Insight Guides City Guide Rome (Travel Guide eBook) , livre ebook

How To Use This E-Book

Getting around the e-book
This Insight CityGuide e-book is designed to give you inspiration for your visit to Rome, as well as comprehensive planning advice to make sure you have the best travel experience. The guide begins with our selection of Top Attractions, as well as our Editor’s Choice categories of activities and experiences. Detailed features on history, people and culture paint a vivid portrait of contemporary life in Rome. The extensive Places chapters give a complete guide to all the sights and areas worth visiting. The Travel Tips provide full information on getting around, activities from culture to shopping to sport, plus a wealth of practical information to help you plan your trip.
In the Table of Contents and throughout this e-book you will see hyperlinked references. Just tap a hyperlink once to skip to the section you would like to read. Practical information and listings are also hyperlinked, so as long as you have an external connection to the internet, you can tap a link to go directly to the website for more information.
Maps
All key attractions and sights in Rome are numbered and cross-referenced to high-quality maps. Wherever you see the reference [map] just tap this to go straight to the related map. You can also double-tap any map for a zoom view.
Images
You’ll find hundreds of beautiful high-resolution images that capture the essence of Rome. Simply double-tap on an image to see it full-screen.
About Insight Guides
Insight Guides have more than 40 years’ experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides. We produce 400 full-colour titles, in both print and digital form, covering more than 200 destinations across the globe, in a variety of formats to meet your different needs.
Insight Guides are written by local authors, whose expertise is evident in the extensive historical and cultural background features. Each destination is carefully researched by regional experts to ensure our guides provide the very latest information. All the reviews in Insight Guides are independent; we strive to maintain an impartial view. Our reviews are carefully selected to guide you to the best places to eat, go out and shop, so you can be confident that when we say a place is special, we really mean it.

© 2017 Apa Digital (CH) AG and Apa Publications (UK) Ltd




Table of Contents
Rome’s Top 10 Attractions
Editor’s Choice
Introduction: The Eternal City
Rome and the Romans
Decisive Dates
The Making of Rome
Art and Architecture
Insight: Bernini and the Baroque
The Shape of Modern Rome
Rome on Film
Food and Drink
Shopping
Insight: Markets in Rome
Introduction: Orientation
The Capitoline Hill
Insight: The Capitoline Museums
Ancient Rome
Insight: The Grim Glory of the Colosseum
Fontana di Trevi and Quirinale
Piazza di Spagna and Tridente
The Vatican and Prati
Insight: Treasures of the Vatican
Insight: Sistine Chapel
Piazza Navona and the Pantheon
Campo de’ Fiori and the Ghetto
Via Veneto and Villa Borghese
Insight: Galleria Borghese
Trastevere and the Gianicolo
Aventino and Testaccio
Celio and San Giovanni
Monti and Esquilino
The Appian Way
Insight: Relics of the Catacombs
Introduction: Excursions from Rome
Ostia Antica
Tivoli
Insight: Green Retreats
Castelli Romani
Etruscan Towns
Transport
A-Z: A Handy Summary of Practical Information
Understanding the Language
Further Reading
Rome Street Atlas


Rome’s Top 10 Attractions

Here, at a glance, are the city’s must-sees, from the iconic monuments of Ancient Rome to the vibrant squares of Campo de’ Fiori and Trastevere, and the tranquil gardens of the Villa Borghese.



Top Attraction 1



The Forum . The majestic ruins of the the civic centre of Ancient Rome are best seen on a Sunday when the busy thoroughfare that cuts through the site is closed to traffic. For more information, click here .
Ming Tang-Evans/Apa Publications


Top Attraction 2



Vatican Museums . These merit a lifetime’s study, but if you only have a few hours, be sure to include the Sistine Chapel in your tour of this vast repository of art. Michelangelo’s breathtaking ceiling is a triumph of fresco painting. For more information, click here .
Ming Tang-Evans/Apa Publications


Top Attraction 3



Colosseum . A shadow of its marble-clad imperial days, but impressive nonetheless and, as a symbol of Rome, it remains one of the city’s key sights. For more information, click here .
Ming Tang-Evans/Apa Publications


Top Attraction 4



Capitoline Museums . For a real insight into life in Ancient Rome, follow a tour of the Forum with a visit to this imposing collection of ancient art and Roman statuary. Among its most famous exhibits is the original bronze statue of a she-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus. For more information, click here .
Ming Tang-Evans/Apa Publications


Top Attraction 5



Spanish Steps . All human life converges here, at the heart of Rome’s main shopping district. For more information, click here .
Susan Smart/Apa Publications


Top Attraction 6



Trastevere . This old working-class district, across the Tiber from the centre, is now a trendy quarter full of boutiques, restaurants and wine bars. For more information, click here .
Ming Tang-Evans/Apa Publications


Top Attraction 7



Pantheon . The best-preserved of all Ancient Rome’s buildings is Emperor Hadrian’s perfectly proportioned temple. For more information, click here .
Ming Tang-Evans/Apa Publications


Top Attraction 8



Trevi Fountain . When a voluptuous Anita Ekberg frolicked in here in Fellini’s La Dolce Vita , she turned it into a Roman icon. Throw a coin with your right hand over the left shoulder in the water and enjoy an ice cream on the steps. For more information, click here .
Ming Tang-Evans/Apa Publications


Top Attraction 9



Piazza Navona . Della Porta’s masterpiece, the Fountain of Neptune , stands at the northern end of this elegant, enclosed square full of buskers, street performers, street artists and tourists. For more information, click here .
Ming Tang-Evans/Apa Publications


Top Attraction 10



Villa Borghese . This leafy spot is perfect for picnicking and home to two world-class museums. For more information, click here .
Ming Tang-Evans/Apa Publications


Editor’s Choice

Unique attractions, festivals and events, top shops, pizzas and piazzas, church art, family outings ... here are our recommendations, plus some money-saving tips.




Rome is for romantics.
Ming Tang-Evans/Apa Publications


Best churches for art

San Luigi dei Francesi. The dramatic paintings by Caravaggio in the Contarelli Chapel were the artist’s first great religious works. For more information, click here .
Santa Maria in Trastevere. A pretty medieval church with spectacular mosaics on the facade and in the apse. For more information, click here .
Basilica di San Pietro. Michelangelo’s tender and moving Pietà in St Peter’s was completed when the artist was only 25 and remains one of his most famous works. For more information, click here .
San Pietro in Vincoli. This church houses another Michelangelo masterpiece, the restored statue of Moses . For more information, click here .
Santa Maria della Vittoria. So sensual is Bernini’s famous sculpture of the Ecstasy of St Teresa that many suggest the rapture on her face is more than an expression of piety. For more information, click here .
Santa Prassede. The 9th-century church is filled with magnificent Byzantine mosaics. For more information, click here .
Santa Maria del Popolo. A treasure house of art, with paintings by Raphael and Pinturicchio, plus two impassioned Caravaggios. For more information, click here .



Michelangelo’s Pietà.
Dreamstime


Best views

The Gianicolo hill. Worlds away from the tightly packed streets of Trastevere and the chaos of the city below. For more information, click here .
Piazza Venezia. Fine views from the Vittoriano monument with the added advantage of excluding the hulking monument itself. For more information, click here .
Caffè Capitolino. Romantic views of terracotta rooftops and countless cupolas from the Capitoline Museum’s pretty café. For more information, click here .
The Tabularium. Take in the Forum and the Palatine from a terrace in the ancient archive of Roman Law. For more information, click here .
Pincio Gardens. Views from the Villa Borghese Gardens stretch from Monte Mario to the Gianicolo and the piazza below. For more information, click here .



Hadrian’s Villa.
Britta Jaschinski/Apa Publications


Best getaways

Ostia Antica. Well-preserved ruins of an old Roman port town. For more