Attractions Near the Colosseum in Rome

01

Arch of Constantine

From Colosseum: 3 min walk

Quick look 5-8 min Free exterior

Famous for: the triumphal arch beside the Colosseum, raised for Constantine's victory of 312 and faced almost entirely with sculpture stripped from older monuments.

Do not miss: the recycling. The round medallions are Hadrian's, the tall attic panels Marcus Aurelius's, the bound prisoners Trajan's; only the squat frieze above the side arches was carved for Constantine himself.

Expert tip: read it as propaganda by association, a usurper borrowing the faces of the "good emperors" to legitimise his rule. The small Sol and Luna reliefs on the short ends face east and west, a built-in compass for lining up your shot.

02

Santi Cosma e Damiano

From Arch of Constantine: 7 min walk

If open 10-20 min Early Christian mosaics

Famous for: a 6th-century church grafted onto buildings of the ancient Roman Forum, holding one of the earliest monumental mosaics in the city.

Do not miss: the apse, where Christ steps down on clouds of red dawn and the two physician-saints are led forward to meet him, all of it floating above a floor that Urban VIII raised seven metres to escape the flooding Forum.

Expert tip: feed the coin-operated light at the head of the aisle before you look up, or the gold reads as shadow. Then double back for the 18th-century Neapolitan presepe off the cloister, a crowd of hundreds of figures that almost everyone walks past.

03

Ponte degli Annibaldi Viewpoint

From Santi Cosma e Damiano: 6 min walk

Viewpoint 3-5 min Colosseum photo

Famous for: the clean look back at the Colosseum as you climb away from the Forum edge toward Monti and San Pietro in Vincoli.

Do not miss: the framing. From the bridge the amphitheatre settles neatly between you and the Monti rooftops, with the Forum falling away to one side.

Expert tip: come at blue hour, roughly half an hour after sunset, when the floodlights kick in against a sky that is still faintly bright; it is the finest amateur Colosseum shot in the district. Watch for traffic shudder on long exposures, then walk straight up into Monti for dinner.

04

Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli

From viewpoint: 4 min walk

Must-see 20-30 min Michelangelo

Famous for: Michelangelo's Moses, carved for the tomb of Pope Julius II, and the chains said to have bound St. Peter.

Do not miss: the Moses in the right transept, horns and all; those horns are a medieval mistranslation of the Hebrew for "rays of light." The chains themselves sit in the glass reliquary below the high altar.

Expert tip: if the marble looks flat, drop a coin in the box to the right to light it; few of Rome's great sculptures are this easy to see alone. Before you leave, find the wall tomb of the Pollaiuolo brothers just inside the main door, the detail almost everyone misses on the way to the Moses. The chains are raised for veneration each 1 August.

Famous for: three cities stacked in one: a 12th-century basilica over a 4th-century church over a Roman house and a Mithraic shrine, with an underground spring still running beneath the lowest floor.

Do not miss: the golden apse upstairs, where the cross sprouts into a living acanthus vine, the Tree of Life, feeding birds, saints and the four rivers of Paradise.

Expert tip: if you enter only one archaeological church near the Colosseum, make it this one, excavated and still run by Irish Dominicans. Track down the comic-strip fresco in the lower church whose caption, an exasperated "pull, you sons of...", ranks among the oldest written scraps of everyday Italian. No photography below ground.

Famous for: a fortress-like medieval monastery of silent courtyards and Cosmatesque stonework, still home to an enclosed order of nuns.

Do not miss: the Cosmatesque cloister, among the loveliest in Rome and often deserted, and the frescoed Chapel of San Silvestro beside it.

Expert tip: to reach the chapel you ring a bell and a cloistered nun passes you the key through a revolving wooden wheel for a small coin; inside waits a 13th-century cycle of the Donation of Constantine, the imperial grant later exposed as a forgery. This is Rome for travelers who prefer the hidden to the headline.

07

Lateran Obelisk

From Santi Quattro Coronati: 10-12 min walk

Quick look 5 min Exterior

Famous for: the tallest standing ancient Egyptian obelisk anywhere in the world, towering over the square beside San Giovanni in Laterano.

Do not miss: the sheer reach of it, more than 32 metres of red Aswan granite, cut for the pharaohs at Karnak some thirty-four centuries ago.

Expert tip: this stone once rose on the central spine of the Circus Maximus, dragged to Rome by Constantius II in 357; Sixtus V re-erected it here in 1588, the last ancient obelisk raised in the city, and topped it with a cross. Read it as the imperial thread surfacing in a Christian square before you step into the basilica.

08

Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano

From Lateran Obelisk: 2 min walk

Major basilica 30-45 min Metro exit nearby

Famous for: the cathedral of Rome and the pope's seat as the city's bishop, outranking St. Peter's in church law, a pecking order most visitors get backwards.

Do not miss: Borromini's nave lined with colossal Apostle statues, the Gothic canopy over the papal altar, and the twisting inlaid columns of the cloister.

Expert tip: cross the road to the Scala Santa, where climbing the Holy Stairs on your knees is free and side staircases let you walk up if kneeling is not an option. This is the natural early finish: when your legs give out, San Giovanni metro on Line A is at the door.

Famous for: a rare circular early-Christian church wrapped in one of the most harrowing fresco cycles in Rome.

Do not miss: the ring of martyrdom scenes painted for Gregory XIII in the 1580s, thirty-four panels, each labelled with the emperor who ordered the killing; unflinching by design.

Expert tip: hunt out the quieter 7th-century mosaic in the side chapel, two martyrs flanking a jewelled cross. Hours are short and the church often closes for weddings, so confirm before a special trip; if the doors are shut, carry on to Santa Maria in Domnica a step away.

Famous for: a serene church on the Caelian Hill crowned by a Carolingian-era mosaic, with a little stone boat run aground in the square outside.

Do not miss: the apse, where the Virgin sits enthroned in a meadow of angels and Pope Paschal I kneels at her feet, his halo squared off to signal that he was still living when the work was laid.

Expert tip: that square halo is a dating trick worth carrying with you; you will catch it again at Santi Cosma e Damiano. The "Navicella" fountain out front, shaped from an ancient ship, gave both the church and its street their name. Doors open mainly around Mass, so time it or settle for the exterior.

Famous for: a basilica raised over Roman houses on the Caelian Hill, tied to two saints said to have been martyred on the very spot.

Do not miss: the soaring 12th-century bell tower, built onto the podium of the Temple of Claudius, and the painted Roman rooms buried beneath the church.

Expert tip: those rooms, the Case Romane del Celio, some twenty frescoed chambers including a pagan sea-themed nymphaeum, keep their own entrance down the stepped ancient lane of Clivo di Scauro, not through the church. They are the reason to linger; without them this is a brief stop before the descent.

Famous for: the largest chariot-racing arena of the ancient world, a long green hollow that once packed in a quarter of a million Romans.

Do not miss: the dimensions. Some six hundred metres of track lie open in front of you; the work is to picture the vanished tiers and the roaring turns where today there is only grass.

Expert tip: the field is free, but a ticket opens the excavated curve at the eastern end, with vaults, a medieval tower and a panoramic terrace. For the full illusion, the Circo Maximo Experience straps on AR goggles and rebuilds the stadium around you. Finish here: Circo Massimo on Metro B is steps away, and the Aventine rose garden opposite blooms from late April to mid-June.