Rome Attractions and Sights

Top 20 sights in Rome

Read the most important tips about sightseeing in Rome. All your tips for tickets of the sights in Rome.

1. Colosseum, the amphitheater in Rome

You should not miss the Colosseum in Rome. The old amphitheater is really impressive and is visited by 5 million tourists every year for no reason. A visit to the Colosseum, however, must be well prepared - not only because of the sometimes very long waiting times. What can you see in the Coliseum? What should I pay attention to during the visit? What about pickpockets? Which areas are accessible to visitors? In this article you will find all the tips for a visit to the Colosseum in Rome.

Rome, the center of the old world, had no brick built amphitheater as opposed to the provinces. The provisional wooden arena for gladiator fights on the field of Mars became the victim of the great fire in 64 AD. Vespasian, successor to the famous emperor Nero, then gave the starting gun for the construction of the Amphiteatrum Flavium in 72. The beautiful building, already celebrated by contemporary poets as a unique architectural masterpiece, later called Colosseum, because it was built next to a colossal statue of Emperor Nero. The amphitheater was in operation for more than four centuries and organized battles with gladiators and animals with exotic animals imported from Africa.

2. The pantheon

The Pantheon is located on Piazza della Rotonda and is at first glance a bit unobtrusive and gray, but when you enter it, you know why the former sanctuary of all the gods is one of the largest monuments in Rome. One of Rome's most spiritual ancient monuments too.

3. The Spanish Steps in Rome

The Piazza di Spagna is one of the most famous squares in Rome. The name comes from the Palazzo di Spagna, the seat of the Spanish Embassy for the Vatican located on this square since the seventeenth century. The Piazza di Spagna can be found in one of the most popular neighborhoods of Rome, near the main streets Via dei Condotti, Via Frattina and Via del Babuino, which house several impressive seventeenth- and eighteenth-century villas.

If you walk via Via del Babuino, you arrive at Piazza del Popolo. In the middle of the square stands the Flaminio Obelisk, one of the highest obelisks in Rome, which was housed in the Circus Maximus.

To get some of the best views of Rome, climb the steps from Piazza del Popolo to the top of the Pincian Hill. The Spanish Steps (Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti in Italian) were built at the beginning of the eighteenth century and connected Piazza di Spagna and the church of Trinità dei Monti. It is one of the most famous parts of Rome.

4. Vatican City, with the St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museum with the famous Sistine Chapel in Rome.

The center of the Catholic world, this beautiful basilica with its dome (designed by Michelangelo) has an impressive interior. This place is huge, but everything is in such a proportion that the scale escapes you. To give you a comparison, you can view the Statue of Liberty, the statue and the pedestal (height from the base of the pedestal to the torch: 93 m), under the dome (inside height of 120 m from the floor to the top of the dome ) with space for reserve.

Baldacchino and the dome, St. Peter's Basilica

Except going inside, you can take a lift to the roof and then make a long climb of 323 steps to the top of the dome for a spectacular view. During the climb and before you reach the top, you stand on the inside of the dome and look down into the basilica itself. Be warned that there are many stairs, so it is not for the weak in the heart (literally or figuratively) nor for the claustrophobia, since the last part of the climb runs through a slightly more than one shoulder-width spiral staircase. Instead of leaving out the doors you entered, you go to the crypt to see the tomb of Pope John Paul II, the crypt leaves the front

5. Galleria Borghese, visit the museum in the public park Villa Borghese.

The gallery, one of the most famous and valuable private art collections in the world, dates from the collection activity of Cardinal Scipione Borghese, who also owned the casino in which the collection was housed. Little has been preserved of the first interior decoration and the painting of the building, including at least the frescoes by Claude Deruet in the private chapel of the cardinal. In the casino was originally only the collection of antiques and sculptures of the cardinal, while most of the paintings hung in the Borghese city palace in Rome. In 1682 part of the heritage of Olimpia Aldobrandini, including photographs from the collections of Lucrezia d'Este, came to the museum.