What to do when in Rome

jw5 · Jun 3, 2022

Baths of Diocletian National Museum

Ancient Rome's other big former imperial bathing site, Terme di Diocleziano is today the Baths of Diocletian National Museum. Besides a museum, the site is expansive enough to hold two churches and large parts of a Carthusian monastery.

jw5 · Jun 3, 2022

Baths of Diocletian National Museum collections

Greek and Roman sculpture, pre-Christian and later sarcophagi, and some truly remarkable and well-preserved mosaics and frescoes greet visitors to the museum.

jw5 · Jun 4, 2022

Via Condotti

If you're up for a bit of retail therapy, head over to Via Condotti, set off Piazza di Spagna in the city's centro storico ("historic quarter"). The fashionable street is home to some of the world's most famous designer boutiques including Gucci, Dior, Valentino, Hermès, and Armani.

jw5 · Jun 4, 2022

Antico Caffè Greco

Also located on Via Condotti is Antico Caffè Greco, founded in 1760 and the oldest café-bar in Rome and second oldest in Italy, after Caffè Florian in Venice.

jw5 · Jun 4, 2022

Trajan's Market

Known as Mercatus Traiani, this ancient market place is often referred to as the oldest shopping mall in the world. Completed in 110 CE and named for Trajan, one of the greatest of Roman emperors, it would have sold a variety of everyday wares including fruits, vegetables, fish, wine, oil, and spices.

jw5 · Jun 4, 2022

Pyramid of Cestius

Rome is perhaps the last place you'd expect to stumble across an Egyptian pyramid, but then again the city is full of surprises. The Pyramid of Cestius was most likely built between 18 and 12 BCE as a tomb for a wealthy Roman resident in the wake of the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 BCE. It's the only 'Egyptian' pyramid found in Europe.

jw5 · Jun 5, 2022

Piazza Venezia

Piazza Venezia is a famous square in Rome. But it's also notorious for being the location of "Mussolini's Balcony." It's from here (marked by the flags in the photograph) that Italy's fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini, made some of his most memorable speeches to the crowds below. On one occasion, Il Duce was joined on the balcony by Adolf Hitler. The ornate palace, Palazzo Venezia, that dominates one side of the square, served as Mussolini's headquarters throughout the 1930s.

jw5 · Jun 5, 2022

Pons Fabricius

The oldest Roman-made bridge in the city, Pons Fabricus still exists in its original state. Spanning the Tiber River, it was constructed in 62 BCE.

jw5 · Jun 5, 2022

Marcus Aurelius Column

Built in honor of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius and completed in 193 CE, Marcus Aurelius Column in front of Palazzo Chigi is remarkable for its spiral relief, which tells the story of Marcus Aurelius' wartime exploits, including the conflict in Germania, part of the Marcomannic Wars.

jw5 · Jun 5, 2022

Parco degli Acquedotti

A good excuse to leave the hustle and bustle of the city center and head into the Roman countryside is to admire the ruins of two colossal ancient aqueducts, Aqua Claudia and Aqua Marcia. Both are found in the Parco degli Acquedotti, or Aqueduct Park.