The centro storico, on foot.
Trevi at 07:30 · Pantheon · Navona · Caravaggio · Trastevere
Out the door by 07:30 and the Trevi is nearly yours. The middle of the day is loose on purpose, this is the wander Julian says Rome rewards.
Optional, before the day starts. A 1-hour gym session or a run (nearest option is on the Rome page), and an afternoon nap block is built into the schedule below, take it on the long days.
Three minutes before you leave, to see it before you see it, The Pantheon's dome, how it has stood for 1,900 years
01Morning
02Afternoon
03Evening
The table
Tickets and bookings
| Item | When | Est. | Link | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pantheon, entry + dome audio (×2) | 08:45 | ~$34 | open | to book |
| Lunch, Pianostrada (walk-in, no booking) Armando al Pantheon is closed Sundays; nothing to reserve for today's lunch. | ~13:00 | ~$70 | , | , |
Before you leave the door
The Trevi and the Pantheon are two different places at 07:30 versus 13:00. Do them first, then the day is yours. Standing at Sant'Eustachio is €1.30; sitting is €6, read the menu before you sit anywhere in Rome.
Dr. Trace & Dr. LeticiaRestaurants right on Piazza Navona and facing the Pantheon, triple the price for the view. Walk three minutes toward Via dei Coronari. Cash for Da Enzo.
JulianRain, the Doria Pamphilj gallery: a lived-in private palace full of Caravaggio and Velázquez, indoors and quiet, with an audio guide narrated by the prince who still lives upstairs.
House pickTrevi 07:30; Pantheon 08:45 opening; Caravaggio chapels before the tour groups at 10:30; Da Enzo queue by 19:15.
House pickLook for it on the walk
- The Pantheon's oculus, the 9-metre hole in the top, is the only light source and it's open to the sky. Rain falls straight in; 22 small drains in the floor take it away. Stand under it at noon and the sunbeam is a spotlight that tracks across the walls through the day.
- The dome is unreinforced concrete, still the largest of its kind on earth. The Romans graded the mix, heavy travertine aggregate at the base, light volcanic pumice at the top, so it gets lighter as it rises. The coffers save weight and were once gilded bronze.
- In San Luigi dei Francesi, Caravaggio painted St Matthew as an ordinary man with dirty feet, lit by a single hard light. It caused a scandal in 1600 and changed European painting. Feed the light box, the chapel is dark otherwise.
The things you'd wish you knew
The Pantheon survived because in 609 AD it was consecrated as a church, the one pagan temple Rome didn't strip or demolish. The bronze from its portico roof was later melted down by a Barberini pope for the baldachin in St Peter's, hence the Roman saying, “what the barbarians didn't do, the Barberini did.”
Raphael is buried inside, by his own request, with the epitaph: “Here lies Raphael, by whom Nature feared to be outdone while he lived, and when he died, feared to die herself.”
If time, or if a deal lands
| Option | Added | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Galleria Doria Pamphilj | +$32 | the rainy-day move; superb audio guide |
| Capuchin Crypt (the bone chapels) | +$20 | macabre, 30 min, near the Spanish Steps |
What today runs
Estimates. Swap in the real figure as you go.
| Pantheon, entry + dome audio (×2) | $34 |
| Coffee, Sant'Eustachio, standing | $6 |
| Lunch, Pianostrada | $70 |
| Afternoon coffee + pastry | $12 |
| Dinner, Da Enzo / Da Teo (cash) | $55 |
| Gelato, Otaleg | $9 |
| Today, Rome | $186 |
Flights and the places to stay are on the costs page, not counted here.
How it went
Written after the day: what you did, what you loved, what you'd skip, the photographs, a voice note or two. It fills in here and in the album.