Rome

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Sights and museums

Chaotic, fascinating, exhausting and stunning, Rome is a sight in itself. On a cloud-free day with a hint of summer in the air, and with a good vantage point from a well-placed curb-side café table, you could be forgiven for wondering why anyone would want to trade this for a dutiful traipse around a museum or archaeological site.

But Rome’s cultural heritage is second to none, and the wealth, breadth and sheer beauty of its art, architecture and artefacts are great enough even to reward the visitor for giving up his or her ringside seat at the magnificent spectacle
of everyday life on the streets of the Eternal City.

Enjoyment of these riches used to be hampered by strikes, endless restorations and short opening hours. Those days, thankfully, are over. Rome looks gorgeous after its millennium overhaul. And if some of the exciting new projects planned for the early years of the 21st century – MAXXI museum, designed by Zaha Hadid, is a case in point – are dragging their heels, others (such as Renzo Piano’s Auditorium and, more recently, Richard Meyer’s striking container for the Ara Pacis) have been unveiled to much acclaim.

 

Ancient sites
The heart of the ancient city, and the area with the greatest density of remains, all lies between the Capitoline, Palatine, Esquiline and Quirinal hills. Located here are the Colosseum, the Roman and Imperial Fora and ancient Rome’s most desirable residential area, the Palatine, where the sexual excesses of emperors and politicians were matched only by the passion with which they plotted against each other. For a more intimate glimpse of the ancient world, underground sites – such as the digs beneath the churches of San Clemente and Santi Giovanni e Paolo – allow you to stroll along ancient streets and into ancient homes.

 

Museums and galleries
Rome has long boasted some of the world’s greatest and most venerable museums and galleries, but the last few years in particular have seen a rash of new permanent exhibits (MACRO, Crypta Balbi), and new venues for old ones (the Ara Pacis). Naturally, this being Rome, there’s a preponderance of the ancient, Renaissance and baroque. But if the modern and contemporary is more your cup of tea, you’ll find you are increasingly well catered for.

 

Where Rome – indeed, much of Italy – still lags behind is in its exhibition technique: there’s little interaction, little thought for the needs of children, and a very academic and didactic approach to the explanation of exhibits. It’s a minor hitch, however, for which the beauty of objects and their settings compensate.

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