Rome is the kind of city where you pop out for a coffee and come back three hours later having accidentally walked past 2,000 years of history. Every corner has a fountain, a church or a nonna giving you directions you didn’t ask for.

A little planning goes a long way: book the Colosseum and Vatican ahead, eat where the menu is only in Italian, and always save room for gelato.

48 HOURS IN ROME

Ruins, carbonara and the Colosseum

Morning. Start at the Colosseum as early as you can, with a timed ticket booked online (about €18, which also covers the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill). Stand inside and picture 50,000 Romans cheering. Then wander through the Forum, where temples and arches sit among the wild flowers.

Afternoon. Climb the Palatine Hill for views across the Forum, then head into Monti for lunch. A plate of pasta at a local trattoria is usually about €10 to €15. Try cacio e pepe or carbonara, two of Rome’s signature pastas. Lunch here runs 1 to 3pm, and many kitchens close after.

Evening. Walk over to the Pantheon and look up at the amazing design, still the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world after nearly 1,900 years. Then drift on to Piazza Navona as the lamps come on, and find dinner in the side streets. Try Via del Governo Vecchio, or any place without a picture menu.

Morning. Book an early slot for the Vatican Museums and head straight for the Sistine Chapel before it fills up. Afterwards, St Peter’s Basilica costs nothing to enter, though the queue can be long, so go with some patience.

Afternoon. Head to the Trevi Fountain. You can admire it from the square, or pay €2 to get down to the water. Toss a coin over your left shoulder with your right hand for good luck. Then cross the river to Trastevere and grab a slice of pizza al taglio, sold by weight, to eat on the go.

Evening. Stay in Trastevere for aperitivo, a spritz with a few snacks, around 7pm. Then settle in for a proper Roman dinner: supplì (fried rice balls) to start, then a pasta, then maybe a little room for tiramisù. Finish with a stroll back over the river, with St Peter’s lit up behind you.

Local tip: Look out for the nasoni, Rome’s little drinking fountains dotted all over the city. The water is cold and fresh, so bring a reusable bottle and fill up all day. Many churches ask for covered shoulders and knees, so a light scarf in your bag is a handy trick.

TODAY’S HACK

Rome has some of the best views in Europe, and several of them cost nothing.

How to do it

  LOST IN TRANSLATION

OO-na PAS-ta, per fa-VOR-eh

At a café counter, “una pasta” usually means a sweet pastry, so you may end up with a cornetto instead of carbonara. Honestly, there are worse mix-ups. For lunch, ask for “un piatto di pasta”. And a cheerful “grazie mille”, a thousand thanks, always raises a smile.

GUESS WHERE?

That’s everything from me this week. I’m writing this with a coffee and about forty tabs of flights open, so I’m in the mood for your plans too. Hit reply and tell me where you’re headed next. See you Friday!