Rome's historic centre on foot: a self-guided walk from Piazza del Popolo to Largo Argentina, with what is open each day

One of 2 self-guided walks in Rome. See every walk.

In this guide

💡 The Short Version: Start at Piazza del Popolo, beside Flaminio station on metro line A, and finish at Largo di Torre Argentina: 3.9 km, about 50 minutes of walking and half a day with the stops. Walk it Tuesday to Thursday, in the morning. The Trevi walkway opens at 11:30 on Mondays and Fridays, San Luigi dei Francesi shuts from 12:45 to 14:30 on weekdays, and the Campo de’ Fiori market closes at 14:00 and does not trade on Sundays. Book the Pantheon for a time slot. Or book a tour: the Carpe Diem walking tourad (from £21.25, 2 hours) walks the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain and Piazza Navona with a guide.

The route

Map of the walk numbered stops in walking order

Open the whole route in Google Maps - all the stops in walking order, set to walking directions, which is the version to put on your phone.

The route runs south from the gate pilgrims used to enter Rome by, across the Tridente district to the Spanish Steps, then down to the Trevi Fountain and through the old centre to the Pantheon, Piazza Navona and Campo de’ Fiori. Prices are the adult rate in euros from each operator.

Walk it with a guide

A guide adds the stories and the order, and the three tours below all walk the same squares. Prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” prices, per person.

• Rome Walking Tour: Pantheon, Trevi, Navona & Hidden Gemsad, by Carpe Diem Tours: from £21.25, 4.9 stars from 628 reviews, 2 hours. It meets at Piazza d’Aracoeli, by Piazza Venezia.
• Rome: Navona, Pantheon Trevi & Spanish Steps - Sunset Tourad, a small group led by a licensed guide: from £31.28, 4.9 stars from 802 reviews, 2 hours. It meets at Piazza di San Simeone, near Piazza Navona, and ends at the Spanish Steps; it passes the Pantheon outside.
• Rome: Pantheon, Navona, Trevi & Spanish Steps Guided Tourad, by Crown Tours: from £33.15, 4.6 stars from 148 reviews, 2.5 hours. It begins with a guided visit of the Pantheon and includes the Trevi walkway; the meeting point is the elephant statue at Piazza della Minerva.

1. Piazza del Popolo

Free · open always · Flaminio station, metro line A, is beside the gate

Piazza del Popolo from the Pincio terrace. Photo: Krzysztof Golik, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The oval square lies inside the Porta del Popolo, the north gate through which travellers coming down the Via Flaminia entered Rome. The Flaminio Obelisk in the middle is Egyptian and came to the square in 1589. Three streets leave it to the south, the Via del Corso in the middle and the Via del Babuino, the way to the Spanish Steps, on the left.

• Santa Maria del Popolo, the church by the gate, holds two paintings by Caravaggio in the Cerasi Chapel, the Conversion of Saint Paul and the Crucifixion of Saint Peter.
• The Pincio, the terrace above the square’s east side, is reached by the ramp and steps from the square and looks back across it to the dome of St Peter’s.
• Getting here: Flaminio is on the square’s doorstep. Rome public transport has the tickets.

2. The Spanish Steps

Steps free, open always · Keats-Shelley House at Piazza di Spagna 26: €7, Monday to Saturday 10:00 to 13:00 and 14:00 to 18:00, last entry 17:45

The Spanish Steps and Trinità dei Monti. Photo: Fallaner, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Walk down the Via del Babuino to Piazza di Spagna. The 135 steps climb from the square to the church of Trinità dei Monti, and the sunken fountain of the Barcaccia, a stone boat, stands at their foot. Metro line A has a station here, Spagna, if you would rather join the walk from the middle.

• Sitting or lying on the steps is banned by the city’s police regulation, with a fine from €250.
• The Keats-Shelley House is the corner house to the right of the steps, where the English poet John Keats spent his last 100 days and died in 1821. It is now a museum of the Romantic poets: €7, €5 for under 18s and over 65s, closed on Sundays. Booking ahead is possible but not required.

3. The Trevi Fountain

Free to see, any hour · the walkway down to the basin €2 (visitors), card only at the gate · 9:00 to 22:00, from 11:30 on Mondays and Fridays

The Trevi Fountain. Photo: Dietmar Rabich, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

From Piazza di Spagna, take the Via di Propaganda and the Via del Nazareno to the Trevi, which fills a small square: the fountain grew out of the Aqua Virgo, an aqueduct of ancient Rome. Visitors who do not live in Rome pay €2 for the walkway down to the edge of the basin; the whole front stays visible free from the square at any hour.

• Hours: 9:00 to 22:00 daily except Mondays and Fridays, when entry starts at 11:30; last entry 21:00. Six Mondays start at 14:00: 12 and 26 October, 9 and 23 November, and 7 and 21 December 2026.
• The €2 ticket: online at fontanaditrevi.vivaticket.it, or at the gate on Via della Stamperia by card only. A ticket bought ahead goes to a dedicated line.
• At the basin: no sitting on the edge, no eating or drinking, and the traditional coin toss is allowed. See the Trevi Fountain guide for the rules and the fines.

Detour: the Doria Pamphilj Gallery

€16, €17 booked online · Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 9:00 to 19:00 (last entry 18:00), Friday to Sunday 10:00 to 20:00 (last entry 19:00) · closed on Wednesdays

Skip this on a short day: it adds about 430 m to the walk and about an hour and a half for the visit. The gallery is the Doria Pamphilj family’s collection of paintings, in their palace at Via del Corso 305, a few metres from Piazza Venezia, and is entered on the first floor. It is on the way from the Trevi to the Pantheon, with the Via delle Muratte as the direct alternative. The ticket includes an audio guide in English, and large bags and rucksacks are not allowed in. The Secret Apartments, with the Bath of Diana, are managed separately and are not on the ticket.

• Book on the gallery’s own site. Tickets from other sellers are not guaranteed by the gallery.
• Closed: every Wednesday, 1 January, Easter and 25 December.

4. The Pantheon

€7, for a time slot · daily 9:00 to 19:00, last entry 18:30 · free on the first Sunday of the month

The Pantheon’s portico. Photo: Nicholas Hartmann, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Marcus Agrippa built the first Pantheon between 27 and 25 BC, and the inscription across the front still reads “Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, consul for the third time, built this”. The present building was put up under Hadrian between 118 and 125 AD, and has been a church, Santa Maria ad Martyres, since 609. The dome is 43.30 m across, the same as its height, and the Ministry of Culture calls it the largest unreinforced dome ever built.

• Tickets are €7, named and for a time slot, on the Musei Italiani site or at the ticket office or a machine at the door. Take ID that matches the name.
• Mass: at 10:30 on Sundays and holidays and 17:00 on Saturdays and the day before a holiday only worshippers are admitted, and ticket sales stop an hour before.
• First Sunday of the month: free, with tickets collected at the door on the day and no booking.
• Closed on 25 December and 1 January. Pantheon tickets has the rest.

5. San Luigi dei Francesi

Free, a church · Monday to Friday 9:30 to 12:45 and 14:30 to 18:15 · Saturday 9:30 to 12:00 and 14:30 to 18:30 · Sunday 12:00 to 12:45 and 14:30 to 18:30

San Luigi dei Francesi. Photo: Sailko, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.5.

From the Pantheon, take the Salita de’ Crescenzi and the Via della Dogana Vecchia, a four-minute walk, to the church of the French community in Rome. In the Contarelli Chapel, the last on the left, hang Caravaggio’s three paintings of Saint Matthew: the Calling, the Inspiration and the Martyrdom, painted between 1599 and 1602. Entry is free and needs no ticket.

• Closed: on the morning of the first Wednesday of every month (4 November and 2 December 2026). The church says its hours can change for special events.
• Time it: on weekdays the church is shut from 12:45 to 14:30, so arrive before noon.

6. Piazza Navona

The square is free, open always · Sant’Agnese in Agone: Tuesday to Friday 9:00 to 13:00 and 15:00 to 19:00, Saturday and Sunday 9:00 to 13:00 and 15:00 to 20:00, closed on Mondays

Piazza Navona. Photo: Meshari Alawfi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

The long square follows the outline of the Stadium of Domitian, the athletics track of imperial Rome, and the houses stand on its stands. Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers, finished in 1651, has an obelisk on a rock with four river gods round it, and the church of Sant’Agnese in Agone, with Borromini’s curved front, faces it across the square.

• The church opens in two sessions a day and closes on Mondays. The crypt, where visits are guided, is booked through the church’s site.
• At Christmas the square holds the Festa di Piazza Navona, a fair of stalls: see Rome at Christmas.

7. Campo de’ Fiori

Free · market Monday to Saturday, 7:00 to 14:00, closed on Sundays

A flower stall in Campo de’ Fiori. Photo: Krzysztof Golik, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The Via dei Baullari leads from Navona to the square where the market has been held for more than 150 years: in 1869 it was already the centre of the city’s trade in vegetables. The stalls sell fruit, vegetables, flowers, cured meats and spices, and many of the spice stalls aim at visitors. After 14:00 the stalls pack up and the square turns into a place for lunch and drinks. A statue of the philosopher Giordano Bruno stands in the middle, on the spot where he was burned in 1600.

• Lunch: Antico Forno Roscioli is on the way to the next stop.
• Food tours: Rome food tours compares the street-food walks that cover the square.

8. Largo di Torre Argentina

Square free · the Area Sacra: Tuesday to Sunday 9:30 to 19:00 to 24 October 2026, 9:30 to 16:00 from 25 October · closed on Mondays

The Area Sacra at Largo di Torre Argentina. Photo: John Samuel, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Four Roman temples of the Republic, dating from the 4th to the 2nd century BC, lie sunk below the street in the middle of this square, and they were found in the 1920s during demolition for new buildings. Since 2023 a raised walkway has taken visitors along them. The remains of the Curia of Pompey, the meeting hall where Julius Caesar was stabbed in 44 BC, lie at the edge of the site.

• The walkway is ticketed, with a ticket office in the Torre del Papito on Piazza dei Calcarari and the entrance on Via di San Nicola de’ Cesarini. Last entry is 18:45 until 24 October and 15:45 from 25 October. The site has no toilets.
• From the street you can see the temples for nothing, over the railings round the sunken area.
• Getting away: buses and tram 8 stop at the square. Piazza Mattei, 200 m to the south-east, is where the Jewish Ghetto and Trastevere walk starts.

Where to eat

Baccano

Via delle Muratte 23, by the Trevi Fountain · open daily · book a table

An oyster bar and restaurant in a retro dining room a minute from the Trevi. Katie Parla sends readers there for the carbonara or the cacio e pepe at the bar, and Gambero Rosso gave it Tre Tavole in 2025. Stop here after stop 3.

Armando al Pantheon

Salita de’ Crescenzi 31 · closed Saturday evening and Sunday · book online

A trattoria of 14 tables, open since 1961 and still run by the Gargioli family, on the way from the Pantheon to San Luigi. Order the carbonara, amatriciana or gricia and the meatballs. Lunch is 12:30 to 15:00, and bookings are taken only through its site.

Antico Forno Roscioli

Via dei Chiavari 34 · daily 7:30 to 20:00

A bakery on a site that has made bread since 1824, on the way from Campo de’ Fiori to Largo Argentina. Order the pizza bianca, baked with no tomato, or the rossa, with it, and a supplì, a fried rice ball with mozzarella in the middle. See where to eat in Rome for more near each landmark.

The best day to go

The timing that works, Tuesday to Thursday: take the metro to Flaminio for 8:30, cross Piazza del Popolo and be at the Spanish Steps by 9:15, at the Trevi when the walkway opens at 9:00 or soon after, and in the Pantheon by 10:30. Be in San Luigi before 12:45, walk through Navona to Campo de’ Fiori before the market closes at 14:00, and eat. The Area Sacra is the last stop, for the afternoon.

What closes:

• 25 October 2026: the Area Sacra moves to its winter hours, 9:30 to 16:00.
• First Wednesday of the month: San Luigi dei Francesi stays shut in the morning (4 November and 2 December 2026).
• 25 December and 1 January: the Pantheon is closed, and so is the Doria Pamphilj Gallery.
• Sundays: the Campo de’ Fiori market does not trade.

What does not close: the streets and squares, the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain from the square, Piazza del Popolo, Piazza Navona and Campo de’ Fiori itself. A Monday still makes a good walk: the Pantheon, San Luigi and the Doria Pamphilj Gallery are open, and the market is in full swing. Only Sant’Agnese and the temples are shut, and the Trevi walkway starts late.

Getting there and back

• To the start: Flaminio, on metro line A, is at the gate of Piazza del Popolo. The ticket choices, including tapping a bank card, are in Rome public transport.
• From the end: Largo di Torre Argentina is a hub for buses, and tram 8 runs from it across the river to Trastevere. There is no metro station at the square.
• In reverse: the route works from Largo Argentina too, but you reach the Trevi walkway late on Mondays and Fridays, and the Campo de’ Fiori market near its end.

What to do with the rest of the day

• The Ghetto and Trastevere: the Jewish Ghetto and Trastevere walk starts at Piazza Mattei, 200 m from Largo di Torre Argentina.
• The ancient city: the Colosseum, the Forum and the Palatine need a booked slot: Colosseum tickets.
• The Vatican: Castel Sant’Angelo is across the river from Piazza Navona, and the Vatican Museums are beyond it.
• A plan for the whole stay: Rome in one or two days and 3 days in Rome build the days round the bookings, and what to book before you go to Rome has the rest of the tickets. To sleep near the route, see where to stay in Rome.

Common questions

How long is the walk through Rome's historic centre?

3.9 km from Piazza del Popolo to Largo di Torre Argentina, measured along the streets: about 50 minutes of walking. With a coffee, the Pantheon and a church or two it takes half a day, and with the Doria Pamphilj Gallery as well it fills most of one.

Is the historic centre walk free?

The streets, the squares, the Spanish Steps, the Campo de' Fiori market and San Luigi dei Francesi cost nothing, and the Trevi Fountain is free to see from the square. The Pantheon is €7, the walkway down to the Trevi basin €2 for visitors, the Keats-Shelley House €7 and the Doria Pamphilj Gallery €16.

What do I need to book for the walk?

Nothing is compulsory, but the Pantheon sells tickets for a time slot online on Musei Italiani, and the Doria Pamphilj Gallery recommends booking on its own site. Everything else on the route is a free church, a square or a ticket bought at the door.

Which day is best for the historic centre walk?

Tuesday to Thursday, in the morning. On Mondays and Fridays the Trevi walkway opens at 11:30, on Mondays Sant'Agnese in Agone and the Largo Argentina temples are closed, on Wednesdays the Doria Pamphilj Gallery is closed, and on Sundays the Campo de' Fiori market and the Keats-Shelley House are closed.

Where does the walk start and finish?

It starts at Piazza del Popolo, beside Flaminio station on metro line A, and ends at Largo di Torre Argentina, a square where buses and tram 8 stop. The Spanish Steps also have their own station, Spagna, on line A, so you can join the walk there.

What time does the Campo de' Fiori market close?

The market runs Monday to Saturday from 7:00 to 14:00 and is closed on Sundays. After 14:00 the square is a place for lunch and drinks, not a market.