"Italy will return to the splendors of Rome, said the major. I don’t like Rome, I said. It is hot and full of fleas. You don’t like Rome? Yes, I love Rome. Rome is the mother of nations. I will never forget Romulus suckling the Tiber. What? Nothing. Let’s all go to Rome to-night and never come back. Rome is a beautiful city, said the major"

—Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms

Search hotels in Rome

Rome is a sensory overload, rushing down the hills of the Lazio to knock you flat on your back, gasping for air and dying for more. It will exhaust any term you throw at it: tantalizing, intimidating, glorious, excruciating.… A contradiction in terms, Rome is all these and more: it is the capital of kingdoms and republics, the birthplace of Christianity, and the seat of modern Catholicism. Its system of government is still imitated today, its architectural feats have defined the course of modern building, its art is unparalleled, and its most recent contribution to world culture, its cinema, is revered. Rome is better than you; expect no excuses for how overwhelming it is.

Rome is a city of death and a city of life. Concerts animate the crumbling ruins, kids play soccer in the Circus Maximus, and august palazzi now serve as movie houses. In bella Roma, everything is beautiful and everything tastes good. Excise your senses from the crush of smog, Fiats, and maniacal mopeds that surge through its streets. Enjoy the dizzying paradox that is the Caput Mundi, is the Eternal City, is Rome.

ROME'S MULTIPLE PERSONALITIES

Catholic Rome. “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! This city’s churches are just divine. St. Peter’s Basilica wins out for sheer grandeur, but even it can’t touch San Giovanni in Laterano, which gives new meaning to the term Caput Mundi (“Head of the World”)—it holds the heads of both Peter and Paul. San Clemente wins the versatility award: it’s a 12th-century church on top of a 4th-century church on top of a 2nd-century mithraeum, all on top of still-working Roman sewers. Just don’t spend too long in the pagan lower levels. Speaking of heathens, those pesky Jesuits have put down roots at Il Gesù, but between you, me, and J.P., it’s a little gaudy for my taste. We’re still not sure how those 2nd-century heathens built the Pantheon, but that didn’t stop us from turning it into a church, or from covering the nearby Temple to Wisdom with Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, home to the remains of my favorite saint, Catherine (Cathy to her friends). The beauty of these churches was truly awe-inspiring, but the thing that nearly sent me into an ecstatic fit was seeing and hearing the pope himself.”

Macabre Rome. “Never have I felt nearer the glorious pits of Hell and the doors to the other side than on my sojourn in Rome. Don’t miss the thousands of skeletons at the Capuchin Crypt or in the catacombs, which once held the remains of thousands of Christians. I nearly went to pieces over the churches of Rome, which are chock-full of the heads and fingers of saints. (Then there’s the Rostra, where Cicero’s hands and feet were put on display in ancient Roman times.) For a perfect picnic, I’d recommend the dungeons of the Mamertine Prison. No dark day in Rome is complete without a spooky brew or two at Pub Hallo’Ween.”

Tortured Intellectual Rome. “My soul brims with ennui, but Rome—city of dark romance, abode of Bertolucci—brings life to my mundane existence. They wouldn’t let me smoke my cloves in the Vatican (religion is so bourgeois anyway), so yesterday, after spending hours studying history in the Museo della Civiltà Romana, I caught a film noir festival at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni and dug some blues over straight vodka (on the rocks) at Alexanderplatz Jazz Club. Tonight, I’ll probably dance with vegans and golf-clap for avant garde performance artists at C.S.I.O.A. Villaggio Globale, but not before I stop in at Diesel. White is the new black, you know.”

Literary Rome. “Do as the expats did and hit your creative peak over espresso at Caffè Greco. Sit on the nearby Spanish Steps rereading Daisy Miller, then drop by the Keats-Shelley Memorial House for inspiration. If you really need to commune with the literary greats, head for Cimitero Acattolico per gli Stanieri, resting place of many of them. Finally, make like Ernest Hemingway, and drink the night away at one of Rome’s fine wine bars.” Highbrow Rome “God knows why you would use a budget guide in such a marvelous city, but make the best with what you have. A Let’s Go rule to live by: never eat or sleep anywhere unless it’s listed as a Big Splurge establishment. My favorite Grand Tour sights are the masterpieces—Bernini’s baldacchino in St. Peter’s, The Last Judgement, the Pietà, the Trevi Fountain—and, of course, Gucci . When you go, do take a taxi.”