Neighborhoods
Rome is a very large and sprawling city; however, most of its historic and cultural sites are fairly concentrated in a central area. Ancient Rome was centered at the Forum, near the Palatine and Capitoline hills, and many of the famous sites of the Romans—such as the Colosseum—are located here, near the curve of the Tiber River.To the north is a maze of medieval streets where monuments of the ancient Romans were hybridized by the later Romans of the Renaissance. Here temples like the Pantheon have continued to exist, but as a Christian church; an ancient racing track transformed into the fine Piazza Navona, complete with fountains, the surrounding buildings built onto the foundations of the Roman bleachers. Here too are some of the grandest monuments of the Baroque era, the Trevi Fountains and the Spanish Steps.
Still farther north, beyond the walls of ancient Rome, is the Villa Borghese, a large public park with ancient trees and formal gardens; its fine villas, like the Villa Giulia, are now public gallerias and museums.
Facing all of this rather sternly from the western banks of the Tiber is the Vatican, with its dour stronghold, the Castel Sant'Angelo perched on the river itself. Rising above its massive square, always filled with pilgrims, is St. Peter's Basilica—its dome recognizable everywhere in Rome—the center of the Catholic faith.
To the south is the Janiculum, whose hilltop often served as a defensive bastion for Rome, and now serves as a lovely parklike getaway from the city. Farther south, facing the sites of ancient Rome from across the Tiber, is the timeless residential area called the Trastevere, as lively and bustling now as when it played suburb for the ancient capital.