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From a tourist's perspective, the core of Rome — where the bulk of the famous buildings and monuments are located — is south of Villa Borghese, north of the Colosseum, east of the Tiber River, and west of Termini (Rome's main train station). The specified boundaries vary, but you may see this area referred to simply as the Historic Center or Centro Storico.

Technically, these landmarks are scattered across five different riones, but riones are political districts rather than neighborhoods. Like political districts everywhere, they tend to not represent the built environment, so for simplicity's sake, it is easiest to consider this one area. The iconic structures themselves were built at different times in the last two thousand years or so.

Walking Seven Centro Storico Attractions

Without a doubt, Centro Storico hosts Rome's best walking streets. The walking streets could be better — and they definitely could be better connected to one another to form more of a network — but travelgasm.com burned plenty of shoe leather in an effort to stitch some of the most famous attractions together in a way that provides a reasonably pleasant walk. You're welcome.

These seven famous attractions are organized in order on our map below:

1. Spanish Steps (Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti) - This staircase between the Piazza di Spagna and the Trinità dei Monti church — long famous among Europeans — was made famous globally by the 1953 film Roman Holiday. In the film, Princess Anne (Audrey Hepburn) sat on the stairs and ate gelato. Generations of tourists have felt compelled to do so ever since.
2. Via Margutta - This small, charming street is where Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck) lived as a struggling journalist in Roman Holiday. Remarkably, the buildings are about the same now as they were in the movie, but what once likely were horse stables owned by the wealthy who lived up the hill now are trendy boutique hotels and art galleries.
3. Via dei Condotti - Now a gauntlet of high-end fashion shops, perhaps Rome's most fashionable and most walkable street. From Armani to Zegna, if it's an Italian fashion brand, odds are good that it has a shop — and maybe even an office — on this street.
4. Trevi Fountain (Fontana di Trevi) - This Baroque fountain could be the world's most famous. As cemented by the 1954 film Three Coins in the Fountain, legend has it that throwing coins in the water with your right hand over your left shoulder will bring you good luck. One coin to return to Rome, two coins to receive a Roman lover, and three coins to marry a Roman. Collectively, visitors throw more than a million Euros a year into the fountain and typically this money helps to provide food and housing for the poor.
5. Church of St. Louis the French (San Luigi dei Francesi) - Built for the French community in Rome and finished in 1589, this small, Renaissance-era church is famous for its Caravaggio paintings.
6. Pantheon - Constructed during the reign of emperor Hadrian around 118-128 AD, originally as a temple and has been used more recently as a church. The Pantheon commonly is cited as supporting the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world. It's truly impressive. As tempting as it is to lie on the floor to look up and admire the ceiling, doing so is prohibited. The Pantheon is free. Don't pay attention to those trying to sell you tickets, including the world's search engine, curiously.
7. Piazza Navona - Originally built around 2000 years ago on top of an earlier stadium, this large, attractive public space showcases the beautiful Sant'Agnese in Agone church and is ringed with tourist-targeted restaurants and bars.

Because Centro Storico is a fairly large area to explore on foot, but primarily consists of small scale streets, it is a particularly good area to see by bicycle. It's perhaps even better on a bike than on foot. Rome does not have bike share, but there is a well-reviewed, and affordable, 3-Hour Bike Tour of Central Rome that you might enjoy.

How to Get There, When to Go & What to Avoid

Centro Storico is not well served by the metro. Line C currently is under construction on its way to Colosseo, but it eventually may be expanded beyond that point to have a couple stations in the area and connect with Line A at Ottaviano. An expansion of Line C would be a massive improvement for the center of the city. In the meantime, using the metro, Spagna Station on Line A is the best option.

Because this area is so popular with tourists, we would strongly recommend going as early in the morning as possible. In the afternoon, it is packed with selfie-stick wielding, gelato-flinging tourists and feels more like an amusement park than a city. If you are spending several days in Rome, the area certainly is worth multiple visits, but it is more enjoyable to spend the afternoons elsewhere.

Be mindful of pickpockets, bag snatchers, and assorted scams in Centro Storico. We personally witnessed a thief steal a phone from a child attempting to photograph the Trevi Fountain as well as aggressive sales tactics from people who attempted to tie a bracelet to a tourist's arm and then demand payment. There are any number of tactics and scams that criminals may use. In general, pay attention to your surroundings, be aware of your belongings, and avoid anyone who approaches you on the street.

If you find yourself in Rome on business, as we were for a month on one visit, you likely will be surprised that there actually are Italians with offices in this area. Despite its appearance in peak times, Centro Storico is not an amusement park, and locals do need to eat lunch somewhere. As general rules, locals tend to stick with a set menu and suggest making an effort to eat at least two or three blocks away from a major tourist attraction.

There are hundreds of restaurants in the area, but three that we enjoyed include Arancio D'oro and Enoteca Corsi for homestyle Italian and Il Margutta for a modern vegetarian interpretation of Italian, complete with vegan and gluten-free options.

If you're in a rush and you want to annoy an Italian, you always could eat at Italy's first McDonald's — in Piazza di Spagna — which was so unpopular when it was established in 1986 that it spawned protests. Better fast and cheap options close to the McDonald's include the Pane e Salame and La Focaccina di Serafina sandwich shops.

We've mapped out our preferred walk below in a logical route from Spagna Station. This route endeavors to stay on walking streets as much as possible. To leave, you could reverse the route and walk back to Spagna, but we also have provided a good bus option that connects to Metro Line A as well as an alternate departure via Barberini Station.

How to Get Here: Take the Rome Metro Line A (Orange) to Spagna Station. The primary exit leads to the lower level of the Spanish Steps. If you want to exit at the top of the Spanish Steps directly from the metro, there is an underloved elevator to your left as you head out the primary exit. To leave Centro Storico, we suggest using the Zanardelli bus stop north of Piazza Navona and taking bus 30, 70, or 130F north (headed toward the river). The bus stops at Lepanto Station and you can reconnect with the metro accordingly. Bus 70 is the best option because even if you make a mistake and go the wrong direction, it also has a stop at Repubblica Station toward the east and you can reconnect there. Alternately, you could walk back to Spagna Station or Barberini Station. The walk is less pleasant to Barberini than Spagna and they are roughly the same distance from the Trevi Fountain.

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