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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.

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.

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.

Monasteries from all across Italy supply their homemade honey, liqueurs, beauty products, elixirs and other products to this shop.

For those who crave most of all to see and be seen, this is the place to drape your designer-clad self, especially on warm summer evenings when you can pose unashamed at an outdoor table. In the winter, it’s a cosier, less self-conscious local favourite, although it’s always pretty pricey, as are most places in the Piazza Navona area.

Dressing up, parties and pranks.

Put on by the DS, the former Communist Party, this is a lively evening event, featuring music, films, dancing, games and more, much of it free. The venue changes every year, as do the exact dates, but it’s usually held in a central park, sometime around July, for about a month.

The glorious square, designed by no less than Michelangelo, is home to smaller papal art collections than the Vatican’s, but equally invaluable.

One day a week, part of the old Via Appia Antica is closed to all traffic except tour buses, making it perfect for a bucolic bike ride, or a very long walk if you want to cover it all. Lined with pines and cypresses, this is where the ancient Romans came to bury their dead, and many tombs still remain along the roadside (see Via Appia Antica).

A welcome break from all the art of the Vatican complex. You get great views not only from the lantern atop the dome, across Piazza San Pietro towards the River Tiber, but also from the drum halfway up, which offers a bird’s-eye perspective down into the transept of St Peter’s Basilica itself (see Features of St Peter’s Basilica).

This “field of flowers” bursts with colour during the morning market, and again after dark when its pubs and bars make it a centre of Roman nightlife. The dour hooded statue overlooking all is in honour of Giordano Bruno, a theologian who was burned at the stake here for his progressive heresies in 1600 during the Counter-Reformation.

The graceful botanical gardens and grounds of Palazzo Corsini now provide one of the most enjoyable places to while away an hour or two and breathe in air richly perfumed by more than 7,000 plant species that thrive here. The gardens, which now belong to the University of Rome, include indigenous and exotic varieties, grouped according to ecosystems.

Extensive, elegant and full of shady glades and beautiful fountains, this is a great park for a stroll, a picnic or a jog. You can also go boating on the artificial lake, rent a bicycle or in-line skates.

This café has always been the landmark of dolce vita lifestyle along this glossy strip. It’s still a magical place to sip an espresso or partake of a light snack.

The parkland on the other side of the Circus Maximus from the Palatine Hill conceals exquisite early churches and other gems. Start on the south side of the Circus Maximus, now a sunken patch of dust and weeds, but once a majestic racecourse until the popes plundered its stones to build their palaces. Head up the hill to the Rose Garden (see Rose and Orange Gardens, Parco Savello). In spring and summer few places in Rome radiate such beauty. Continue along the old wall and enter Parco Savello’s Orange Garden (see Rose and Orange Gardens, Parco Savello) to take in the view from the parapet. Next door is Santa Sabina . Use a torch and binoculars to scrutinize carved wooden doors and the Crucifixion scene. Stop next at Piranesi’s Piazza of the Knights of Malta and peer through the celebrated keyhole.

Wind down Via di San Alessio until Viale Aventino and San Saba. Take time to appreciate the notorious St Nicholas fresco on the left wall. In the Parco della Resistenza dell’8 Settembre you can get a gelato in the park’s café and gaze at length on the 3rd-century Aurelian Wall (see Beyond the City Walls).

Cross over to the lovely Protestant Cemetery, pay your respects at the graves of Shelley, Keats and friends, pause to reflect on the splendid Pyramid of Caius Cestius, and leave your donation in the box as you exit.

Volpetti is a fabulous choice for lunch with a made-to-order gourmet sandwich.