Just off the steps leading from the Capitoline hill down to the Roman Forum, the Mamertine Prison was waiting for anyone thought to pose a threat to the security of the ancient...

Just inside the Porta Settimiana is an unassuming house, now a restaurant, with a pretty window high on the façade and a granite column embedded in its wall. It is believed to...

These catacombs are found on land once belonging to Flavia Domitilla, wife of a first-century consul, banished to the island of Ponza for her faith. The guided visit starts...

This two-storey second-century AD burial place contains bas-reliefs and frescoes, including what is believed to be the first-ever depiction of Mary.

These are Rome's largest catacombs. Buried in the 29km (18 miles) of tunnels were nine popes (venerated in a chapel known as il piccolo Vaticano), dozens of martyrs and...

The name 'catacomb' originated in this spot, where a complex of underground burial sites situated near a tufa quarry was described as being kata kymbas - 'near the quarry'. The...

Part of the Museo Nazionale Romana, the Crypta Balbi is often overlooked on travellers' itineraries. It's a pity: not only does it display one of Rome's more interesting recent...

By the early second century BC, Rome had outgrown its old port. In 193 BC, construction began on a new structure, the Emporio, in what is now Testaccio. Steps led up from this...

Four ephebes (adolescent boys) cavort around the base of one of Rome's loveliest fountains, gently hoisting tortoises up to the waters above them. According to legend, Giacomo...

The bizarre statue of a winged hero slaughtering an ox atop the Mattatoio (slaughterhouse) leaves little doubt about its mission. Hailed as Europe's most advanced abattoir when...

This colossal cylinder of travertine is the final resting place of, and unusual tribute to, a woman who linked two major families in late first century BC Rome. A large plaque...

This 36-metre-high (120-foot-high) 'mountain' covered by scruffy plants is a quirky sidebar to the commercial might of the Roman Empire in the second and third centuries. What...

Booking is essential for Planetarium shows.

Great ancient columns and a marble frontispiece, held together with rusting iron braces, now form part of the church of Sant'Angelo in Pescheria. They were originally the...