Europe > Italy > Lazio > Rome > Articles > Why Go To Rome?

Because it's there. Because it's dripping with history. But also because it is a vibrant capital city, which offers a slice of real life so often missing in tourist-swamped Venice or Florence.

Rome is deeply rooted in its past, yet always on the move (even if it's only down to the bar and back). Everywhere you go, from the Forum to the Pantheon, from Piazza Navona to Piazza del Popolo, from the Trevi Fountain to the Spanish Steps, different slices of history clamour for attention. Yet everywhere, Romans are going about their daily business, so busy juggling chaos that they have hardly a thought to spare for all those old stones.

The city's architectural history reflects this tug-of-war between past and present. The Theatre of Marcellus is a Renaissance palace built on top of a Roman amphitheatre; Piazza Navona owes its elongated oval shape to the racetrack that once stood here. Nothing was wasted: spare bits of the Colosseum can be found in buildings all over the city - even in St Peter’s.

Variation on…

If the city gets too much to handle, head out to Ostia Antica, a well-preseved Roman port town which rivals Pompeii for sheer atmosphere.

• The centro storico, an urban symphony played across two millennia.
• Real food, not just soul food, in humble trattorie and gourmet restaurants.
• A great exchange rate - at least until the Euro picks up.

• The Vatican Museums, with the Sistine Chapel: Michelangelesque heroics versus papal orthodoxy.
• The Borghese Gallery, if only to see Bernini's exquisite sculpture of Apollo and Daphne.
• Piazza Navona, a Baroque jewel in the shape of a Roman racetrack.
• The Pantheon; the only Roman building in the city that kept its hat on.
• San Clemente - a triple-decker church that is a living symbol of the city's talent for adaptation.
• The Museo Nazionale Romano, recently refurbished and spread over three palazzi, for the best collection of Roman art and sculpture anywhere.
• The Colosseum, to get all those Gladiator fantasies out of your system.
• The magnificent Caravaggios in the churches of Santa Maria del Popolo and San Luigi dei Francesi.
• The narrow stairs that climb up inside the dome of Saint Peter's (people were smaller then).
• Castel Sant'Angelo, where the popes played at being soldiers.

• Taxi drivers who deliberately confuse “fifteen” and “fifty” when they tell you the fare in English.
• Shop closing times: most shut from 1.30pm to 4.30pm.
• Sit-down prices in bars, which are much higher than perch-at-the-counter prices.
• Any restaurant that has menus in four languages posted outside.

• More from Lee Marshall

Recommended hotels in Rome

Hotel San Anselmo

Italy, Lazio, Rome, Aventine Hill

"A charming boutique hotel, ultra romantic, on the Aventine Hill that fuses Italian opulence with sleek, modern touches."

• Hotel San Anselmo Overview and Reviews

From EUR 180.00
per room per night