Rome Things to Do Tips by aaaarrgh

Rome's architectural beauty at its best Piazza del Popolo Review

Piazza del Popolo is a magical square and a great place to meet. In the middle is a large fountain which is a good place to sit, eat your lunch and admire the view.

What is so wonderfully impressive are the two (almost) identical Renaissance churches, placed either side of the entrance to the square. Both dedicated to Santa Maria. They make a beautiful photo or (as you can see) a good subject to sketch.

Between the churches runs Via del Corso, Rome's main shopping street - my favorite. Dead straight, a product of early C16th urban replanning. Full of expensive shops, shoppers and shoppers' cafe's.

On the north side of the square is a third, smaller church of Santa Maria. Worth a look for its artworks.

Address: Piazza del Popolo

Directions: North end of Via del Corso, which runs in a straight line from the gaudy white Vittorio Emanuelle Monument.

The Pantheon - a work of engineering genius Pantheon Review

The Pantheon was at the top of my 'must see' list. What an amazing building, still perfectly complete after 1875 years!

The Roman Emperor Hadrian was a great art collector and made sure The Pantheon was a thing of beauty. It is a great domed temple, 43m high and 43m wide. If you look up, the tiny looking hole at the top is actually 9m wide (no electric light in those days, the hole provided illumination).

This was all built well before the invention of reinforced concrete, tubular scaffolding, or cranes!

No photograph can really capture the size of the place...

Address: Piazza della Rotunda, Centro Storico