Rome › Places and landmarks

Places and landmarks in Rome

13 landmarks of Rome, and the streets, squares and waterways around them, each with its story and where to find it.

Landmarks

ColosseumThe great amphitheatre of ancient Rome, opened in AD 80 for gladiator fights before some 50,000 people. PantheonA temple to all the gods rebuilt under Hadrian, with the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world. Trevi FountainRome’s grandest fountain, where a coin thrown over your shoulder means you will come back. Piazza NavonaA long Baroque square on the outline of Domitian’s stadium, with Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers. Roman ForumThe heart of ancient Rome: temples, basilicas and the Senate house, in a valley between the hills. VittorianoThe huge white marble monument to Victor Emmanuel II on Piazza Venezia, nicknamed the typewriter. Campo de’ FioriA lively square with a morning market and, in the middle, the hooded statue of Giordano Bruno. Column of Marcus AureliusA marble column carved with the emperor’s wars along the Danube, standing on Piazza Colonna since the 2nd century. Largo di Torre ArgentinaFour temples of the Republic sunk below the street, beside the spot where Julius Caesar was murdered.

Also part of Rome

VespaThe scooter that put post-war Italy on two wheels and rode through Roman Holiday. NasoniThe little cast-iron drinking fountains on Rome’s street corners, running with fresh water all day. SampietriniThe small black cobblestones of basalt that pave the streets of old Rome. CarbonaraPasta with egg, guanciale, pecorino and black pepper: Rome’s own dish, with never a drop of cream.

Streets, squares and waterways

The places that hold the centre of Rome together. Point at one to find it on the map.

The centre of Rome, drawn from the same OpenStreetMap data as the game. The whole city on OpenStreetMap

1
Via del Corso street
The straight main street of the centre, from Piazza Venezia to Piazza del Popolo, on the line of the ancient Via Flaminia. It got its name from the riderless horse races of the Roman carnival.
2
Piazza Venezia square
Rome’s busiest crossroads, at the foot of the Capitoline Hill, under the white marble Vittoriano.
3
Via dei Fori Imperiali street
The wide avenue from Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum, laid in 1932 straight across the forums of the emperors.
4
Piazza del Campidoglio square
Michelangelo’s square on top of the Capitoline Hill, with Rome’s city hall and the Capitoline Museums.
5
Piazza Colonna square
The square on the Corso around the column of Marcus Aurelius, with the prime minister’s office in Palazzo Chigi.
6
Piazza della Rotonda square
The square in front of the Pantheon, with a fountain topped by an Egyptian obelisk.
7
Piazza Navona square
The long Baroque square on the outline of Domitian’s stadium, with three fountains.
8
Piazza di Trevi square
The small square that the Trevi Fountain fills almost entirely.
9
Largo di Torre Argentina square
A sunken square of four Republican temples, near where Caesar was killed, now a home for the city’s cats.
10
Corso Vittorio Emanuele II street
The avenue cut through the old town in the 1880s, from the Gesù church to the Tiber and on to the Vatican.
11
Campo de’ Fiori square
A lively square with a morning market and, in the middle, the hooded statue of Giordano Bruno.
12
Piazza Farnese square
A calm square of two granite basins from the Baths of Caracalla, in front of Palazzo Farnese, which Michelangelo helped finish and which now houses the French embassy.
13
The Tiber Tevere waterway
Rome’s river, between high stone walls built after the flood of 1870, with plane trees along its quays, the lungotevere.
14
The Roman Forum Foro Romano quarter
The valley of ruins between the Capitoline and the Palatine, once the political and religious heart of ancient Rome.

Ready to go?

Play Instant Rome