Things to Do in Rome

Rome — Thing to Do on ViaTravelers

Colosseum
- Italy
Skip the standard entry. The underground hypogeum — where gladiators waited before combat — is worth the extra ticket cost.
Sistine Chapel
- Italy
- Vatican City
The no-photography rule at the Sistine Chapel is the best thing about it — silence forces you to actually look.
Trevi Fountain
- Italy
Skip Trevi before 8am or after midnight. The coin toss pulls in €3,000 daily — and yes, it all goes to Roman charities.
Vatican Museums
- Italy
- Vatican City
Skip the audio guide and find the Gallery of Maps first — most crowds blow past it chasing the Sistine Chapel and miss 40 frescoed maps of Renaissance Italy.
Roman Forum
- Italy
The Via Sacra cuts straight through 2,000 years of history — walk it slowly and the Senate house, temples, and arches start telling a coherent story.
Pantheon
- Italy
The oculus is 30 feet wide and open to the sky — rain falls straight onto the floor and drains through ancient Roman holes still doing their job.
St. Peter’s Basilica
- Italy
- Vatican City
Skip the guided tour. The dome climb at St. Peter’s is 551 steps and worth every one — the views over Vatican City hit differently than any postcard.
Piazza Navona
- Italy
Bernini’s fountain sits on a Roman stadium. That detail alone reframes everything you see when you walk into Piazza Navona.
Palatine Hill
- Italy
Palatine Hill sits above the Forum crowds — emperors lived here, and the ruins still feel like it.
Piazza Della Repubblica
- Florence
- Italy
Built over Diocletian’s baths, Piazza della Repubblica is where ancient Rome and 19th-century ambition collide — the Naiad fountain alone stops you cold.