Visiting Rome, Twenty-Two Numbered Districts on Both Banks of the Tiber and a Separate State Beside Them

Orientation

Seven hills, one river, a state inside the city

A city on hills, counted in rioni

Rome is the capital and largest city of Italy: about 2,700,000 people in a comune of about 496 square miles, most of what a visitor sees packed inside the Aurelian Walls, a circuit of about twelve miles built between AD 271 and 275. The Tiber bends through it from north to south, past the island where the first settlement found its ford, and the old city is divided into twenty-two numbered rioni, all of them today in the first municipio. Inside Rome, west of the river, lies Vatican City, the smallest country in the world, an independent state since 1929. Two airports and the great station at Termini bring you in (getting here); once inside you get around on foot and by the three Metro lines. Each rione has a character of its own, which is most of where to stay.

Kings, emperors and popes

Tradition dates the founding to around 753 BC, though people lived on these hills far longer. Rome was the capital of a kingdom, a republic and an empire; after the empire fell in the west it came under the popes, whose Papal States lasted until 1870, and from the Renaissance they rebuilt it as a showcase of art for four hundred years. In 1871 it became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and its historic center is a World Heritage Site. Begin with the sights; the ruins and villas beyond the ring road are day trips.

The weather, the table and the tickets

The climate is Mediterranean, with hot, dry summers and mild, humid winters (when to come). Some of the great monuments sell entry by the time slot and others are simply open (booking ahead). The city's own pasta dishes — cacio e pepe, gricia, carbonara, amatriciana — have a page of their own (eating and drinking), and there is an itinerary for every length of stay.

Schematic, not to scale. The Roman numerals are the twenty-two rioni at their centers; the brown line is the circuit of walls; the shaded outline west of the river is Vatican City, a separate state, drawn approximately; the dashed line is the walk below; the squares are the sights.

On foot

A walk through the city

West from the amphitheater to the river: along the ancient main street, over the hill of the temples, through the squares in the bend of the Tiber, and across to Hadrian's tomb. Six stops, five rioni.

A strip along the way: the walk laid out straight from east to west, with the rioni it passes through in bands. The order and the rioni are true; the distances are not.

The Colosseum from an upper level: the arena floor partly rebuilt over the brick walls of the undergroundWilfredor, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Rione XIX
The amphitheater
Start at the Colosseum, begun under Vespasian in 72 and finished under his son Titus in AD 80, the largest amphitheater ever built. It held an average audience of some 65,000.
The Roman Forum under a blue sky, with church domes behind and the white Victor Emmanuel Monument on the rightMaksimsokolov, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Rione X
The sacred street
The Via Sacra, the main street of ancient Rome, runs from here under the Arch of Titus and through the Roman Forum, in the valley between the Palatine and Capitoline hills — for centuries the center of the city's daily life.
An enclosed bridge with a window and balcony spanning a narrow street near the CapitolineWilfredor, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Rione X
The hill of the temples
The street climbs to the Capitoline Hill, where Pope Paul III had Michelangelo lay out the square between the palaces that now hold the Capitoline Museums.
Inside the Pantheon: the colored marble columns and niches of the round hall, crowded with visitorsPaolo Villa, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Rione IX
The dome
North into the rione of Pigna and the Pantheon, rebuilt under Hadrian and a church since 609. Its dome is still the largest of unreinforced concrete in the world, and its height to the open oculus equals its width, 142 feet.
Borromini's church of Sant'Agnese on Piazza Navona, its two bell towers and curved façade seen from belowDiego Delso, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Rione VI
The stadium that became a square
A few streets west, Piazza Navona keeps the long oval of Domitian's stadium. Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers stands at its center, facing Borromini's church of Sant'Agnese in Agone.
Castel Sant'Angelo across the Tiber in early morning light, with a stone bridge in the foregroundRadek Kucharski from Warsaw, Poland, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Rione XIV
The bridge to the tomb
Finish at the river: the Ponte Sant'Angelo, completed by Hadrian in 134, crosses to Castel Sant'Angelo, his mausoleum, later the popes' fortress, a short distance from the Vatican.

Before you go

Three things to know first

ArrivingTwo airports, one great station.
Fiumicino lies about 22 miles by road from the historic center, and the non-stop Leonardo Express takes about thirty minutes to Termini. Ciampino is to the southeast; Termini is one of the largest stations in Europe.
Getting here →
The streetsTwenty-two rioni, three Metro lines.
The old city is divided into numbered rioni, I Monti to XXII Prati. The Metro has three lines, A, B and C, and seventy-four stations; most of the center is walked.
Getting around →
The calendarHot summers, mild winters.
Summers are hot and dry and winters mild and humid. Snow is rare; the most recent major snowfalls were in 2018, 2012 and 1986.
When to come →

Italy · LazioAbout 2,700,000 peopleItalianEuroAround 753 BC, by traditionTwenty-two rioni since 1921

Eleven parts and a journal

The parts of this guide

By where they stand

All eighteen sights

By where they stand: the ancient heart, the squares in the bend of the river, across the Tiber, the Vatican's own state, the pilgrim basilicas, and beyond the walls.