Museum · Lazio
Capitoline Museums
The Capitoline Museums are Rome's civic museums of ancient sculpture and art in the palaces on Piazza del Campidoglio, on the Capitoline Hill.
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Italy•City
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy, in the Lazio region. Rome's tourism office says its historic centre within the Aurelian Walls is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and that the city hosts a foreign state, the enclave of Vatican City. The comune also takes in Ostia Antica, the excavated ancient port city near the mouth of the Tiber, while Tivoli, with Villa d'Este and Hadrian's Villa, is a separate comune.
Country
Italy
Type
City
Understand the place
Everything worth knowing before you arrive in Rome.
Not only where to go, but what to eat, what things cost, what visitors get wrong, how accessible Rome is, which scams to recognize and what is genuinely worth your time.
The complete guide
Explore Rome
Start with the parts of Rome that matter most to your trip, then move into the practical details.
Experiences & attractions
Things to Do
Attractions, experiences and places actually worth your time.
Eat like you understand the place
Food & Drink
Signature dishes, local drinks, markets and eating well.
Where to stay & explore
Neighborhoods
Where to stay, wander and choose the right area for your trip.
Beyond the destination
Day Trips
Nearby places worth a day out from here.
Bring home the right things
Souvenirs & Shopping
What is genuinely worth buying and where to look.
After dark
Nightlife
What the evenings are like, and where to spend them.
Family travel
Traveling With Kids
Family logistics, strollers, transport and practical planning.
When to go
Weather & Best Time
When to visit and what the seasons really feel like.
Know before it happens
Safety & Scams
Common tourist traps and how to avoid them.
Money & budgeting
Money & Costs
Budgets, payments and everyday prices.
Transport
Getting Around
Public transport, taxis, walking and common pitfalls.
Travel for more people
Accessible Travel
Mobility, transport and sensory accessibility.
Understand before you arrive
Culture & Etiquette
Local expectations, religion and visitor etiquette.
The details that matter
Practical Information
Connectivity, health, photography and useful local details.
Find your fit
Who It Suits
Solo, women alone, older visitors, LGBTQ+, pets, remote work, budget and luxury.
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Visiting Responsibly
Tourism pressure, supporting local people and animal welfare.
Traveler experiences
What travelers say about Rome
Traveler reviews will appear here after moderation.
Worth the drive
Places to see near Rome
Distances are straight-line, not driving time — mountain roads in this region are often twice as long as the map suggests.
Archaeological site · Lazio
Roman Forum
The Roman Forum is the excavated centre of public life of ancient Rome, in central Rome, and forms one archaeological area with the Palatine Hill.
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Museum · Lazio
Trajan's Market – Museum of the Imperial Fora
Trajan's Market - Museum of the Imperial Fora is a civic museum of Rome set inside the Roman brick complex known as Trajan's Market, beside the Imperial Fora.
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Archaeological site · Lazio
Palatine Hill
The Palatine Hill is the hill in central Rome above the Roman Forum where the emperors built their palaces; its ruins form one archaeological area with the Forum.
1 km in a straight line
Church · Lazio
Pantheon, Rome
The Pantheon is an ancient Roman temple in Rome's historic centre, on Piazza della Rotonda, that has been a church, the Basilica of Santa Maria ad Martyres, since the seventh century.
1 km in a straight line
Monument · Trevi, Lazio
Trevi Fountain
The Trevi Fountain is the 18th-century monumental fountain at the end of the Acqua Vergine aqueduct, set against Palazzo Poli in Rome's Trevi district.
1 km in a straight line
Explore deeper
Guides to Rome
9 guides
Travel Guide01
Duomo, cattedrale, basilica, chiesa: what Italian church words mean
Italian signs use duomo, cattedrale, basilica and chiesa for overlapping things, and one building can carry three of the names at once. This explainer gives each word's meaning from Treccani's dictionary and the Code of Canon Law, shows how Milan, Florence, Venice and Rome's Pantheon combine them, and explains why the word on the sign tells you less about a visit than the body that runs the building.
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Travel Guide02
Italian food guide: regions, DOP and IGP labels, and what the names really mean
Italian food is organised around places, and Italy's protected food names write much of that into law: 331 agricultural products carry a DOP or IGP name, and four more are protected as traditional specialities. This guide explains what DOP, IGP and STG mean, why a city's name on a label is not the label's area, and how Naples, Bologna, Modena and Siena show up in the register.
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Travel Guide03
Italy travel guide: choosing regions and city bases
XTOUR plans Italy around city bases rather than regions: Rome, Florence, Venice, Verona, Milan, Naples, Bologna, Palermo, Genoa, Bolzano, Pisa and Siena. This guide says what each base is for, which major sites are in a city and which are only reached from one, and where XTOUR's more detailed guides take over.
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Travel Guide04
Roman amphitheatres in Italy compared: the Colosseum, Verona and Pompeii
The Colosseum, the Verona Arena and the amphitheatre of Pompeii are the same kind of building but three different kinds of visit: one ticketed archaeological park, one working venue with a separate monument ticket, and one building inside an excavated city. This article compares who runs each, what their official pages say about age, size and entry, and where those pages disagree.
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Travel Guide05
Rome's ancient sites beyond the Colosseum: what is in the city and what is not
Beyond the Colosseum park, ancient Rome is spread across sites with their own official pages: the Baths of Caracalla and Castel Sant'Angelo in the city, Ostia Antica within the municipality but outside the historic centre, and Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli, a separate town. This guide sets out what each site is and where it is.
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Travel Guide06
Villa d'Este or Hadrian's Villa: choosing between the Tivoli villas
Tivoli's two World Heritage villas are about fourteen centuries apart: Hadrian's Villa is the ruin of a Roman emperor's residence, Villa d'Este a Renaissance palace and water garden whose patron took inspiration from it. This guide compares what each is, what UNESCO recognised in each, and what XTOUR could not read about visiting them.
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Travel Guide07
Is Tuscany a city? Italy's regions, provinces and city names explained
Tuscany is one of Italy's twenty regions, not a city: Florence is its capital, and Pisa and Siena are separate towns inside it. This explainer sets out how Italy's regions, provinces, metropolitan cities and municipalities fit together, why the English and Italian names differ, and why XTOUR records cities rather than regions.
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Travel Guide08
Vatican City and Rome: what is in which country
Vatican City is an independent state surrounded by Rome, not part of Italy. This explainer sets out what belongs to which country, why the Vatican Museums and St. Peter's Basilica are not Italian sites, and why some papal basilicas elsewhere in Rome sit in a different heritage listing.
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Travel Guide09
Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine: how the tickets work
The Colosseum, the Roman Forum and the Palatine belong to one archaeological park, and the ticket you buy decides which parts of it you enter. This guide sets out what the park includes, the ticket types Rome's and Italy's official tourism sites name, the named-ticket rule, and what XTOUR could not confirm.
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Destination information last verified: October 9, 2026
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