The commercial, political and religious centre of ancient Rome, the Forum spreads along the valley floor between the Capitoline and Palatine hills. It was constructed over about 900 years, with Republican buildings sitting in juxtaposition with temples from the Imperial era. The site's disrepair and disintegration into pastureland mirrored the fall of the Roman Empire, and excavations have been underway since the 18th century. The Forum is entered from the piazza leading from the Colosseum - that house of horrors cum marble quarry, also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre. You immediately enter another world: the past. Columns rise from grassy hillocks, and repositioned pediments and columns aid the work of the imagination. Just some of the many must-sees include the Arch of Septimus Severus, the Temple of Saturn, the House of the Vestals, the Temple of Antoninus & Faustina and the Arch of Titus. From the Forum, you can climb the Palatino - where the wealthy and powerful built their palaces and personal temples.

A layer of medieval churches and Renaissance gardens and villas transformed the hilltop ruins into a magical, ivy- and agapanthus-covered land of grottos and secret vistas. Look out for the House of Livia, the Domus Augustana, the Palace of the Flavians and the ruins of the Baths of Septimus Severus. You can look down on ruins of the Circus Maximus, though not much remains of what was once a chariot racetrack that held more than 200,000 spectators.

Marcus Agrippa's Pantheon is one of the world's most sublime architectural creations: a perfectly proportioned floating dome resting on an elegant drum of columns and pediments. It was built in 27 BC, and rebuilt by Emperor Hadrian in 120 AD. The temple has been consistently plundered and damaged over the years; it lost its beautiful gilded bronze roof tiles in Pope Gregory III's time. Look for the tombs of Raphael and Victor Emmanuel I. The Baths of Caracalla are the best-preserved imperial baths in the city. Covering 10 hectares, the baths could hold up to 1600 people and featured shops, gardens, libraries and gym facilities. The Appian Way, the more than two-millennia-old road that runs all the way from Rome to Brindisi, is littered with monuments, in particular the Circus of Maxentius, and Roman tombs, such as the Tomb of Cecilia Metella. The route is also known for its catacombs - tunnels carved into the volcanic rock that were the meeting and burial places of Rome's persecuted early Christians. The atmospheric tunnels are not for the claustrophobic, overweight or chronically unfit.

Reached by one of the world's most beautiful bridges - Bernini's billowing, angel-clad Pont Sant' Angelo - this strange, circular tank of a building was originally constructed as the mausoleum of Emperor Hadrian. It was converted into a papal fortress in the 6th century, and is linked by underground passages to the Vatican palaces. Several popes have felt the need to take advantage of the secret routes in times of threat. The mausoleum is now an interesting museum, and its evocative atmosphere is heightened by the knowledge that it was from here that Puccini's Tosca plunged to her death.

Rome is full of very special churches. The Church of Santa Maria Antiqua is the oldest church in the Forum, and the nearby Church of San Pietro in Carcere is on the site of the Mammertime Prison, where St Peter is believed to have been imprisoned and to have created a miraculous stream of baptismal water. On the Aventine Hill, a beautiful yet marginally less visited spot, the 5th-century Church of Santa Sabina has lovely carved wooden doors. Santa Maria Maggiore dates from the 5th century but has a baroque façade and Romanesque bell tower. San Giovanni in Laterano is Rome's cathedral and home to the preserved heads of Sts Peter & Paul. Santa Croce in Gerusalemme dates from the 4th century but was remodelled in the baroque style; it contains what are thought to be fragments of the true cross. Santa Maria in Cosmedin is one of the finest medieval churches in Rome and is also famous for the Bocca della Verità (Mouth of Truth), an ancient Triton mask set into an exterior wall. Legend has it that if you put your right hand into the mouth while telling a lie, it will snap shut. San Clemente defines just how stratified the city's history is. The 12th-century church at street level was built over a 4th-century church, which was in turn built over a Roman house containing a temple to Mithras, and the foundations are believed to date from the time of the Republic.

Michelangelo's Piazza del Campidoglio is the star attraction here. Designed in 1538, the piazza is a classic of Renaissance town planning. It's bordered by three palaces - the Palazzo dei Conservatori, the Palazzo dei Senatori and the Palazzo Nuovo - and formerly featured a bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius. The Conservatori and Nuovo now house the Museo Capitolino, just bursting with classic statues: Boy with Thorn ('in his side'),Dying Gaul and the Capitoline Venus. The Capitoline overlooks the Forum, and it was from here that ancient Rome was governed.

There's so much to see in Rome, and it's all so different, yet equally spectacular! It's hard to say what you'll find most breathtaking about the eternal city when you travel there - the arrogant opulence of the Vatican, the timelessness of the Forum, the top speed of a Fiat Bambino, the millions of cats in the Colosseum, trying to cross a major intersection, or the bill for your latte.When you travel in Rome... make like the locals and souse your senses in the glut of pleasures the city has to offer, from the grandiose thrill of feeling centuries of turbulent history under your feet to the small but potent intoxication of eating chestnut gelati on a hot day. Here are the addresses of Rome 's most popular travel destinations. If you're lucky, you'll have time to enjoy each one.

Campidoglio - Piazza del Campidoglio, Rome, Italy
Castel Sant'Angelo - Lungotevere Castello 50, Rome, Italy
Colosseum - Piazza del Colosseo, Rome, Italy
Domus Aurea - Via della Domus Aurea, Colosseo, Rome, Italy
Ghetto, Trastevere - Piazza Santa Maria , Trastevere, Rome, Italy
Keats and Shelley Memorial House - Piazza di Spagna 26, Rome, Italy
Palatine Hill - Palatine Hill
Palazzo Doria Pamphilj - Piazza del Collegio Romano 2, Rome, Italy
Palazzo Senatorio - Piazza del Campidoglio, Rome, Italy
Pantheon - Piazza della Rotonda, Pantheon, Rome, Italy
Piazza Navona - Junction of Via della Cuccagna, Corsia Agonale, Via di
Sant'Agnese, and Via Agonale, Rome, Italy
Piazza Venezia - Junction of Via del Corso, Via Plebiscito, and Via Cesare
Battisti, Rome, Italy
Pincio - Piazzale Napoleone I and Viale dell'Obelisco, Rome, Italy
Roman Forum - Entrances at Via dei Fori Imperiali and Piazza del Colosseo,
Rome, Italy
San Pietro in Vincoli - Piazza San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome, Italy
Spanish Steps - Junction of Via Condotti, Via del Babuino, and Via Due
Macelli, Rome, Italy
St. Peter's - West end of Via della Conciliazione, Rome, Italy
Terme Di Caracalla - Via delle Terme di Caracalla 52, Rome, Italy
Trevi Founatain - Piazza di Trevi, Rome, Italy
Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel - Viale Vaticano, Rome, Italy
Via Appia Anitica - Catacombe di San Callisto, Via Appia Antica 110;
Catacombe di San Sebastiano, Via Appia Antica 136
Villa Borghese - Piazza Scipione Borghese 5, Rome, Italy