[Photo from turismoroma.it]

Only two days to visit Rome? Here follows an exciting itinerary for visitors with only a short time to discover the city’s main attractions.

FIRST DAY

Route:

Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican - Castel S. Angelo -Piazza Navona - Pantheon - Piazza di Spagna

The Vatican City

As soon as you arrive in Piazza San Pietro, the visitor is first struck by the grandeur of the square spreading out before the Basilica of St. Peter, framed by the magnificent four column-deep colonnade designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. However it is only on entering the Basilica itself, after climbing the three tiered set of steps (once again designed by Bernini), is one truly over-awed by the vast size and sumptuousness of this symbol of Christianity. The largest church in the world’s surface covers around 22,00 square metres; its Michelangelo designed dome is 42 metres wide; the entire building rises to a height of 136 metres, while 330 steps take you to the top of the dome for an exquisite panorama of the square and Rome. Countless masterpieces of major artists are be found inside: Bernini’s majestic 29 metre high bronze baldacchino; Michelangelo’s superb sculpture the Pietà; Canova’s tomb for Pope Clement XIII and Giotto’s restored mosaic The Navicella which is in a lunette over the central opening into the portico. Innumerable and timeless works, the majority of which are paintings, are also waiting to be admired in the Vatican Museums. Of inimitable beauty, here is also housed one of the cornerstones of Italian and indeed world art, Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel.