Rome

Rome is a city read in layers rather than on a map. Within a walkable core stands an ancient Roman layer — the Colosseum, the Forum, the Palatine and a Pantheon that has not stopped working in two thousand years — and above it a Christian layer with its four great basilicas, and above both a Baroque layer of Bernini's fountains and churches, and then a contemporary Italian city living its life among all of them, unbothered. Inside its borders sits another state: the Vatican, with its museums, the Sistine Chapel and St Peter's. And neighbourhoods to be lived rather than visited: Trastevere and its evening lanes, the Jewish Quarter and its restaurants, Monti above the Forum. Our guide documents fifty Rome landmarks in detail: what you will actually see, what entry costs, whether it needs booking ahead, when to come to avoid the crowds, and how to get there — including what is entirely free, which in Rome is more than you expect. Give the city three days at minimum, four if you want the Vatican unhurried, and book the Colosseum, the Vatican Museums and the Borghese Gallery before you travel — all three sell out.