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This 17th-century palace has a wonderful Pietro da Cortona fresco upstairs.

Built around 1550 for a wealthy cardinal, the architect unknown, this palace has one of the most ornate Renaissance façades in Rome, featuring reliefs evoking the city’s glorious past. However, the inner courtyard is the masterpiece, decorated with stucco figures of the 12 Olympian gods and goddesses.

Home in the 17th century to two brothers, Bernardino and Virginio Spada, who amassed a fine collection of paintings. The building now houses the Council of State and a gallery.

Pope Paul II, who built this palace, loved to watch the carnival horse races from the balcony. From the same, Mussolini shouted his Fascist harangues.

Rome’s first great Renaissance palace (1455–64) was built for the Venetian cardinal Pietro Barbo. It is attributed to one of two Florentine architects, Alberti or Maiano. You can admire the beautiful palm court with an 18th-century fountain from the museum café.

This town boasts the greatest Hellenistic temple in Italy. Among the treasures unearthed here is a 2nd-century BC mosaic showing the Nile in flood.

This Trastevere institution’s nickname (“the morgue”) refers to the chilly effect of the marble that sheathes the walls and acts as tabletops. The reception is as warm as the decor is cold, however, and the Roman pizza as excellent as the supplì al telefono (fried rice balls with a melted mozzarella heart that makes a long “telephone” cord when you pull them apart). Open late.

Originally worshippers approached this temple to all the gods by a steep staircase, but the street level has risen since the 2nd century. The present temple was built by Hadrian, after the 1st-century BC temple burned down (see The Pantheon).