Rome

Iconic Rome should be on any traveler’s to-do list

Rome is Italy’s city of vivid and unforgettable images: the view of the city's silhouette from Janiculum Hill at dawn, the array of broken marble columns and ruins of temples of the Roman Forum, St. Peter's dome against a pink-and-red sunset, capping a gloriously decorated basilica.

Rome is also a city of sounds, beginning early in the morning with the peal of church bells, then the streets filling with cars, taxis, and scooters, all blaring their horns. Despite all this chaos, Romans still know how to live the good life. After you've done your duty to culture by traveling through the Colosseum and being awed by the Pantheon, after you've traipsed through St. Peter's Basilica and thrown a coin in the Trevi Fountain, pause to experience the charm of the Roman evening. Find a cafe at twilight and watch the shades of pink turn to gold and copper before night finally falls. That's when another Rome comes alive; restaurants and cafes grow more animated, especially if you've found one on an ancient hidden piazza or along a narrow alley deep in Trastevere. After dinner, have a gelato (or an espresso in winter) and stroll by the fountains through Piazza Navona.

© 2009, Wiley Publishing, Inc.