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A perfect neighbourhood square: cafés, shops, a fine restaurant, and a 17th-century palazzo abutting a medieval church, its mosaics romantically floodlit at night. A fountain fitted with shells by Carlo Fontana (1682) atop a pedestal of stairs serves as benches for backpackers to strum guitars and tourists to eat ice cream (see Santa Maria in Trastevere).

The de facto centre of Rome and convergence of traffic patterns, during evening rush hour conducted with balletic brio by a white-gloved policeman. The piazza is flanked by the Palazzo Venezia, from whose balcony Mussolini once exhorted hordes to the joys of Fascism (see Palazzo Venezia).

Poet, Communist and film-maker (1922–75). Filmed notorious versions of Oedipus Rex and The Decameron .

Valadier carefully designed this view from his gardens, across Piazza del Popolo to St Peter’s (see An Afternoon Roman Passeggiata).

Formulaic comedies of errors by Plautus (250–184 BC) influenced Shakespeare.

The letters (Epistulae ) of Pliny (61–113) to prominent figures give us a glimpse of imperial society.

Pompey’s 61–55 BC theatre is still evident in the curve of medieval buildings on Largo del Pollaro. Its fabric is visible only in the basements, including the downstairs rooms of the da Pancrazio restaurant installed in the ancient travertine corridors.

Hadrian built this bridge in 133-4 to access his mausoleum, but only the three central arches of that span remain. Clement VII had the statues of St Peter (by Lorenzetto) and St Paul (by Paolo Taccone) installed in 1534. Clement IX hired Bernini in 1688 to design the statues of 10 angels holding symbols of the Passion.

Also called the Acattolica (Non-Catholic) Cemetery, people of many faiths have been sepulchred here since 1738. The most famous denizens are the English poets Keats and Shelley (see Writers in Rome). Until 1870, crosses and references to salvation were forbidden.

Following the Egyptian fashion, many ancient Romans used to build their tombs as pyramids, but this is the only survivor. It was made to form part of the defensive wall around the city (see Pyramid of Caius Cestius).