Free tours in Rome

Rome is walked in layers. In the old town the distances are short: from the Colosseum to the Trevi Fountain is little more than a kilometre, and almost everything worth seeing fits between the Tiber river and Termini station. The ground is cobbled, the sampietrini, so flat shoes are wise, and the route rises and falls over the Capitoline and Quirinal hills. It is a city to walk slowly, because a Roman temple, a Baroque church and a Renaissance square often share the same corner.

The visit is arranged in three routes. The first is ancient Rome, with the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, the backbone of the free tour of the empire's birth. The second links fountains and squares in the Baroque heart: Piazza Navona with its Bernini fountains, the Pantheon of Agrippa, the Trevi Fountain and the Campo de' Fiori market, all a few minutes apart on foot. The third crosses the Tiber to Trastevere, the bohemian district of cobbled lanes, ivy and trattorias, which by day smells of washing hung out to dry and by night fills with terraces. As the sun goes down, those same settings feed the ghost, legend and mystery tours of imperial Rome.

As for logistics, almost all of them set off from well-known squares: Piazza Navona, the square by the Colosseum or Piazza della Repubblica, next to Termini station. The guide is identifiable by a sign or a coloured umbrella, and it is worth arriving ten minutes early. For the classic ancient Rome route, the best window is early in the morning, when the sun is not yet fierce and the Forum is clear; the evening legend walks are best enjoyed after dark, with the façades lit up. Booking is free and, at the end, you thank the guide with a voluntary contribution.