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British Airways (www.britishairways.com), Ryanair (www.ryanair.com), easyJet (www.easyjet.com) and Alitalia (www.alitalia.com) all fly direct from London to Rome. From Ireland, Aer Lingus (www. aerlingus.ie) flies direct from Dublin; British Airways and Alitalia route you through London.

There are several direct flights on US carriers, plus Italy’s Alitalia.

Alitalia flies to Melbourne from Rome twice weekly. Qantas (www.qantas.com) flies thrice weekly from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Cairns (plus Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch in New Zealand) to Rome, via Milan. There are more flights (and it’s cheaper) to fly to London first, then on to Italy.

Most major European carriers fly to Rome from their main hub cities.

Most airlines now use websites to promote last-minute bargains and internet-only fares. Most have banded together on www.orbitz.com and collate the best regular fares offered, but only from the US, UK or Canada. Flexible schedules can take advantage of E-savers fares (weekly emails of bargain rates for trips over the coming weekend) and sites such as www.lastminute.com.

Rome’s international airport is 30 km (18 miles) west of the city. Taxis cost about €45 to the centre, with bags. Hourly express trains to the city take 30 minutes, but arrive at Termini’s track 22, a 15-minute hike from the ticket area (thankfully there are now moving walkways downstairs to help). Or you can catch a local train, getting off at Trastevere station and riding the No. 8 tram to central Trastevere or across the bridge to Largo Argentina (see Largo di Torre Argentina).

Ciampino, Rome’s smaller airport which is used mainly for domestic and European charter flights, is 15 km (9 miles) south of town. CO.TRA.L buses leave every half an hour for Anagnina, a stop on metro line A. Taxis cost about €40 into the centre, with bags.

From London, you can take the Channel tunnel to Paris and pick up a daily or overnight train to Rome (13 hours). The Eurostar (ES) bullet train speeds in 3.5 hours from Milan to Rome via Florence. Regular Italian trains range from express EC/IC/EN (all require high-speed supplements), to the speedy IR, to stop-everywhere diretto and espresso trains.

Rome’s main railway station has ticket windows and automated machines in the outer hall, shops, restaurants and travel agents in the inner hall and a shopping centre in the basement. The tourist office is in the inner hall (see General Information). It also has a left-luggage office and 24-hour pharmacy.

Italy’s trunk road, the A1 autostrada , travels from Milan in the north through Bologna and Florence to Rome, then continues on to Naples. The A12 skirts Italy’s west coast from Genova (where it links to the A10 from southern France) via Pisa to Fiumicino Airport. They all intersect Rome’s G.R.A. (Grande Raccordo Annulare ) ring highway, which allows you to circle the city or enter it from any direction you wish.