Rome Information

Sightseeing & Entertainment

For 2,500 years, emperors, popes, and the citizens of the ages have left their mark on Rome, and the result is like nothing so much as a hustling, bustling open-air museum. Most of the city's major sights are in the centro storico (historic center), which lies between the long, straight Via del Corso and the Tiber River, and the adjacent area of Roma antica (ancient Rome), site of the Roman Forum and Colosseum. The best way to discover the city is to wander, taking time to notice the layers of history that make Rome unique. On your way between monuments and museums you'll walk through the past: medieval Rome, which covered the horn of land that pushes the Tiber toward the Vatican and extended across the river into Trastevere, and Renaissance Rome, which was erected upon medieval foundations and extended as far as the Vatican, with beautiful villas created in what were then the outskirts of the city.

Rome is a magical city at night, its grandeur illuminated against the dark sky, its cafés and piazzas crowded with people watching people. Behind inconspicuous doors, the rites of the evening are celebrated in trendy music clubs, glamorous supper clubs, and grungy discos. Rome has learned to make the most of its spectacular cityscape, transforming its most beautiful places into settings for performances of the arts, either outdoors in the summer or in splendid palaces and churches in the winter. Often the venue steals the show, as in the concerts at the Teatro di Marcello, Terme di Caracalla, or Palazzo Doria. Music is what Rome does best to entertain people until the wee hours, whether it be opera or jazz or disco. Theater, and especially the cinema, are a big draw for Italian-speakers, but late-night café-sitting in trendy spots is fun even if you don't speak the language.