Budget · 3-hour walk · Rome
Trastevere and the Gianicolo in three hours
The island in the Tiber, two of Rome's oldest churches, the great fountain, Bramante's perfect temple and the view over the whole city from the Janiculum.
The three-hour route through the Forum is Rome at its most ancient and most crowded; this is the other bank of the river, where Romans actually go. Cross by the island, wander Trastevere's churches and lanes, and climb the Janiculum for the widest view of the city there is. It is uphill in the second half — take the stairs from Via Garibaldi — and it is at its best in the late afternoon, ending with the sunset and dinner back down in Trastevere.
The route, stop by stop
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Tiber Island
Reached by the Ponte Fabricio of 62 BC, the oldest Roman bridge still standing as it was built. A hospital has stood on the island for most of the last two thousand years.
15 min here Walk here → -
Santa Cecilia in Trastevere
Maderno's statue of the saint lying under the altar, carved in 1600 as her body was said to have been found, with the cut on her neck showing.
20 min here Walk here → -
Santa Maria in Trastevere
One of the oldest churches in Rome, with 12th-century gold mosaics across the apse and the façade. The piazza in front is Trastevere's living room.
30 min here Walk here → -
Fontana dell'Acqua Paola
Up the stairs from Via Garibaldi to the Fontanone of 1612, whose basin opens La Grande Bellezza. The terrace in front is the first great view of the climb.
10 min here Walk here → -
Tempietto di Bramante
A few steps on, in a cloister: Bramante's small round temple of 1502 on the traditional site of Peter's crucifixion, the building the Renaissance measured itself against.
20 min here Walk here → -
Gianicolo
Along the ridge to the terrace under Garibaldi's statue, with every dome in Rome laid out below. A cannon is fired here at noon every day; the sunset is the better reason to come.
30 min here Walk here →
More in Rome
Every walking route in Rome, or the full Rome guide for where to stay and what a day costs.