What to do in Artena

Completed in the year 80 during the reign of Titus, the Colosseum was the biggest amphitheater ever built by the Roman Empire. It once regularly hosted 50,000 spectators cheering and jeering at combating gladiators, executions and battle reenactments. While the baying crowds are no longer there, the structure itself has defied earthquakes, stone thieves and car pollution to remain standing today at the heart of Rome.

At its height, the Roman Empire covered 2.5 million square miles (6.5 million square kilometers), but at the very center of the sprawling Empire was the Roman Forum, now a crumbling monument to the power once wielded by ancient emperors and their vast armies.

Discover Via Veneto, Rome’s elegant street filled with cafés and luxury hotels. The great Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini made this sophisticated street famous in the 1960s. See the Piazza Barberini, a square featuring a 17th-century fountain. Tour a 17th-century church and see a crypt housing the bones of many monks. Follow Via Veneto north to a gate of the Aurelian Walls. This street is located near one of Rome’s largest public parks, filled with historic attractions. Spend a day outside in this delightful spot.

Now a long grassy expanse, Circus Maximus was once a colossal sporting venue providing entertainment to the inhabitants of the ancient capital. Stand in the middle of this vast open park and imagine the speeding chariots that once raced around the track.

Walk along Via del Corso and see the residence of the Italian prime minister and several Roman churches. Shop in designer stores for fashionable clothing and shoes. With the Pantheon and other spectacular historic buildings nearby, the Via del Corso is an excellent place to start a tour of Rome’s historic center.

Piazza Venezia is best visited when also taking in the Colosseum and Roman Forum, as it is nearby at the end of Via dei Fori Imperiali, and the first impression is quite remarkable.

Via Nazionale is a major street linking Piazza della Repubblica, near Rome’s Termini Station, to Piazza Venezia in the center of the city. Visit St. Paul’s Within the Walls, an important place of worship filled with stunning artworks.