • When to go • Sights to book ahead » more

The ReidsGuides.com Map of Rome

You can now view all of the ReidsGuides.com recommended hotels, sights, and restaurants on the customized Google map below. This way, you can pick a hotel that's near the sights you want to see, or use your PDA are you walk out of the Colosseum you can find the nearest place to get some lunch.

Please note that this new feature is still in beta; I'm working out the kinks and testing different ways of pulling it off, so please pardon my virtual dust while I construct this exiciting new map-based, interactive travel guide.

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