Rome is three cities on the same ground: the imperial one, the papal and baroque one, and the modern one people live in. Planning by era rather than district is the clearest way through it.
Day one: imperial Rome
Colosseum at opening, on a booked timed slot. The ticket includes the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill and is valid across two days.
The Forum needs an audio guide or app — it is a field of fragments with minimal signage.
The exterior of the Colosseum is free and is at its best at night, lit and empty.
The Pantheon — nearly two thousand years old, still standing, with an unreinforced concrete dome nobody has matched. Small ticket now.
Trajan's Markets, the Baths of Caracalla, and the Capitoline Museums with the original Marcus Aurelius bronze.
Beneath: San Clemente, three levels — twelfth-century church, fourth-century church, first-century Roman house with a Mithraic temple.
Day two: papal and baroque Rome
Vatican Museums on a booked slot, earliest available. Three hours, ending at the Sistine Chapel.
St Peter's Basilica is a separate site, free, with its own security queue and its own entrance. Many visitors assume one ticket covers both. The dome climb is extra and worth it.
Then Bernini's Rome: Piazza Navona's Four Rivers fountain, the Trevi Fountain, and — if you booked — the Borghese Gallery, where the sculptures are.
The free Caravaggio churches: San Luigi dei Francesi (three), Santa Maria del Popolo (two), Sant'Agostino.
San Pietro in Vincoli for Michelangelo's Moses.
Day three: the city people live in
Trastevere across the river — narrow streets, Santa Maria in Trastevere's mosaics, and the best evening in Rome.
The Jewish Ghetto, one of Europe's oldest, with its own cooking.
Testaccio — the food neighbourhood, built around a hill made of broken Roman amphorae.
The Aventine — the Orange Garden, and the keyhole through which St Peter's dome is framed by a garden avenue.
Ostia Antica, forty minutes by train, a Roman port town nearly as complete as Pompeii with a fraction of the visitors.
What to book
| Site | Lead time |
|---|---|
| Colosseum + Forum + Palatine | 1–2 weeks |
| Vatican Museums | 2–4 weeks |
| Borghese Gallery | 2–4 weeks |
That is the list. Everything else is walk-in.
Practical
Shoes. Twelve to fifteen kilometres a day on uneven cobbles.
Water. Around 2,500 nasoni fountains run continuously with clean cold water.
Dress code at St Peter's and the Vatican Museums — shoulders and knees covered, enforced, for everyone.
Heat. The Forum and Palatine have no shade. Morning, or the last two hours before closing.