Rome attractions walking map Continue In this post, we provide you with free, self-central Rome walking tours with print tour cards as well as an audio tour option for smartphones. You can use them to discover the city at your own pace (or) as a preview for what you will see on live excursions. Check out our free walking tours of Rome. SELF-GUIDED TOUR OF ROME'S CENTRE This independent tour takes you through some of Rome's main attractions, from the Spanish Steps through the Trevi Fountain to Campo de Fiori. Overall, there are many attractions along the way spanning over two thousand years of history. Here are some of the sites that you can expect to see on this tour: the Piazza Navon Pantheon Trevi Fountain Spanish Steps Venice Square Campo de Fiori We also have our own app where you can find a more in-depth version of the GPS-led audio tour for just 1.99 euros. Here's an example. Download our free walking tour app on (iTunes) or (Android). There are also daily guided tours both day and night that really work on paying for what-you-like model. INTRO This 15 stop, self-guided excursion takes you through some of Rome's main attractions, from the Spanish steps through the Trevi Fountain to Campo de Fiori, with plenty of attractions along the way spanning more than two thousand years of history. It is best to set aside 2-3 hours for a walk along this route. You will see a lot of tourists and Romans as you go, and both groups make good people watch, not to mention much chance at photos, coffee, ice cream, and historical color. Click on the map to zoom in or download to your smartphone. If you haven't done much walking in old parts of Rome yet, the ancient layout of these streets can be misleading. The streets are winding, pedestrians and cars often share space, and you'll regularly find your way to the square, Rome's large outdoor squares organized around. You can get this tour with destinations in 3 ways: Download this tour in the Google Maps App (link). Download the PDF version. Take our GPS audio tour on (iTunes) or (Android). We will guide you with the buildings and using street names that you will see on signs above eye level. As for time, this tour can be enjoyed anytime the sun, and some of the squares are alive even after dark. Crowds can be a limiting factor throughout this walk; if you want to start things on a quiet note, Spanish steps, one of our first stops is usually in their quiet early morning, briefly during lunch, and around sunset. starts at the Spagna metro station. As you exit from the west side of the building, you can look to the right and get a full view of the Medici villa, just down the street. 1. VILLA DE MEDICI Villa De medici, along along along Villa Borghese (which houses Galleria Borghese) beyond, stands on the site of lucullus gardens created more than two thousand years ago when the Romans saw gardening as a strange new hobby imported from Persia. But the house you see today was built in 1576 after the land had been a quiet vineyard for centuries. Villa De Medici Rear Houses like Villa De medici were designed with ancient styles in mind, and inside, they often displayed ancient relics found in the ground dug to lay the foundations. The Medicis and Borghese were among the most powerful families in Italy during the Renaissance and beyond. The Medici clan included bankers, nobles and popes. But they are remembered mainly for their support of the arts and sciences Villa De Medici offers excursions daily, lasting about 90 minutes and available in different languages at different times. It is open every day, but Monday and the standard entrance is 12 euros. Villa Borghese is home to the third largest public park in Rome; Admission is free and available from dawn to dusk daily. There are a few things to see and do here in the park. In particular, there is the Borghese Gallery, where you can see many works of art and artifacts from the classical and Renaissance era, as well as a number of other museums and galleries. Villa Giulia contains an Etruscan museum that rivals the culture of the early Romans. In addition to museums, the hotel has a zoo and a replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. 2. SPANISH STEPS For many foreigners, Spanish steps are a visual abbreviation for Rome; they have been used in many films and television shows since the Roman holidays back in 1953. It was a natural hillside as recently as 1723. Before the steps were built, it was the slope of Pincio Hill, one of the many hills around Rome. The 138 steps were built in the 18th century and got their name thanks to the neighboring Spanish embassy. Unfortunately, from 2019, you can no longer sit on the Spanish Stairs. Violations can receive a fine of up to 400 pounds. Food on the steps is also prohibited. At the bottom of the steps is Piazza di Spagna and Fontana della Barcaccia, which means the Fountain of the Long Boat. Legend has it that the design of the fountain comes from a boat washed up in this area by the flood of the Tiber River. It is the first of many fountains that we will see, and it was designed by Pietro Bernini in the 17th century, up to the steps. Pietro Bernini is the father of the famous architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini, whose work we will also see a lot. When you get to the bottom, look up the stairs to look at this French church upstairs called Trinity dei Monti. If you look at the right side of the steps below, you will see a peach-colored building, the Kitts-Shelley Museum. The English poet John Keats came to live here in 1820. If stopping in order before going on, the Antico Cafe Greco at the bottom of the stairs was one of his dens. When you're here, get away from the steps and past the fountain. Turn left and you will see the square narrowing to a free-standing column, the Column of the Immaculate Conception. 3. COLUMN OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION AND PIA'A MIGNANELLI Column of the Immaculate Conception is the centerpiece of the small square of Minyanelli, which opens from the corner of Spagna Square. The statue on top of the column is the bronze Virgin Mary. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is central to the Catholic faith. And this statue was built in 1857 in memory of the pope's recent proclamation of the Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception: the idea that Mary, unequivocally among people, was born without original sin. The original sin is visible in the monument in the form of a snake, comes Mary. Beneath it are the authors of four biblical gospels, and even further down the four prophets are said to have predicted her birth, with reliefs depicting the four phases of her history beneath them. Depending on when you are here, there is a small chance that you will see a wreath of flowers on the statue. December 8 is the holiday of the Immaculate Conception; Every year on this day, the Pope visits this place with the head of the fire department, who originally erected the column, and they leave a wreath behind. The building behind the column of the Palazzo di Propaganda Fide - Palace of Propaganda of Faith. It's a property of the Vatican - you can tell by the yellow flag at the front - and for a long time, it was the home of the church department responsible for missionary work and evangelism. 4. AQUEduct RUINS Looking at this place, you can see what the ancient Roman would have to look at. Aqueducts - the famous system of imperial Rome for bringing clean water to the city - relied on gravity for work. So the water sometimes flowed through the heads of people who were going to consume it, with roads passing under the arches you can see the top of it from here. Being by the river, Rome has flooded many times over millennia, accumulating sediments every time, hiding, but also preserving the ancient city. The fence here limits the view, but above the arch, you can see the inscription with the word Germanicus just readable at the near end. This is one of the names of Emperor Claudius, to whom the inscription attributes the restoration of this section of aqua Virgo, a system of aqueducts built to bring water to the newly urbanized campus of Martius after it was incorporated into the city. To do this, Roman engineers had to build a system of gentle slopes over long distances of irregular terrain, including crossing rivers, bringing convenience, comfort and health within reach The Romans. This knowledge was lost with the fall of Rome; with the Renaissance, writings about aqueducts were rediscovered. Through Via del Nazareno from these ruins is a tiny door used to enter the restored Acqua Vergine, a Renaissance replacement for the ancient system. And in a minute, you'll see another piece of this system: a fountain designed to put this revived miracle technique on display. 5. TREVI FOUNTAIN There will probably be a crowd around when you reach the Trevi Fountain, and even in the absence of people, water can make it a loud spot.