Morning
Land at Fiumicino (FCO)
The Leonardo Express runs nonstop to Termini in about half an hour; the hotel is a ten-minute walk from the station.
Afternoon / Day
Check in: Hotel Artemide
Via Nazionale 22. One hotel for all six nights, halfway between Termini and the Forum, with a rooftop restaurant and a small spa.
Lunch at Roscioli
Via dei Giubbonari 21. Salumeria out front, dining room squeezed in behind the counter; the carbonara and the cured-meat board are the point.
Pantheon
Piazza della Rotonda. Entry is ticketed now — book online before you go. Open 9:00 to 19:00, last entry 18:30, and still a working basilica.
Coffee at Sant'Eustachio Il Caffe
Piazza Sant'Eustachio 82. Wood-roasting since 1938. The gran caffe arrives pre-sweetened — ask for it senza zucchero if you don't want that.
Evening
Piazza Navona
Bernini's Four Rivers fountain sits on top of Domitian's stadium — the square keeps the running track's exact oval footprint.
Dinner at Armando al Pantheon
Salita de' Crescenzi 31. Same family since 1961, a dozen tables, online booking only — reserve weeks ahead. Closed Sundays and Saturday nights.
Trevi Fountain after dark
Piazza di Trevi, five minutes from dinner. Lit all night and half as crowded at eleven as it is at eleven in the morning.
Morning
Colosseum
Piazza del Colosseo 1. Timed entry is compulsory and slots open only 30 days ahead. The ticket also covers the Forum and Palatine for 24 hours.
Basilica di San Clemente
Via Labicana 95, five minutes from the Colosseum. Three cities stacked: 12th-century church, 4th-century basilica, 1st-century Mithraeum below.
Afternoon / Day
Lunch at La Carbonara
Via Panisperna 214, up the hill in Monti. Trading since 1906; the name comes from a charcoal seller, not the pasta. Closed Sundays.
Roman Forum
Enter from Via dei Fori Imperiali on this morning's Colosseum ticket. Walk the Via Sacra from the Arch of Titus down to the Curia.
Palatine Hill
Carries straight on from the Forum with no second ticket. The Farnese gardens look down over the Circus Maximus.
Capitoline Museums
Piazza del Campidoglio 1, up Michelangelo's ramp. The Capitoline Wolf, the Dying Gaul, and the Tabularium terrace looking down the Forum.
Evening
Dinner at Trattoria Monti
Via di San Vito 13a. Marche cooking rather than Roman — order the tortello al rosso d'uovo. Book ahead; closed Mondays and Sunday evenings.
Morning
Galleria Borghese
Piazzale Scipione Borghese 5. Strict two-hour timed slots and no walk-up tickets; take the 9:00. Closed Mondays.
Villa Borghese to the Pincio
Piazzale Napoleone I. Walk out of the gallery through the park; the Pincio balustrade drops you straight onto Piazza del Popolo.
Afternoon / Day
Santa Maria del Popolo
Piazza del Popolo 12. Two Caravaggios in the Cerasi Chapel and free to enter; carry a coin for the light box.
Via dei Condotti and the Steps
Piazza di Spagna. Window-shop the Condotti run from the Corso up to the Spanish Steps. Sitting on the steps carries a fine — stand.
Late lunch at Antica Birreria Peroni
Via di San Marcello 19. Beer hall since 1906, kitchen open straight through from midday to midnight, no reservations. Closed Sundays.
Gelato at Giolitti
Via degli Uffici del Vicario 40. Open since 1900. Pay at the till first, then hand the receipt across the counter.
Evening
Sunset on Piazza del Quirinale
The balcony beside the presidential palace looks west over the rooftops to the dome of St Peter's. Free, and rarely busy.
Dinner at Colline Emiliane
Via degli Avignonesi 22, off Piazza Barberini. Emilian, family-run since 1967: tortellini in brodo, hand-rolled tagliatelle. Tuesday to Saturday.
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Morning
Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel
Viale Vaticano. Book only at tickets.museivaticani.va. Closed Sundays except the last of the month; allow three hours to reach the chapel.
Afternoon / Day
Lunch at Pizzarium Bonci
Via della Meloria 43, ten minutes from the museum exit. Pizza al taglio sold by weight — point at what you want and eat it standing.
St Peter's Basilica
Piazza San Pietro. Free to enter, but the security queue snakes across the square. Shoulders and knees covered or you are turned away.
Climb the dome
A separate ticket from the basilica itself. A lift covers the first stage to the roof; the last curve to the lantern is a narrow leaning stair.
Castel Sant'Angelo
Lungotevere Castello 50. Hadrian's tomb, later the popes' fortress. Take the spiral ramp up to the terrace over the Tiber. Closed Mondays.
Evening
Ponte Sant'Angelo at dusk
Bernini designed the angels lining the bridge. Cross to the centro side and turn around for the postcard view of the castle.
Dinner at L'Arcangelo
Via Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli 59, Prati. Arcangelo Dandini's Roman cooking in a Michelin-listed bistrot. Dinner only, Monday to Saturday. Book.
Morning
Train to Ostia Antica
Roma-Lido line from Piramide, roughly 25 minutes on an ordinary metro ticket. Cross the footbridge at the stop and follow the signs.
Ostia Antica excavations
Viale dei Romagnoli 717. Rome's port city, and far emptier than Pompeii: the theatre, the Piazzale delle Corporazioni mosaics, a painted bar. Closed Mondays.
Afternoon / Day
Lunch at Allo Sbarco di Enea
Viale dei Romagnoli 675, at the gate of the excavations. Roman-themed, about fifty years old, and better at fish than the theme suggests.
Train back to Piramide
Same line in reverse. Be back by mid-afternoon so the cemetery next door is still letting people in.
Non-Catholic Cemetery
Via Caio Cestio 6. Keats and Shelley lie in the shade of the Pyramid of Cestius. Suggested 5-euro donation; open to 5 PM Monday to Saturday, last entry 4:30.
Evening
Volpetti
Via Marmorata 47. Testaccio deli since 1973 — pecorino, guanciale, and vacuum-packing for the flight. Open to 8:30 PM, closed Sundays.
Dinner at Flavio al Velavevodetto
Via di Monte Testaccio 97, built against the hill of shattered Roman amphorae. Quinto quarto, properly made pasta, no reinvention.
Trastevere and the Gianicolo
Morning
Check out, leave the bags
Hotel Artemide holds luggage at the desk. Collect it this afternoon on the way back through to Termini.
Villa Farnesina
Via della Lungara 230. Raphael's Galatea and the Loggia of Cupid and Psyche. Open 9:00 to 14:00 Monday to Saturday, last entry 13:15.
Santa Maria in Trastevere
Piazza di Santa Maria in Trastevere. Free. Cavallini's 1291 mosaic cycle of the Virgin runs under the apse — that is the reason to come.
Afternoon / Day
Lunch at Da Enzo al 29
Via dei Vascellari 29. Tiny, no reservations, closed Sundays. Put your name down at noon and wait it out; the cacio e pepe is the order.
Fontana dell'Acqua Paola
Via Garibaldi. The climb out of Trastevere ends at the Fontanone and the Gianicolo terrace, with the whole city laid out dome by dome.
Leonardo Express to Fiumicino
Collect the bags, then the nonstop from Termini — about half an hour, departures every fifteen minutes or so.
Evening
Flight home from FCO
Fiumicino check-in queues build through the afternoon, so allow the full two hours even with hand luggage only.
