Tourist attractions Grottaferrata

The catacombs were the private cemetery of Emperor Domitian’s niece Domitilla, and include an underground church.

These catacombs seem to have been excavated around a core of three mausoleums which are open to visitors.

This is a huge cemetery, where more than 500 000 people are buried, including all the 3C popes. Its main attraction is the extraordinary wall paintings of the Sacraments Room , dating from the end of the 2C or start of the 3C.

Founded by Constantine, the basilica was totally rebuilt during the Baroque period and 18C. Galilei’s façade gives access to a rather cold and solemn interior by Borromini and followers of Bernini. In contrast with the nave, the transept is awash wit..

Built by Caracalla in the year 212, these baths covered 11ha and could accommodate 1 600 people at any one time.The ruins of the caldarium a circular hall measuring 34m in diameter (formerly the hot baths), host opera events in summer.

On this hill, where Romulus and Remus were found, Domitian built his imperial palace, the Domus Flavia , the focus of official life, the Domus Augustana , the private imperial residence, and the stadium . The House of Livia was perhaps home to A..

Inaugurated in 80 AD, the Flavian amphitheatre or Colosseum is the biggest in the Roman world (527m in circumference and 57m high). Three levels of arcades enclose this impressive arena built on part of the site occupied by Nero’s Golden House. 50 00..

Founded by Pope Sixtus III (432-440), this is one of Rome’s four great basilicas, and has been remodelled many times down the centuries. Erected in 1377, its campanile is the highest in Rome. The façade (1743-1750) is the work of Ferdinando Fuga. The..

Rome’s finest and best preserved triumphal arch stands in front of the Colosseum . Erected in 315 to commemorate Constantine's victory over Maxentius, it is abundantly decorated with scenes removed from 2C monuments. Recent research has shown that i..

Impossible to miss, this is the massive brick building standing in the Forum Romanum and showing some of its vaults along the Via dei Fori Imperiali. Work began under Maxentius in 305, and was completed by Constantine. This grandiose building housed ..

In this round temple built in the late 6C BC, the famous Vestals were in charge of keeping the sacred fire burning. Nearby is the Atrium Vestae, where the priestesses lived. The code they adhered to was strict: recruited at the age of 10, they served..

Just below the Basilica Julia stand the three fine Corinthian columns of the Temple of Castor and Pollux, the rising profile of their white marble evoking the magnificence with which Augustus sought to endow the city. The temple recalls the legend of..

The Temple of Saturn comprises a 1C BC platform and eight 4C columns (the temple having been rebuilt after a fire). Saturn was the god of agriculture and the weather; at the winter solstice, celebrations took place in his honour and in anticipation o..

Recently restored, this superb brick octagonal room (its cupola recalling that it served as a planetarium in the 1920s) was probably a frigidarium (cold room in baths complex) or ancillary area. Today it houses some important Antique statuary: the R..

A passionate lover of art and architecture, Emperor Hadrian had crisscrossed his whole empire, and with this villa sought to evoke the works and sites he had seen on his travels. It was almost complete when Hadrian, long gravely ill and distraught at..

These were built by Caesar, Augustus, Trajan, Nerva and Vespasian; of the last two, nothing remains. Opened by Mussolini in 1932, Via dei Fori Imperiali cuts through the middle of them.

Trajan’s Column is an unparalleled masterpiece. Standing 38m tall, it incorporates bulging in its construction to avoid the illusion of concavity generated by its sheer height. Animated by the spiral course they follow, the hundred scenes of images d..

Built in 1655 by Girolamo Rainaldi, the palace was part of a project by Michelangelo for the Senate House . With the Palazzo dei Conservatori , it houses the collections of the Capitoline Museums . The room of the Emperors has portraits of all t..

On the ancient hill that symbolises the might of Rome stands the church of Santa Maria d’Aracoeli plus Piazza del Campidoglio and its palaces: Palazzo Senatorio (the town hall), Palazzo dei Conservatori and Palazzo Nuovo (these last two housing..

Designed and partially built by Michelangelo from 1536, the square is bordered by three palaces and a balustrade overlooking the statues of the Dioscuri; in the centre Michelangelo placed the statue of Marcus Aurelius (today a copy stands in its plac..