The world's most famous fountain, the most perfectly preserved temple from antiquity, the most celebrated flight of steps, Baroque churches, paintings by Caravaggio, beautiful squares and fountains galore, are all to be found in the centro storico, the historical heart of the Eternal city.
 Pantheon: Described by an English visitor, in 1549, as ‘the perfectest of all the antiquities’, the Pantheon (119-128AD) is the grandest and most well-preserved monument of ancient Rome. It was built during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian to replace an earlier temple, which had been built between 27 and 25BC by Marcus Agrippa, the right hand man of the Emperor Augustus. For some reason, Hadrian retained the original inscription to Agrippa, which can be seen on the base of the pediment.
.JPG) Piazza Navona: The huge square was originally the site of the emperor Domitian’s Circus Agonalis, a name which first became n’Agona and then Navona. The shape of the piazza, curved at one end and straight at the other, preserves very closely the original racing track, 192 m. long and 53 m. wide, which was built between 81 and 96 AD. At the centre of the square sits Bernini's magnificent fountain of the Four Rivers.
Sant’Agnese in Agone: On the west side of the Piazza Navona soars the 17th century church of Sant’ Agnese in Agone. A much older church had been built on the ruins of Domitian’s stadium, where, according to tradition, Saint Agnes was martyred. But, in the middle of the 17th century, Pope Innocent X, moved into the area and ordered that the church be rebuilt.
He commissioned Girolomo Rainaldi and his son Carlo, but soon replaced them with Francesco Borromini, who came up with the magnificent design of the curved façade.
.JPG) Trevi Fountain: Immortalised by Anita Ekberg’s midnight dip in Fellini's film ‘La Dolce Vita', the world's most famous fountain is one of the most crowded sights in the city. The fountain was commissioned, in the first half of the 18th century, by Pope Clement XII (whose coats of arms can be seen at the very top of the fountain). The fountain was designed by Nicola Salvi and work commenced in 1732. It was finally finished in 1762, by which time both the pope and the architect were dead.
Sant’Ivo Alla Sapienza: The astonishing baroque church of Sant'Ivo Alla Sapienza breaks or bends most of the rules of classical architecture. It was the creation of one of the most original minds in the history of architecture, Francesco Borromini.
In 1632, Borromini was appointed to the post of architect to the Sapienza (Rome’s university), one of only two public posts that he ever held, and commissioned to build a church.
 Santa Maria Sopra Minerva: Santa Maria Sopra Minerva is Rome’s ‘Gothic’ church, the only medieval church in which the pointed arch is reigns supreme. It was built on the site of a Temple of Isis (erroneously thought to be a temple to Minerva, hence the name of the church) by the Dominicans, in 1280.
The church is the burial place of several popes as well as members of leading Roman families. The church also contains the mortal remains of Saint Catherine of Siena, one of Italy’s two patron saints (the other being St Francis of Assisi).
In the piazza outside the church stands one of the most delightful and unusual sculptures in Rome, an elephant with an oblelisk on its back.
 Hadrian’s Temple: The Temple of the deified Emperor Hadrian was built, in 145, by Antoninus Pius and dedicated to his adoptive father. Antoninus Pius succeeded Hadrian as emperor in 138. Eleven columns and one side of the cella wall are still visible in the Piazza di Pietra.
The vaulting of the front steps of the temple has been found under the via del Burro. The temple now houses the occasional exhibition; it once housed Rome’s Stock Exchange.
 Spanish Steps: The Scalinata della Trinita dei Monti, which is what the steps are called in Italian, are probably the most famous flight of stairs in the world. The steps were built by the Italians, paid for by the French and named after the Spanish.
The French church of Santa Trinita dei Monti, which stands at the top of the steps, was built at the beginning of the 16th century; the beautiful fountain, La Barcaccia, which sits at the bottom, was built a century later.
It was long desired to create a flight of steps to link the two squares in which they stand, but it was not until the beginning of the 18th century, when a French ambassador died and bequeathed a sum of money expressly for their creation, that the project was set into motion.
They were built to a design by Francesco di Sanctis in the 1720s.
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