Location: Rome
Top Things to do in Rome
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10 Things to do Good for a Rainy Day in Rome That You Shouldn't Miss
Rome wasn't built in a day--and you'll need much more than a day to take in this timeless city. The city is a real-life collage of piazzas, open-air markets, and astonishing historic sites. Toss a coin into the Trevi Fountain, contemplate the Colosseum and the Pantheon, and sample a perfect espresso or gelato before spending an afternoon shopping at the Campo de’Fiori or Via Veneto. Enjoy some of the most memorable meals of your life here, too, from fresh pasta to succulent fried artichokes or a tender oxtail stew.
Restaurants in Rome
1. Palazzo Colonna - Galleria Colonna
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 813 reviews
Right in the center of Rome, close to Piazza Venezia, Palazzo Colonna is one of the greatest Barocco Palaces of the eternal city. The impressive Colonna's Collections of paintings, sculptures and furniture from the 14th to the 18th century are unique and part of the roman history. The Colonna Gallery is open to the public every Saturday morning from 9 am to 1,15 pm (last entrance) from Via della Pilotta 17. All other days, including Saturday afternoon, private visits by appointment. Free guided tour (every Saturday): - in Italian at 10.00 And 11.00 Am - in French at 10.30 Am - in English at 12 am Private visits on request are available every day of the year. We also recommend a visit to the stunning Princess Isabelle Apartment with its incredible Van Wittel and Flemish Collections and the Pinturicchio frescoes.
Reviewed By Danielbb - Zurich, Switzerland
Recommended for the ones who have visited all the major attractions in Rome and are looking for THE insider tip. Not a cheap attraction but every euro worth (EUR 25). For a full-mind-blowing experience, do it with the guided tour IT-EN named “Isotta”. This is a privately owned palace of the Roman aristocracy that turned into a gallery opened for visiting on Saturdays only (or private tours). Impressive main gallery with frescos, paintings, sculptures, mirrors and many other beautiful decorating objects. Resembles Versailles without the mass-tourists. The Palace looks good on pictures but live it is definitively much better. The apartments contain many other impressive rooms, with centuries of history and other curious remarks, just like in a fairy tale or children book. The palace itself was beautiful, but the guide turned the experience mind-blowing. Our guide, Isotta, an English-fluent local, impeccably guided us through the marvelous palace and the private apartment rooms, cherry-picking the most important and astonishing art pieces. She also informed dates, styles, artists and commissioners that let me jaw-dropped, specially baring in mind that the whole tour took more than 1h30min. Five star gallery with a five star guide! Highly recommended.
2. Basilica Papale San Paolo Fuori le Mura
3. Welcome to Rome
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 1,013 reviews
An emotional multimedial experience through the history of Rome. Welcome to Rome is a new multimedial space where you can live a unique experience: to dive into 2700 years of history of the Eternal City. Spectacular video projections on the walls, ceiling and floor accompanied by a narrative voice. A great plastic that lives up to the evolution of the city over time. Holograms, projections and interactive exhibits that tell the story of important monuments. A cinema with a 4D video, together with 4 exhibitions will make you live an amazing and immersive experience through the history of one of the most beautiful city in the world. This space represents the first ideal stop for all the turists but also a special place for the Roman people where to live the past of their city and know many curiosities.
Reviewed By jvaldez1984 - Ozone Park, United States
Came here during a rainy day which we didn’t really have anything planned to do anyway just wanted to escape the rain more than anything else. It’s a really nice and well organized place where you can see 4 small 3-5 minute 3D videos on Rome’s history and then you go to the main theater where you can watch the main show. I left this review very limited because I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone. But if you have 30 minutes to burn and will be in central Rome I highly recommend this place.
4. Palazzo Barberini
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 1,057 reviews
Roman palace worth visiting for its splendor and collection of art, especially its gigantic ceiling fresco of clouds and swirling figures by Italian painter-architect Pietro da Cortona.
Reviewed By AndreaF_11
The place offers an extended timetable. The building itself is made by famous Italian artist. The pictures2 collection is a must for any Italian art lover. Pictures are allowed and picture2s display is very attractive and done with charm. Guercino and Piero di Cosimo pictures as Medieval display are quite attractive. Do not miss if you love Italian art.
5. Museo Nazionale Romano - Palazzo Massimo alle Terme
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 2,342 reviews
Palazzo Massimo alle Terme was built between 1883 and 1887 by the architect Camillo Pistrucci in a sober neo-Renaissance style. He was born as a Jesuit college and remained so until 1960. In 1981 it was acquired by the Italian State and became one of the four National Roman Museum places. The collections are distributed in the four floors of the building according to a chronological and thematic criterion: the ground floor, the first and second floors are dedicated to the ancient art section; the basement houses the numismatic and goldsmith sections.
Reviewed By SPSS_11 - Melbourne, Australia
The Museo Nazionale Romano - Palazzo Massimo is just one of the sites of the Museo Nazionale Romano. You can buy a great value combination ticket that allows you to visit the other sites (the visits need to occur within a certain timeframe that I can't remember off the top of my head - their website will tel you). The Palazzo Massimo site houses sculpture, mosaics and frescos including the frescos from the garden room of the Villa of Livia and the Boxer at Rest sculpture. The museum is located almost directly opposite the Roma Termini train station, with one of their other sites (Baths of Diocletian) located within a 2 minute walk. There is a small cafe onsite which does light lunches, coffee etc. The audioguide is well worth hiring as some of the signage can be a bit sparse.
6. Centrale Montemartini
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 680 reviews
The history if the new exhibition space for the Musei Capitolini in the former Giovanni Montemartini Thermoelectric Centre, an extraordinary example of industrial archaeology converted into a museum, began in 1997 with the transfer of hundreds of sculptures to the new location during the restructuring works carried out across much of the Capitoline complex. In an atmospheric game of contrasts, the old machinery of electricity production became the backdrop for masterpieces of ancient sculpture and precious goods found in the excavations of the late nineteenth century and the 1930s. The display reconstructs some of the great monumental complexes and illustrates the development of the ancient city from the Republican era to the late imperial age.
Reviewed By serenagrimaldi
It's a wonderful ex-industrial space filled with lots of lovely ancient Roman stuff!, The sculptures themselves make this worth visiting. I thank Mary Beard for highlighting this on one of her great programmes about Rome, I would never have heard of it otherwise. Easy to find on th Via Ostiense, lots of busses and a tram go there, or you can walk up from Ostiense metro about 10 mins, or Garbatella metro a bit quicker.
7. Museo Nazionale Romano - Palazzo Altemps
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 486 reviews
The Museum of Palazzo Altemps houses absolute masterpieces of ancient sculpture belonging to famous and valuable noble collections received in state ownership. The installation aims to integrate - in a harmonious combination - the marbles in the decorative context of the rooms, having in mind and proposing solutions adopted in the arrangement of antique collections. The visit, on two floors, reveals a succession of decorated rooms, a maze of stairs and corridors leading to the discovery of the ancient works of art.
Reviewed By JonathonGreen
Housed in a splendid 15th century palazzi.Houses the best of rome's classical sculptures.Many pieces from Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi's collection.Houses the amazing Trono Ludovisi,a marble sculpture of Athrodite.Has a grand central courtyard and frescoed rooms.Also has a good Egyptian collection.
8. Domus Aurea
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 1,324 reviews
The imperial estate of Nero was built in 64AD, which is comprised of a series of pavilions, set in an articulated garden with an artificial lake in its center.
Reviewed By Lesleyjane71 - Kent, United Kingdom
If you love archaeology and Ancient Rome is your thing, and if you are lucky enough to visit Rome over the course of a weekend then please do make sure you book for a guided visit of Domus Aurea. It is only open on a Saturday and Sunday and tickets must be booked on line, which can be a little daunting but well worth it. Despite what some people have written, the site entrance is easy enough to find. Head to the Piazza Del Colosseo and if you use the Oppio Café and the metro across from the Colosseum as your marker you can not go wrong. Turn Left and take a very short walk up the hill to the entrance of a Parco delle Colle Oppio. As you go in the entrance turn left and walk about 50 paces and you will see the entrance to the Domus Aurea and there will be guides and assistants waiting. Ignore the positioning of it on google maps. It will through you right of course! If you are early, do not be scared to walk around the park, there are fine ruins there of Trajan's baths which sit atop the buried ruins of the Domus. For some reason, people think that this is the Domus it is not. Yes there are some refugees sleeping in the park but to be honest they pose no threat. In fact you are more than likely to see them cleaning up the place. The area is full of dog walkers and runners and as a single female traveller, I felt absolutely safe in there. So now that the whereabouts of the entrance has hopefully been demystified, on to the visit. You go in your designated time group and don fetching hairnets and hard hats before being led underground by one of the archaeologists fortunate enough to work at the site and who will be very passionate about their work, so some may find this a little boring others will relish it. To be able to traverse the corridors of a fraction of this once vast and oppulent palace is phenominal. It is damp but well lit so take a light weight jacket or sweater, you may need it. You are free to take as many photos as you like. The VR is amazing and puts you right in the heart of the palace as it may once have been as well as giving you an idea of what the view across Rome from here would have been like. Word of advise, if you are light sensitive or suffer a bit of vertigo or balance problems then the VR headset is likely to make you feel a bit weasy. I had to lift mine up a few times just to get my head back straight. You are sitting down for the VR session so don't panic and it is well worth persevering with. You carry on with your tour and it is hard to believe that you are walking in the footsteps of Nero no matter how sadistic and twisted he was. There are a few wall frescos still visible, the rest having been removed to safe them from being completely ruined by the damp. Unfortnatuely they have now desided not excavate further as the cost of preserving the rest of the underground network of rooms and corridors is just to expensive both in monetary terms, manpower and the tecnologies needed to keep it from deteriorating but please rest assured, what you see is well worth it. Have a great trip!
9. Musei Capitolini
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 2,757 reviews
The creation of the Capitoline Museums has been traced back to 1471, when Pope Sixtus IV donated a group of bronze statues of great symbolic value to the People of Rome. The collections are closely linked to the city of Rome, and most of the exhibits come from the city itself.
Reviewed By GreenThumb331 - San Fernando, Philippines
It is surprising that the Capitolini Museum is not at the top list of one of the most popular things to do on the tripadvisor list. It should be at least in the top 20. We bought a Roma pass in order to enter this museum. The pass includes the Capitolini Museum as one of the options for entrance access. Once you enter, you will see the courtyard with ancient scultures most notably the Head of the colossal statue of Constantine I. The second floor of the Palazzo dei Conservatori is occupied by the Conservator's Apartment, housing such famous works as the bronze she-wolf nursing Romulus and Remus, which has become the emblem of Rome. The Conservator's Apartment is distinguished by elaborate interior decorations, including frescoes, stuccos, tapestries, and carved ceilings and doors. The third floor of the Palazzo dei Conservatori houses the Capitoline Art Gallery which houses the museums' painting and applied art galleries The Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius is the stand out attraction inside the Capitoline Museum. It is made of bronze and stands 4.24 m (13.9 ft) tall. Although the emperor is mounted, it exhibits many similarities to standing statues of Augustus. The one now standing in the open air of the Piazza del Campidoglio is a replica made in 1981 when the original was taken down for restoration.
10. Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 16,079 reviews
One of seven pilgrimage basilicas in the world, this church was founded in 432 AD and is where the famous architect Bernini is buried.
Reviewed By 282LisaH - Melbourne, Australia
We were staying in Trastevere with an air B and B.we walked around the cobbled lanes and came across piazza Santa Maria and this beautiful church which I had read about it is amazing and inspires serene meditation ????♀️ . The frescoes and building are beautiful and it sits in the piazza . Absolutely stunning and to think it started building in the 2nd century
