Rome, Italy

Self-guided audio walking tour of Rome

50 hand-checked places and 2 walking routes. aiGuide notices where you are and tells you each place's story as you walk past, so you can keep your phone in your pocket.

Imperial Spine to Trevi

11 stops · about 90 min · 2.3 km

The most rewarding 90-minute introduction to Rome, building from the great archaeological monuments of the ancient city to the Baroque crescendo of the Trevi Fountain.

1. 1.Colosseo

   Roman Empire, 1st century AD

   Rome's monumental Flavian amphitheatre, completed in AD 80, is the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built and an enduring symbol of Imperial Rome.

2. 2.Arco di Costantino

   Late Roman Empire, 4th century AD

   The largest surviving Roman triumphal arch, dedicated in AD 315 to celebrate Constantine's victory at the Milvian Bridge.

3. 3.Foro Romano

   Roman Kingdom through Late Empire, 8th century BC to 6th century AD

   The political, religious, and commercial heart of ancient Rome for over a thousand years, lying in the valley between the Palatine and Capitoline Hills.

4. 4.Palatino

   Iron Age through Imperial Rome, 10th century BC to 4th century AD

   The legendary birthplace of Rome and home of the imperial palaces, the centremost of the Seven Hills with habitation dating to the 10th century BC.

5. 5.Colonna Traiana

   Roman Empire, 2nd century AD, completed 113

   A 30-metre marble column whose continuous spiral relief documents Trajan's Dacian Wars in 155 scenes — a comic strip in stone.

6. 6.Mercati di Traiano

   Roman Imperial (Trajanic), early 2nd century AD; medieval tower c. 1200; museum 2007

   A multi-level complex of about 150 rooms, designed by Apollodorus of Damascus and often called the world's oldest shopping mall.

7. 7.Vittoriano

   Late 19th to early 20th century, inaugurated 1911

   The colossal white marble monument to the first king of unified Italy, also home to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

8. 8.Piazza del Campidoglio

   Italian Renaissance, designed 1536

   Michelangelo's Renaissance redesign of the Capitoline Hill summit, with a trapezoidal pavement and three palazzi housing the Capitoline Museums.

9. 9.Pantheon

   Roman Empire, early 2nd century AD

   Hadrian's rebuilt Roman temple, the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome, in continuous use as a Catholic church since AD 609.

10. 10.Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio di Loyola

    Baroque, 17th century, ceiling 1685-1694

    A Baroque Jesuit church famed for Andrea Pozzo's spectacular trompe-l'oeil ceiling frescoes and flat 'false dome'.

11. 11.Fontana di Trevi

    Late Baroque, 18th century

    Rome's largest and most theatrical Baroque fountain, marking the terminus of an ancient Roman aqueduct still flowing today.

Tiber Bend and Vatican Approach

9 stops · about 75 min · 2.0 km

A Renaissance and Baroque loop through the historic centre, crossing the Tiber via Bernini's angel-lined bridge for a finale at Saint Peter's Square.

1. 1.Campo de' Fiori

   Medieval origin; paved 1456; martyrdom 1600

   Rome's lively market square, paved in 1456, and the place where the philosopher Giordano Bruno was burned for heresy in 1600.

2. 2.Piazza Farnese

   Renaissance, 16th century

   An elegant Renaissance square dominated by the Palazzo Farnese — now the French Embassy — and twin fountains made from antique Roman granite basins.

3. 3.Palazzo Farnese

   High Renaissance, 1517-1589

   Rome's most magnificent Renaissance palace, designed by Sangallo and Michelangelo for the Farnese family, since 1874 the French Embassy to Italy.

4. 4.Largo di Torre Argentina

   Roman Republic, 4th to 2nd century BC; excavated 1926-29

   A sunken square containing four Republican-era Roman temples and the spot where Julius Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March 44 BC.

5. 5.Chiesa del Santissimo Nome di Gesu

   Late Renaissance and early Baroque, 1568-1584

   The mother church of the Jesuits, a Counter-Reformation architectural template imitated across the Catholic world.

6. 6.Piazza Navona

   Baroque, 17th century, built on a 1st-century AD stadium

   Rome's most theatrical Baroque square, built directly on the racetrack of Domitian's 1st-century stadium and shaped by Bernini and Borromini's rivalry.

7. 7.Ponte Sant'Angelo

   Roman Imperial AD 134; Baroque sculptures 1668-1669

   Hadrian's Roman bridge across the Tiber, lined with ten Baroque angels designed by Bernini, leading to Castel Sant'Angelo.

8. 8.Castel Sant'Angelo

   Roman Empire AD 134-139; medieval and Renaissance fortifications

   Hadrian's cylindrical mausoleum, converted into a papal fortress and prison, linked to the Vatican by the elevated Passetto di Borgo corridor.

9. 9.Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano

   Italian High Renaissance and Baroque, 16th to 17th century

   The largest church in the world by interior area, built over the traditional tomb of Saint Peter and crowned by Michelangelo's dome.