Top Attractions in Rome
Introduction: History, Food and Good Fortune
Welcome to Rome. Once the capital city of an empire that spanned most of the globe. Rome now exists at the helm of one of the world’s food capitals, Italy.
It was an iconic capital and city back then, and it remains one to this day. Archaic, dilapidated stone ruins rise and fall throughout the city’s landscape. Interspersed with some unmissable pieces of art and vibrant, pulsing street life.
The ancient, dead relics of an old but unforgotten society thrum with a paradoxical life. The new locals and tourists together giving this elderly city an all-renewed lease of life.
A fifteen-minute metro ride is all that separates the bustling piazzas and the once great Roman empire. You can wander for hours among a lost global power’s stone mausoleum; gazed down upon by the crushing weight of history.
The forums and Colosseum seem to ring with a collective imagination. Our images of the Ancient Romans that once stood where tourists now jostle imbue the place with an almost supernatural sense of the long-lost mix of high and low society treading the broken streets.
A casual stroll may get you lost along the many heights and plateaus of Palatine Hill. Hours fly by as you meander through the time-blasted constructs that held near the entire planet in its grasp.
The staggering power and cruelty often exercised here echoes throughout the dead balustrades and arches of the Colosseum. Tower above the rest of the Roman forums, its shadow beating down upon the blocks of buildings around it.
If that’s all a bit too heady for you, there’s some good caprese salad nearby to take your mind off it.
For me, that is the purest possible essence of the Roman tourist experience. A fluid, constant and breakneck shifting between the ancient and modern throws you from place to place, from time to time.
A city 3000 years in the making, Rome has always had this ad hoc style of construction, iterating upon itself until its current sprawl was inevitable. It shows no signs of stopping any time soon.
The blend of different emergent architectural styles depicts this too, moving from the sweeping ancient roman monuments to the ornate, intricate, and unmatched ambition of buildings like St Peter’s Basilica. This maps Rome’s journey from the capital of the world to the homestead of the catholic church, into the hip and vibrant tourist capital it has become today.
When asking “what to do in Rome” or “what are the top things to do in Rome,” this is the balance you must keep in mind. Pay too close attention to the historical, and you lose out on the thriving socio-cultural environment that permeates even the porous marble statues of Rome’s old world.
So, in this guide of the best things to do in Rome, we are going to take you on a journey. First, we will recommend a few of the most popular things to do in Rome and show you some top deals that you can access should you wish to.
After that, Rome’s impossibly diverse and mind-breaking culinary scene will be looked at. Obviously, there is not time to see everything, but we will attempt to give you an idea of what places and styles of cooking might best sate your appetite.
If this sounds like the guide for you, then read on as we comprehensively break down exactly what to do in Rome when you can’t decide for yourself!
See the Sights: Popular Places Among the Relics of Lost Empire
This is not one of the online travel guides that will chastise you for wanting to visit the tourist hot spot in one of Europe’s most visited capitals.
We understand that places like the Vatican, the Colosseum, and local artworks and statues are not just tourist traps, but also nexuses for cultural and social history, so here are our top three picks for the best popular spots for you to visit.
We are also including some great deals that can skip you in front of the lines and get you the best tours in each area.
Papal Power in Proper Place: The Vatican and St Peter’s Basilica
Rome is in a sense a dual city. Within the city exists the world’s smallest nation state, the sub-theocracy, and vestigial head of the Catholic Church: Vatican City.
It was officially formed as an independent nation state in February of 1929, with a treaty signed between the Catholic Church and the state of Italy.
The Catholic Church boasts over a billion baptized members of its global congregation, and with that quantity of members comes a few perks.
If you visit the Vatican, you can take a tour around the museums of artifacts the church has used its capital to garner over the years and stroll around the staggering ceiling art of the Sistine Chapel.
Another great artifact of the Catholic Church’s influence is the basilica of St Peter, a symbol of the church’s ambitious architectural designs. The basilica also acts as evidence of its desire to reach up toward heaven, and the basilica dome viewing platform really cements this achievement.
A great idea is to check out the basilica at night. You can avoid most of the queues and lines, and there is almost haunting tranquility to the cathedral’s interior in the twilight.
A Glimpse of the Gladiatorial: The Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill
No place is more packed with tourists and the ghosts of Romans long past than the ancient areas of the city. Start your adventure into the archaic corners of Rome with a guided tour of the Roman Colosseum, which then winds around the Via Sacra that connects this colossal relic with the rest of the remnants of ancient Rome.
After the tour concludes, I would recommend taking more time to stroll around Palatine Hill yourself. If you do that, you get a real sense of a lost world underneath your feet. Nothing quite beats the tranquility of the desolate views, and afterward, it’s not too long a walk to some delicious local pasta dishes to whet your appetite.
Freedom of Movement: The Rome Pass and How to Use It
Now, this is the real key to finding the best things to do in Rome. The Rome Pass has long been the secret key to the city that has saved many a European traveler time, effort, and a lot of money.
The Roma Pass gives its purchasers access to over 45 different discounted attractions or access to the “best of Rome.”
The Basilica, Vatican, Colosseum, and many other attractions all get a 30% reduction in price thanks to this pass. Alongside this, you get entirely free access to numerous hop on/hop off buses to take you on cruises around the city’s roads – letting you travel quicker but still absorb the smorgasbord of culture and architecture on offer here.
The people at Roma pass even throw in a short little 15-minute video explainer about Rome’s socio-historical context, to let you really buff up before your visit there.
Al Dente: How to Eat Well in the City of Flavor
This is certainly my favorite part of any holiday to a European city. Rome is the home to a wide array of incredibly famous Italian dishes. These dishes come from the country’s heart, so it is not a surprise that the Italians guard their cuisine with fierce loyalty.
If you want to waste away an easy afternoon before your trip, try looking up “Italians mad at Carbonara” on YouTube. No celebrity chef is safe, and this phenomenon of carbonara supremacy comes straight from Rome.
Ironically for the location of the Catholic capital, Rome is also the creation point of a holy trinity of Italian pasta. The philosophy behind these dishes is: keep it simple, stupid.
A sauce base using a seasoned fat (with roasted peppercorn oil or guanciale), an Italian hard cheese, and then another element (pasta water, tomato, egg, or a combination). Oh, and pasta.
That is the guiding philosophy behind Roman pasta, so when exploring for lunch options we recommend finding the tiniest hole in the wall pasta shop you can and ordering the simplest possible dish. It will be the best pasta you will ever eat.
Roman pizza is also exquisite, and there are numerous pizza stalls around the towering Pantheon that are exceptional, and the takeaway restaurant Bonci is world-famous for its flat, square pizzas.
Get the chance to make your own Roman pizza among some Italian professionals, and then chow down on it afterwards with a nice cold Birra Moretti. The perfect afternoon.
You could take all the above steps to weed out some obscure places or let someone who has already done the legwork do it for you.
