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Self-styled “Scottish pub” with an occasional DJ and, Monday to Wednesday, live music.

Often autobiographical writer/director (b.1953), likened to Woody Allen.

Campanian cuisine and more than 40 types of pizza approved by Naples’ strict “True Pizza” association. No-smoking rooms; live Neapolitan music most nights.

Prints, old photographs and watercolours are on sale here, from Piranesi originals to 20th-century works.

During his Italian sojourn from 1857 to 1859, the American man of letters (1804–64) was so moved by an ancient sculpture in the Capitoline museums he crafted his final novel The Marble Faun around it.

This is the place where Rome’s bright young things sip a well-mixed cocktail or two before sampling the other delights of the Testaccio-Ostiense area. It has a good sound system and an equally trendy restaurant.

Right next to the Italian Parliament, this 16th-century palace has hosted many politicos. A regal atmosphere, especially in the restaurant with its marble floor.

A very elegant setting for equally elegant Neapolitan-style cuisine. The speciality is seafood and fish, sublimely prepared.

The most notorious for his excesses, Nero (54–68) fancied himself a great singer and showman. He eventually committed suicide.

Subsequent emperors were so embarrassed by Nero’s gargantuan profligacy that they went to great lengths to undo as much of it as they could. One way was to give some of the land Nero took for himself back to the use of the Roman people. The Flavians drained his lake and built the Colosseum, to provide the citizenry with a suitable place for their gladiatorial spectacles. Then Trajan built Rome’s first great bath complex by cutting through Nero’s original house and building right over it (see Trajan).