Two Days in Rome

Everyone has to see the Sistine ceiling once, but for much of the year, Rome's greatest hits are impossibly overcrowded. And the Vatican is the worst of the lot. Even if you only have a short time, it's a good idea to visit some of the lesser-known places.

You can't see that much in 48 hours, but you can still try to see the three primary elements of Rome: Classical, Renaissance and 18th-century Baroque.  

I like to climb Michelangelo's Cordonata (stairway) to the Capitoline Hill. There's a place where you can lean on a wall and look out over the Forum. There are Piranesi etchings of this view, and it's the place where Gibbon decided to write "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." In the evening, when most of the crowds have gone home, it is fantastically atmospheric.

Right next to the Capitol is the church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli, parts of which date from A.D. 574. Its modest dimensions take you straight back to the early Christian church. There are lovely frescoes by Pinturicchio and a Cosmatesque (mosaic) floor. The Cosmati brothers worked in the 12th century, and their mosaic floors are all over Rome. The tesserae, bits of marble, often came from the floors of tumbledown classical villas on the Palatine Hill.

It doesn't matter how many times you've been to Rome, you have to go back to the Pantheon, because it is completely intact. Built by the Emperor Hadrian in A.D. 126, it gives you an unrivaled sense of what classical Rome must have been like in its heyday. Afterward, you can have a drink in the nearby Piazza Navona, which used to be a chariot racing track, hence the shape.

A great place from which to contemplate Rome is Isola Tiberina in the middle of the river. The bridge across, the Pons Fabricius, dates from 62 B.C. and is still in daily use. There is a famous old family-run trattoria, Sora Lella, on the island. It's a great place to have dinner on a warm late-spring evening. If you cross the river, you are in Trastevere. There, the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere is thought to have been the first place that Mass was celebrated openly, in the fourth century. Inside, there are amazing gold frescoes and columns that were taken from the Baths of Caracalla.

Nearby, the Renaissance Villa Farnesina contains famous frescoes by Raphael ("The Triumph of Galatea" among others). It once belonged to the stupendously wealthy Chigi banking family. However, I like to go there because when Raphael was working on the interior, he was having his famous affair with the beautiful "fornarina," the baker's daughter, who lived down the street. Today, the baker's shop is a small trattoria. Raphael's portrait of his girlfriend is in the Palazzo Barberini. The area of Rome around the Piazza di Spagna was developed at the time of the Grand Tour. I always drop into the Keats-Shelley Memorial House at the bottom of the Spanish Steps, which is where Keats died of tuberculosis at the age of 25. Opposite, Bernini's fountain, the Barcaccia, or "old boat," is very charming. And if you want to shop, you can stroll down the Via Condotti.

My favorite baroque square is the nearby Piazza del Popolo. There, the church of Santa Maria del Popolo contains two of Caravaggio's most famous and dramatic paintings, "Conversion on the Way to Damascus" and "Crucifixion of St. Peter." One of Rome's more celebrated people-watching cafés, Rosati, is just across the street.

The best overview of Rome is from the rooftop bar and restaurant of the Hotel Eden on the via Ludovisi. There is a sensational 180-degree view (which is actually better than the one from the roof of the Hassler because you are higher up.) The whole city is laid out before you. Go in the evening to the Bar La Terrazza, stand outside with a glass of wine, and wait for all the bells to begin striking the hour. Pure travel magic.