A walk through Rome's ancient center.
Rome is one of those cities where there’s a historical landmark everywhere you look. The entire city is bone-achingly ancient in a way that a USA-dweller like myself struggles to wrap their head around. Any first time visitor to Rome will want to check out all the world-famous sites, and you absolutely should!
The good news? Rome is incredibly walkable, and a dedicated traveler can see all the major sites of central Rome in one day. Especially if you space out your sightseeing with gelato stops. Or coffee stops. Or a glass of wine on a patio. Or a pizza. Or… you get the idea!
A few words of advice before we take off on this adventure! Rome is very walkable, but also crowded with tourists, often hot, and made almost entirely of cobblestones. Click here for my full roster of advice, but the essentials are some patience, a reusable water bottle, and better shoes than you think you need.
Packed and ready? Lets go! This Rome walking tour will start at the Spanish Steps and make its way towards the Tiber River, but feel free to travel in the opposite direction, or jump in at the middle, depending on where you’re staying in the city!
The Spanish Steps
The Spanish Steps are a beautiful architectural area on the edge of the Piazza di Spagna (Spanish Square). The stairs themselves are lovely, covered in flowers and with a lovely fountain at their base. And the views of Rome from the top are lovely!
Even with taking time to pose for photos, you won’t need to stay very long at the Spanish Steps. But if you’re looking for a place to sit and stay a while, or you need a caffeine boost to start your walking tour, Babington’s Tea House is right at the base of the Steps, and has an amazing high tea style menu of delicious teas and mouth watering pastries.
The Trevi Fountain
After you leave the Spanish Steps, head southwest toward the Trevi Fountain. No roads run in straight lines in Rome, so keep track of which direction you’re facing and keep your map handy just in case! But don’t worry too much. Most of central Rome is covered in signage pointing to the major landmarks!
And friends, the Trevi Fountain is a MAJOR landmark! It’s huge. Far bigger than the photos of it make you realize. It’s massive and absolutely stunning. It’s one of those sites that makes you go “wow, I’m in Italy!”
It will always be surrounded by massive tourist crowds, so keep a firm hold on your purse, and be prepared to wait a few minutes if you want to get close. And you’ll want to get close, if only to toss a coin over your left shoulder. Local lore says that tossing a coin into the Trevi Fountain over your left shoulder guarantees your eventual return to Rome. And come on, you already want to return to Rome, right?
The Pantheon
So you know how I said roads in Rome don’t run in straight lines? The one exception is the almost-straight line that you can walk from the Trevi Fountain to the Pantheon. Head west from the Trevi Fountain, follow the signage, and you’ll be at the Pantheon in no time at all.
The Pantheon appears out of the narrow streets and catches you completely off guard. It’s unlike anything else you’ll have seen so far, with its massive greek-style columns. If you want to go inside, make sure you reserve your entry tickets in advance. If you don’t feel like waiting in the lines, just admiring this beauty from the outside is amazing.
Piazza Navona
Of all the piazze that I visited in Rome, this one was my favorite. Piazza Navona is a huge, beautiful square full of statues and fountains, and it’s an amazing place to rest a little and watch the world go by. The central fountain is by far the most grand. I think it rivals the carvings on the Trevi fountain! (Or maybe that’s because I could admire them at my leisure instead of being constantly elbowed by other travelers!) But the fountains on the north and south end of the square are also mini masterpieces of their own. The square is lined with cafes and gelato shops, and there are two churches you can visit if you want to admire some stunning gothic architecture.
This place feels a little like Rome’s front porch. Rest here for a minute and soak up the Italian sun.
Campo di Fiori
Almost directly south from Piazza Navona, Campo di Fiori is the one landmark that, admittedly, disappointed me a little bit. Campo di Fiori translates to “field of flowers”, and other blogs and guides I’d read hailed this place as a beautiful market square full of produce stalls and flower sellers and Italians doing their shopping. Instead, I found Campo di Fiori to be an uncomfortably crowded place full of tourists buying generic souvenirs from nearly identical stalls of mass-produced tourist nonsense. There were, like, three stalls selling flowers on the north end of the square.
But you should still go, if only just to say you did. Maybe pick up a gift for that one relative who will be annoyed if the souvenir you got them doesn’t say “Italy” on it somewhere.
Area Sacra di Largo Argentina
If you go back eastward from Campo di Fiori, you’ll find Largo Argentina. Yes, you’re backtracking on your route just a touch, but it's well worth the stop if you want to see some ruins without the insane crowds you’ve been milling in all day, and/or if you love cats.
Yes, cats.
This ancient site is not only packed with fascinating history, but it’s also home to a colony of cats! These cats are mostly, technically, strays, but the staff of the site started leaving food out for them and they just… never left! The cats are amazingly well taken care of, and seeing them make themselves comfy among the ancient stones is a one-of-a-kind experience.
If you want to actually go into this site, there’s a small entrance fee. But this is an attraction that flies under the radar. On the day I visited there was almost no line, and I was able to purchase a ticket on site and was inside within a few minutes. And I got to pet a bunch of cats.
Ponte Sisto and Ponte Garibaldi
And with that, you’re almost to the Tiber River! When you read about bridges (ponti) over the Tiber, most of the guidebooks are going to point you toward Ponte Sisto, which is a pedestrian-only footbridge that connects the city center with the Trastevere neighborhood. And don’t get me wrong, Ponte Sisto is a beautiful bridge!
For this itinerary though, I’m going to recommend that you follow Via Arenula (the major road that borders Largo Argentina on the west side) southward until you reach Ponte Garibaldi. This bridge isn’t much to look at on its own. But if you look northward as you cross, you get an amazing view of both Ponte Sisto and the top of the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica!
But Your Rome Walking Tour Doesn't Have to Stop Here!
From here, all of Rome is your oyster. You can wander back into the city center in search of gelato. Or continue on into Trastevere in search of an aperitivo. (Click here for all my favorite places to eat in both locales!)You could explore Rome for a generation and never see everything there is to see. I hope you enjoyed this brief tour of its highlights.
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Love and Shenanigans,
Andi
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