Back to Rome, looking for unique, lesser known areas of interest

We enjoyed following Rick's, Pilgrim's Rome Tour in his Rome Guidebook. Gorgeous mosaics!

Hi there, yes to adding the new behind the Pantheon tour & Christine's suggested RS Pilgrims tour.

Lesser known, wonderful sites in central Rome - Palazzo Massimo was our fav & had very few people (the combo ticket includes the Baths of Diocletian & other museums, see my TR below.) Vicus Caprarius, underground museum close to Trevi fountain with Roman ruins where you see the water flowing below you (book ahead on Whatsapp). Teatro Marcello was a delight to walk through en route to Jewish Ghetto. Museum of the Wall on the outskirts of Rome was a really nice break from the crowds (You actually go on the wall & you could take a bike tour there via the Baths of Caracalla.)

Consider adding some churches on your wanders - "St Louise of the French" near Piazza Borghese, what a Baroque gem with 3 stunning Caravaggio paintings. And St Ignatius de Loyola, Jesuit Church nearby has an absolutely amazing ceiling. (Probably in that RS walk recommended above.) Here's my TR, has a number of good restaurants in it as well. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/rome-was-jammed-over-ny-but-still-fun

I've visited Rome twice. Some ideas:

• Appian Way: The Appian Way is a 330-mile-long, ancient road that stretches from the city to Ancient Rome's port on the Mediterranean in Bari, Italy. It is said that Rome conquered the world in part because of its excellent road-engineering and -building prowess. Here's a change to experience it. You will walk (or bicycle; rental shops abound) on 2,000-year-old paving stones. You will walk past a parade of fascinating ancient sites -- monuments, ancient temples and other sites. A good terminus is Aqueduct Park (https://www.turismoroma.it/en/places/park-aqueducts). From the start of the Appian Way to Aqueduct Park is about 3.5 miles.

• The Christian catacombs of Rome (https://www.catacombesancallisto.it/en/index.php) are fascinating. You'll see the tombs of nine early popes. And the catacombs are near the Appian Way.

• Visit the former Jewish neighborhood. The main synagogue has an A-level museum, the temple itself features a superb design and there are multiple ancient Roman ruins in the neighborhood. Visitors can see Jewish-oriented shops. They also see Stolpersteine (or "stumbling stones"), which are small concrete cubes topped with a brass plate that commemorate individual victims of Nazi terror during World War II. The Jewish neighborhood hosts a part of the Teatro Marcello, which was the model for the actual Colosseum. I found the Teatro Marcello more interesting than the Colosseum: https://anamericaninrome.com/2017/04/teatro-marcello-rome/

Some similar threads from the last couple of years:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/rome-seen-the-main-sites-now-what

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/rome-again-sites-you-might-not-otherwise-visit

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/rome-other-sights-and-day-trips

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy-reviews/lesser-known-sites-to-visit-in-rome

Editing to add: the church of San Clemente is mentioned many times. It is indeed worth a visit but be advised that it's under restoration and reported to have scaffolding covering a lot of the upper church.

We have been visiting Rome often since 2005, so we are always looking for new and interesting things to see.

We took the new Behind the Pantheon (OLTRE IL PANTHEON) tour this past April…we found it interesting but unfortunately there was a family with very small children that were somewhat distracting to the guide. There are quite a few stairs up and down…just be forewarned if you have any mobility issues. It was very interesting to enter the Pantheon from the back through a private, huge ancient wooden door. It was pouring rain when we got into the Pantheon…it was fascinating to see and hear the rain coming down through the Oculus!

We took the Vicus Caprarius tour under the Trevi Fountain in November, 2024…another short, but interesting tour.

I have wanted to visit the underground below Piazza Navona (Stadium of Domitian) for so long, but it was closed for maintenance issues the past few times we have been in Rome. Sadly, when I checked for our next visit in March, 2027, the website now says “Permanently Closed”. When I contacted them to check, I was told that it is closed for a “major restoration and infrastructure project” rather than being permanently closed. The initial timeline targeted a reopening in late 2026, but municipal restoration projects in Rome frequently shift. Because the official site has not yet updated with a date for re-opening, I will just keep checking and hoping it reopens before our next Rome visit in late March next year.

Another tour that we are thinking about next March is PASSETTO DI BORGO: THE POPES' ESCAPE ROUTE… NIGHTTIME VISIT WITH GUIDED TOUR TO THE PASSETTO AND A WALK INSIDE CASTEL SANT'ANGELO… Educational tour of the Passetto and evening walk along the Castle ramparts, passing through the Hall of Urns, the spiral ramp, and the dromos. When the museum is closed.
We have visited Castel Sant’Angelo before, but we have never seen the Passetto di Borgo between the Vatican and Castel Sant’Angelo.

So many things to see and do in Rome!

The best part of San Clemente is the underground layers, so I wouldn't let the scaffolding in the upper church stop me from visiting.

You won't be too far from Circus Maximus. We'll be staying in Testaccio in March and plan on this as an activity on a decent day. Augmented and virtual reality through the Circo Maximo Experience! And...how wrong can you go for 12 Euro?!

https://www.circomaximoexperience.it/en/

Has anyone 'experienced' this yet?

Look at Youtube channel ‘rozierroma’

Thank you all for the wonderful information, can't wait to get to Rome to see them!

I'll agree that the subterranean layers of S. Clemente are fascinating. I just mentioned the work being done in the street-level church as quite a lot has been written about the wonderful 12-century apse mosaics, and it's possible they'll be fully or partially under wraps as work goes on around them (they'd already been recently restored.) Then again, maybe not. A bit about them:

https://www.walksinrome.com/mosaics-in-the-church-of-san-clemente-in-rome.html
https://www.liturgicalartsjournal.com/2025/04/a-detailed-look-at-twelfth-century.html

And:
https://www.hortusfoundation.org/san-clemente

I'll also say that if you happen to have an extra hour or two while knocking around Termini station, The Baths of Diocletian and the Roman Museum across the street are a nice diversion. Also, up north on via Nomentana from Termini--you can take the bus--there is Villa Torlonia, the wartime abode of Mussolini. That's fascinating to me. Also, nearby St. Agnese & St. Constantia have 3rd-Century mosaic that is just awesome.

he church of San Clemente is mentioned many times. It is indeed worth a visit but be advised that it's under restoration and reported to have scaffolding covering a lot of the upper church.

I can attest - I was at San Clemente a week ago today and while you can see a couple of the side chapels, the bulk of the "current" church is hidden by scaffolding that has hustings on it - so you can't even see through the pipes of the scaffolding to what is behind.

Yes the ancient church is fascinating,and the Mithraic altar below that as well - but I definitely look forward to going back some day and seeing the mosaics in all their glory.

(And yes I knew before I went that the upper church was mostly covered - they have the information prominently posted on their website, which I thought was really helpful )

We loved the Palazzo Barberini. We only went there because the Galleria Borghese had part of its collection on display over there in 2024 due to maintenance on the G.B. building.
We loved the gorgeous staircases and high ceilings and incredible feeling of loftiness in the Palazzo Barberini, plus they have some great art work there!

Simple! Turn either left or right at the next intersection! You may end up in a completely different neighborhood or even a different century! I've been doing this for about a dozen years and never get disappointed!

If you've already visited Rome several times, why not step out a bit further. You can take a day trip to Ostia and see the ruins at Ostia Antica, for example!

I too would love to get to Ostia Antica, only a quick ride from the Pyramid station on the train. But check that the mosaics have been uncovered in February, was warned by another Forum member that they might still all be covered up.

I too would love to get to Ostia Antica, only a quick ride from the
Pyramid station on the train. But check that the mosaics have been
uncovered in February, was warned by another Forum member that they
might still all be covered up.

Yes, I'd like to know about that too. We'll be in Testaccio in March and that's close to the Pyramide train station.

Yes, the mosaics were under tarps on January 3rd, 2023 --- the weather was warm, the grass was green, we were all in t-shirts, so we did grumble a bit and wonder when during a Roman winter the weather was bad enough that covers were actually needed.

Since people asked, I looked up the mosaic unveiling on the Ostia Antica website - The short answer is they're covered from mid December to 'spring time'. https://ostiaantica.cultura.gov.it/en/seasonal-covering-of-mosaics/