Places to see in Rome

The oldest public museum collection in the world, on Michelangelo's square above the Forum — the she-wolf, the bronze Marcus Aurelius, and a gallery window with one of the best Forum views in the city. Less crowded than the Vatican and easier to do in one visit. Good rainy-afternoon option.

The Flavian amphitheatre, and the single sight most people picture when they picture Rome. Half a day with the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill next door, which share a ticket and sit across one road. Enormous, exposed and busy — worth an early slot in summer, and worth the extra ticket for the arena floor if you want the view the gladiators had.

A small, perfect collection in a garden villa — Bernini's sculpture at its best, several Caravaggios, and none of the exhaustion of a large museum. Entry is by timed slot and capped, so it must be booked ahead; that cap is also why it stays calm inside. Two hours, then the Borghese gardens around it.

The civic centre of the ancient city — law courts, temples and the road every triumph came down, now a long field of columns and foundations. Rewards a guide or an audio tour more than almost anywhere else in Rome, because very little of it explains itself. Enter from Via dei Fori Imperiali and climb out onto the Palatine.

The largest church in the world, and the reason most itineraries give the Vatican a morning of its own. Free to enter with a long security queue; the dome climb is separate, paid, and gives the definitive view over the square and the city. Shoulders and knees must be covered — enforced at the door, without exception, in any weather.

Imperial bath ruins on a scale that is hard to believe until you stand in them, and a fraction of the crowds of the Forum because they sit twenty minutes' walk south of it. Brick vaults, mosaic floors and open lawns. Used for opera in summer. The right choice on a second Rome trip, or a first one that wants space.

Where the emperors lived, above the Forum and quieter than it. Gardens, imperial palace ruins and the best free view down over the Forum from the Farnese terraces. Included with the Colosseum ticket, and the part of that ticket most visitors run out of energy for — go here first if you would rather see it properly.

Open since 1760 on Via Condotti, and the oldest café in Rome — red velvet, marble tables and two centuries of paintings. Standing at the bar costs a fraction of sitting in the rooms behind it.

A Roman temple that has been in continuous use for nearly two thousand years, with the largest unreinforced concrete dome ever built and a nine-metre hole open to the sky. Ten minutes inside is enough to be worth the trip, which makes it the easiest thing in Rome to fit into a day. Rain falls through the oculus onto a sloped, drained floor.

Built on the footprint of a Roman stadium, which is why it is a long oval rather than a square, with Bernini's Four Rivers fountain in the middle. The cafés on it charge for the position; the streets one block west do not. Best in the evening, and the natural place to end a walk through the old centre.

Rome's best-known gelateria, family-run since 1900, a few streets from the Pantheon. Pay first, take the receipt to the counter — the queue moves faster than it looks.

A baroque waterfall wedged into a small square, and far bigger in person than photographs suggest. Crowded from mid-morning until late; genuinely worth seeing at seven in the morning or after midnight, when it is lit and nearly empty. A ten-minute stop rather than a destination, and on the walk between the Pantheon and the Spanish Steps.

A coffee bar beside the Pantheon that has been roasting its own since 1946 and is still where Romans stop rather than tourists. Order at the till, drink standing.