The tight knot of lanes between the Pantheon and the river.
Most visitors spend most of their time here, and for good reason: the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Campo de' Fiori and a hundred lanes are all inside a ten-minute walk. It is also the part of Rome that changes most between seven in the morning and noon.
The trick is the hour. Before nine, the piazzas are almost empty and the only noise is delivery vans and shutters going up. By eleven, the day-trip groups arrive. Do the famous places early and the lanes in between at your leisure.
Go inside, stand under the oculus and look up. The building is nearly two thousand years old and still used as a church. See our practical notes for current prices and hours.
The square follows the outline of a Roman stadium. Early in the morning you can walk across it in silence and look properly at Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers.
A sunken square of ruined temples in the middle of a busy road, and the place where a sanctuary now looks after the city's cats. You can look down on it from the pavement at no cost.
Walk between Campo de' Fiori and the river without a plan. Courtyards, church doors, craft workshops and tiny squares appear without warning.
We name a place only when we have checked that it is still trading, and show the date. Where we have not, we tell you what to look for.
Piazza di Sant'Eustachio
A stand-up espresso at one of Rome's oldest roasters, by the Pantheon.
Checked 4 October 2026. Visitor guides, 2026
What to look for
Ask for a slice of pizza bianca, plain and salty, still warm from the oven, and eat it standing on the pavement.
What to look for
A restaurant with a printed menu in six languages and a host on the pavement is aimed at passers-by. Turn one corner away from the square and look for a handwritten menu.
History
from€85per personGo inside the Pantheon at the right time of day, then walk Piazza Navona and the lanes behind it with a guide who knows which door to look through.
History
from€119per personBe at the gate when it opens. Three hours with a guide who trained as an archaeologist, through the Forum, up the Palatine and into the Colosseum.
Next neighbourhood
Trastevere
