Cultural site in Rome

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.

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.

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.