Our program allows you plenty of time to discover your new country, culture and customs. Below are some of our recommended highlights. Some tours and packages can be organized when booking your program, please see the program price page for more information.

city tour
There is simply too much to see in Rome - the Vatican City alone can easily swallow up an entire weekend. Most visitors are overwhelmed and remain torn between running from sight to sight in order to 'do' everything, or lingering over a couple of monuments and museums.

The latter option is strongly recommended - even then, it is best to punctuate cultural trips with ice creams, coffees, and serene walks in the city's parks (the Villa Borghese is one of the loveliest). As for most holy sites, clothing covering midriffs, shoulders and legs are recommended, particularly for the Vatican.

The centro storico is the obvious starting point, with the greatest concentration of Classical and Christian sites enclosed in a relatively small space. Stumbling upon ancient frescoes, Renaissance fountains and beautiful piazzas are part of the pleasures of wandering around Rome's streets.

Rome has over 400 churches and four major basilicas - St Peter's, St John Lateran, St Mary Major and St Paul's. However, it is San Clemente - on Via San Giovanni in Laterano - which encapsulates the multi-layered labyrinth of Rome. At street level, there is a 12th-century basilica with beautiful mosaics. Down one level is a well preserved Roman basilica. Deeper still are more ancient Roman remains, until finally, at the deepest level, is the temple to the oriental cult of Mithras.

foro romano (roman forum)
The Roman Forum is now a heap of marble fragments, columns and floor layouts. A leap of imagination is required to recreate the former marketplace that was the political, commercial and social heart of ancient Rome, and the symbolic centre of an Empire stretching to Greece, Sicily and Carthage. Fire, barbarians and pillaging builders in medieval and Renaissance times contributed to the Forum's present state of disrepair but the Forum was only revealed during the excavation work of the 19th century. A bird's-eye view is gained from behind Piazza del Campidoglio, and a closer look from along Via Sacra that runs through the heart of the Forum.

colosseo (colosseum)
Near to Via Sacra and the fourth-century Arco di Costantino (Arch of Constantine), lies the gigantic oval of the Colosseum - 186m (620ft) long, 153m (510ft) wide and about 47m (157ft) high. Emperor Vespasian began construction in 72AD, and work was completed eight years later, by his son Titus.

It was the scene for entertainment that one can hardly comprehend - gladiatorial conquests between men, lions and wild beasts, with death guaranteed. The 'games' were finally outlawed in the fifth century.

pantheon
The best preserved and most beautifully proportioned of Rome's ancient monuments, the Pantheon has become an emblem of the city. Built by Hadrian between 119-128AD, as a temple to the gods, the Pantheon was converted to a Christian church in 608 - the key to its miraculous survival.

The radius of the dome is exactly equivalent to the height, and a nine-metre (30ft) hole, known as the oculus, in the dome's centre allows light (and rain) into the building. Statues of the deities would once have decorated the interior. Now the focal point of interest is the tomb of Raphael. Most astonishing of all are the large brass doors, which belonged to the original Roman building.

cappella sistina & musei vaticani (sistine chapel & vatican museums)
An awe-inspiring glimpse of Michae

langelo's depiction of The Creation is worth the queues and crowds that go hand-in-hand with a visit to the Vatican City. The swirling Old Testament scenes have been recently restored, amid great controversy. Michaelangelo grudgingly accepted Julius II's commission to paint frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel - built as a private chapel of the popes between 1475 and 1480.

Work began in May 1508, the frescoes were unveiled in August 1511, and completed in October 1512. 21 years later, a reluctant Michaelangelo painted the Last Judgement on the wall behind the altar, adding his own aged face below the figure of Christ.

basilica di san pietro (st peter's basilica)
St Peter's Basilica lies above a former shrine, which is said to mark the burial ground of the saint. Despite its venerable age of 1000 years, Pope Julius II pulled down the original structure in 1506 - with his architect Bramante in tow - in order to build a shiny new basilica. Construction lasted 120 years, during which time a team of architects and artists - including Alberti, Bramante, Raphael, Peruzzi, Sangallo the Younger and Michaelangelo - struggled over this enormous edifice.

the spanish steps
The steps-filled in spring with azaleas and other flowers, flower vendors, jewelry dealers, and photographers snapping pictures of visitors – and the square take their names from the Spanish Embassy, which used to be headquartered here. Designed by Italian architect Francesco De Sanctis and built from 1723 to 1725.

castel sant angelo
This overpowering castle on the Tiber was built in the 2nd century as a tomb for Emperor Hadrian; it continued as an imperial mausoleum until the time of Caracalla. If it looks like a fortress, it should – that was its function in the Middle Ages, built over the Roman walls and linked to the Vatican by an underground passage that was much used by the fleeing papacy.

museums
PALAZZO DORIA PAMPHILJ: This Palazzo has been the home of the most important Roman family since the 17th century. You’ll find an assortment of great (and terrible) art, including artists like Titian, Caravaggio, and the Breughels.

THE MUSEUM OF ROMAN CIVILIZATION: with a scale model (much like an extensive train set) of Rome as it looked early in the Christian era. Many of the “Rome Reconstructed” pictures you’ll find in books sold on the street are taken from that model.

THE BORGHESE GALLERY: Is at the east side of the Villa Borghese. The builder of the Palazzina Borghese, Cardinal Scipione Borghese built this “suburban villa” entertaining, and at the same time amassed one of the world’s greatest private collections of sculptures and paintings, much given to the Louvre at the time of Napoleon. The collection includes ancient works of sculpture containing works such as “Apollo and Daphne” and “The Rape of Proserpine”. The collection of paintings includes works by Raphael, Titian, Ruebens, Caravaggio and Dosso Dossi.

PALAZZO BARBERINI (NATIONAL GALLERY): Galleria Nazionale di Arte Antica (National Gallery of Old Art) which has paintings by (mainly) Italian masters from the 13th to the 17th century. It doesn’t look like a museum, by the way – it’s in the first (upper) floor of the Palazzo Barberini.

THE CAPITOLINE MUSEUM: was built in the 17th century based on an architectural sketch by Michelangelo. In the first room is The Dying Gaul, a work of majestic skill that’s a copy of a Greek original dating from the 3rd demurely covers herself.

THE PALACE OF THE CONSERVATORI: across the way, was also based on a Michelangelo architectural plan and is rich in classical sculpture and paintings. One of the most notable bronzes – a work of incomparable beauty – is Lo Spinario (a little boy picking a thorn from his foot), a Greek classic dating from the 1st century B.C.