Homes in: Lazio

Lake Nemi Lazio Italy

Mighty Rome sits in its middle, but the rest of Lazio is a remarkably rural region where pretty hills and sleepy lakesides meet handsome old villages and friendly little towns. Buyers of country homes will find superb value for money, says Fleur Kinson Photography by iStock   Rome is one of Italy’s absolutely best-known and […]

Rome travel guide

If you’re seeking places to stay and eat during your Rome travels, read on for our top picks for accommodation and restaurants   Where to stay   A. Roma Hotel While Rome holds an age-old charm with its Empire ruins, the artistic gems of the Renaissance masters, shopping, culture and gastronomy, the contemporary A.Roma lifestyle […]

Rome in a Fiat 500

Fiat 500 tour Rome

Italy has given us many great cars, but there is one that is more iconic than any other. Mark Nicholls experienced a tour around Rome as a passenger in a classic Fiat 500… The streets emit a cacophony of toots and hoots as our drivers whizz us around the centre of Rome. We’re jammed cosily […]

Insider’s Rome: The Forum

Santi Luca e Martina, Arch of Septimius Severus and the Temple of Saturn at the Roman Forum, Rome, Italy

The Forum is where Roman history begins, but when it begins is a question that has recently had to be asked again… According to the story, Rome was founded on 21 April 753 BC, which means this April it was… umm… very old. How do we know the date so precisely? Because it’s just a […]

Italia! issue 161 is on sale now

In this issue we whizz around Rome in a classic Fiat 500 – join us to experience the Eternal City on a unique (and super-stylish!) guided tour. We also explore the spectacular Il Redentore festival in Venice, take a look at some of the best property prospects in lovely Lazio and discover the beauty of […]

Insider’s Rome: le Terme di Caracalla

Though they are named for the Emperor Caracalla, it was probably his father, Severus, who laid the plans for these huge baths… Most tourists come here by public transport, though the walk from the Forum takes you past a number of sites. Or, if you really liked walking, you could combine the trip with a […]

Insider’s Rome: the Villa Borghese

Cardinal Scipione Borghese (1577-1633) was a patron of Bernini and Caravaggio. The Baroque legacy at his Villa is a wonder to behold… People are often surprised to learn that, at least as far as major European cities go, Rome actually has a very good green space to concrete ratio. It certainly doesn’t feel like that […]

Insider’s Rome: the Spanish steps

The official name is the Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti but we know them as the Spanish Steps, for the embassy once located here… After our visit to the Vatican Museums last month, we thought it unlikely that you would want to go straight to the Galleria Borghese (where we will be going next month), […]

Insider’s Rome: The Vatican Museums

The Vatican Museums are by far the most visited art galleries in Italy. And so they should be. There are more than 20,000 items on display at any one time – and sometimes it feels as if there are just as many people seeing them. The Museums house the collections of five centuries’ worth of […]

Insider’s Rome: St Peter’s Basilica

Indeed, Rome was not built in a day… Work on St Peter’s began in 1506, but the church wasn’t ready to be consecrated until 1626… Like many other buildings in Rome, St Peter’s uses stone recycled from the Colosseum. As is usually the case when a building takes longer to finish that one might have […]