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This tiny city-state is home to the Pope, the world’s greatest museum, largest church, and the most astounding work of art ever created – Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling.

The most perfectly preserved of all ancient temples, this marvel of architectural engineering has a giant oculus forever open to the sky.

At the once-bustling heart of ancient political, judicial and commercial power, there’s now an evocative emptiness, punctuated by grandiose arches, solitary columns and carved rubble.

A stunningly beautiful pleasure-palace, this was the vision of an immensely rich, hedonistic papal nephew, who filled it with Graeco-Roman, Renaissance and Baroque works by the greatest masters.

Imperial Rome constructed many impressive monuments, including the spectacular amphitheatre.

At the ancient centre of religious Rome are found some of the world’s greatest masterpieces, from 4th-century BC Greek sculptures to Caravaggio’s revolutionary – even scandalous – paintings.

These collections, housed at two sites, feature some of the world’s finest ancient art, including Classical sculpture and stunning mosaics.

Built over emperors’ tombs, this church offers one of Rome’s richest displays of Renaissance and Baroque art, including masterpieces by Pinturicchio, Raphael, Caravaggio and Bernini.

With its mysterious passages and legends, this fascinating church provides first-hand experience of the layers that comprise Rome; here you can descend to a depth of 18m (60 ft) and go back over 2,000 years.

Extending over several square kilometres, the remarkable ruins of ancient Rome’s main port city hold many surprises and convey a powerful sense of everyday Imperial life.