20 Attractions to Explore Near Via Francigena

One of the most remarkable and extravagant Roman villa which was built for emperor Hadrian. It was Set among the rolling hills in the countryside of Campagna. It graces an area larger than Pompeii with its many pools, baths, fountains, and majestic classical architecture. it was now the property of the Republic of Italy.

The Villa d'Este in Tivoli, with its palace and garden, is one of the most remarkable and comprehensive illustrations of Renaissance culture at its most refined. It was famous for its terraced hillside Italian Renaissance garden and especially for its profusion of fountains. It is now an Italian state museum and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Lake Albano is a crater lake in the Alban Hills southeast of Rome. Elliptical in shape, formed by the fusion of two ancient volcanic craters. It is fed by underground sources and drained by an artificial outlet. It hosted the canoeing and rowing events of the 1960 Summer Olympic Games that were held in Rome.

The catacombs of St. Callixtus are among the greatest and most important of Rome. They originated about the middle of the second century and are part of a cemeterial complex that occupies an area of 90 acres, with a network of galleries about 12 miles long, in four levels, more than twenty meters deep. In it were buried tens of martyrs, 16 popes, and very many Christians. The area of the catacomb proper is about fifteen hectares, and it goes down for five levels.

The Aurelian Walls in Rome was built in the third century A.D. and are about 19 kilometers long. Works began by Emperor Aurelian during a time of insecurity throughout Italy and the empire. It was originally constructed of tufa concrete, with a facing of triangular bricks. It was originally constructed of tufa concrete, with a facing of triangular bricks.

St. Clement Basilica is a minor basilica dedicated to Pope Clement I. This church is remarkable because archaeologically, it records the history of Rome from the beginning of Christianity up until the Middle Ages. This ancient church was transformed over the centuries from a private home and site of clandestine Christian worship in the first century to a grand public basilica by the 6th century, reflecting the emerging Roman Catholic Church's growing legitimacy and power.

One of the largest bath complex in ancient Rome, which has a capacity of over 3,000 people. It served as a bath for the people residing in the Viminal, Quirinal, and Esquiline quarters of the city. This architectural complex, located close to the Termini rail station and the Palazzo Massimo Museum, is one of the most popular archaeological museums and sites in Rome, with about 1 million yearly visitors.

Palazzo Massimo alle Terme is a palace in Rome, in the Castro Pretorio district, in Piazza dei Cinquecento, near the Termini station. The building was built between 1883 and 1886 by the last descendant of the Roman Massimo family, the Jesuit priest Massimiliano Massimo, on land belonging to the family; he commissioned the architect Camillo Pistrucci with the construction. This last palace features one of the best archaeological and classical art collections in the world.

The Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels and the Martyrs, is a unique 16th century church with a long and fascinating history. The basilica is dedicated to the Christian martyrs, known and unknown. By a brief dated 27 July 1561, Pius IV ordered the church "built", to be dedicated to the Beatissimae Virgini et omnium Angelorum et Martyrum. The entire site is truly incredible. You come face to face with the best of the Renaissance and the might of Ancient Rome.

Domus Aurea, Nero's famed Golden Palace was the major source of information on ancient Roman painting and decoration for Renaissance artists. which was built by Emperor Nero in the heart of ancient Rome. It covered parts of the slopes of the Palatine, Oppian, and Caelian hills, with an artificial lake in the marshy valley. It was one of the iconic locations in this area which is famous among tourists.

One of the most beautiful and luxurious pubic baths in ancient Rome begun by the emperor Septimius Severus in AD 206. There were three main bath chambers: the frigidarium, or cold room; the caldarium, or hot room; and the tepidarium, or lukewarm room. There were also large open-air swimming pools. Marble was used lavishly, and sculpture, mosaics, frescoes, and other decorations ornamented the interior.

San Pietro in Vincoli is a Roman Catholic titular church and minor basilica in Rome. It was built during the fifth century to house the relic of Saint Peter’s chains when he was imprisoned in Jerusalem. The church is also renowned because it houses Michelangelo’s statue of Moses. Pilgrims and art lovers flock to this 5th-century basilica for two reasons: to marvel at Michelangelo's colossal Moses sculpture and to see the chains that are said to have bound St Peter when he was imprisoned in the C

The Arch of Constantine is an arch in Rome, found between the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill. It was built in honor of Constantine I's victory over Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge on October 28, 312. It is the latest of the triumphal arches in Rome. The arch is also a tour de force of political propaganda, presenting Constantine as a living continuation of the most successful Roman emperors, renowned for their military victories and good government.

The renowned state museum in Rome distinguished for its collection of Italian Baroque paintings and ancient sculptures. It is located in the Borghese Gardens on the Pincian Hill and is housed in the Villa Borghese, a building designed by the Dutch architect Jan van Santen (Giovanni Vasanzio) and built between 1613 and 1616. It houses a substantial part of the Borghese collection of paintings, sculpture, and antiquities, begun by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, the nephew of Pope Paul.

The Arch of Titus is a Roman Triumphal Arch which was erected by Domitian in c. 81 CE at the foot of the Palatine hill on the Via Sacra in the Forum Romanum, Rome. It commemorates the victories of his father Vespasian and brother Titus in the Jewish War. The arch is also a political and religious statement expressing the divinity of the late emperor Titus.

Palazzo Barberini is one of the most overlooked art museums in Rome. The 17th-century palace is incredibly centrally located – just around the corner from the quattro fontane and a few streets over from the Trevi Fountain. The sloping site had formerly been occupied by a garden-vineyard of the Sforza family, in which a palazzetto had been built in 1549. The sloping site passed from one cardinal to another during the sixteenth century, with no project fully getting off the ground.

Rome’s elegant street filled with cafés and luxury hotels. The great Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini made this sophisticated street famous in the 1960s. The street is named after the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, a decisive Italian victory of World War I. Federico Fellini's classic 1960 film La Dolce Vita was mostly centered on the Via Veneto area.

Palatine Hill is a four-sided plateau rising 131 feet south of the Forum in Rome and 168 feet above sea level. The site is now mainly a large open-air museum while the Palatine Museum houses many finds from the excavations here and from other ancient Italian sites. During the Republican Period, Roman citizens belonging to the upper class settled in this area and built sumptuous palaces, of which important traces are still preserved.

A beautiful 17th-century fountain which was located in Rome, in the Piazza Barberini, close to the Palazzo Barberini entrance, which now houses the GNAA (Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica or National Gallery of Ancient Art. The fountain was executed in travertine in 1642–43. At its center rises a larger than lifesize muscular Triton, a minor sea god of ancient Greco-Roman legend, depicted as a merman kneeling on the sum of four dolphin tailfins.

The Via dei Fori Imperiali is a road in the centre of the city of Rome. It runs in a straight line from the Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum. There has been a great deal of archeological excavation on both sides of the road, as significant Imperial Roman relics remain to be found underneath it.