Lesser-known places in Rome
Rome under the Rome everyone sees: three churches stacked on each other, statues among power station turbines, a crypt of bones and aqueduct arches in a field.
7 of 7 places
Basilica di San Clemente
- Temple, church or shrine
- Daytime
A 12th-century church over a 4th-century church over a 1st-century house and temple to Mithras; you walk down through each.
- Getting there
- Via Labicana, a short walk east of the Colosseum.
- Best time
- Weekday mornings.
- Cost
- About €10 for the excavationscheck
- Visit with respect
- Mass may be on in the upper church; no photos in the excavations.
DirectionsAdd your hotel to get directions from it. · stays in this browser; shared with the pocket card.
Approximate position 41.8893, 12.4975 · Italy
Centrale Montemartini
- Museum
- Daytime
Classical statues from the Capitoline collections set among the turbines and diesel engines of Rome's first power station.
- Getting there
- Via Ostiense; Garbatella Metro.
- Best time
- Weekdays; closed Mondayscheck.
- Cost
- About €11–13check
- Visit with respect
- No flash.
DirectionsAdd your hotel to get directions from it. · stays in this browser; shared with the pocket card.
Approximate position 41.8670, 12.4775 · Italy
Capuchin Crypt
- Odd one
- Daytime
- Not for everyone
Chapels decorated with the bones of about 3,700 friars, arranged into arches, rosettes and chandeliers.
- Getting there
- Via Veneto; Barberini Metro.
- Best time
- Morning.
- Cost
- About €10–12check
- Visit with respect
- It is a religious site: quiet, covered shoulders, no photos.
- Not for everyone
- Human remains everywhere.
DirectionsAdd your hotel to get directions from it. · stays in this browser; shared with the pocket card.
Approximate position 41.9045, 12.4885 · Italy
Quartiere Coppedè
- Street or quarter
- Daytime
A 1920s cluster of buildings mixing Art Nouveau, medieval and Babylonian fantasy, with a frog fountain and a huge chandelier hanging in an arch.
- Getting there
- Piazza Mincio; tram 3 or 19.
- Best time
- Late afternoon.
- Cost
- Free
- Visit with respect
- Residential: photograph from the street only.
DirectionsAdd your hotel to get directions from it. · stays in this browser; shared with the pocket card.
Approximate position 41.9170, 12.5050 · Italy
Non-Catholic Cemetery and Pyramid of Cestius
- History
- Daytime
Keats and Shelley's cemetery under cypresses beside a 1st-century BC pyramid, with a colony of cats.
- Getting there
- Via Caio Cestio; Piramide Metro.
- Best time
- Morning.
- Cost
- Suggested donation about €5check
- Visit with respect
- Quiet, and do not feed the cats.
DirectionsAdd your hotel to get directions from it. · stays in this browser; shared with the pocket card.
Approximate position 41.8765, 12.4800 · Italy
Aventine keyhole and orange garden
- Viewpoint
- Early morning
A keyhole in the Knights of Malta's door that frames St Peter's dome at the end of a hedge avenue, next to a garden with views over the city.
- Getting there
- Piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta, Aventine Hill; Circo Massimo Metro, then uphill.
- Best time
- Early morning, before the queue.
- Cost
- Free
- Visit with respect
- Take your turn; the door is private property, so look but do not push.
DirectionsAdd your hotel to get directions from it. · stays in this browser; shared with the pocket card.
Approximate position 41.8830, 12.4780 · Italy
Parco degli Acquedotti
- Park or garden
- Evening
Arches of two Roman aqueducts marching across open fields in the south-east of the city, with sheep grazing some days.
- Getting there
- Giulio Agricola or Subaugusta Metro.
- Best time
- Sunset.
- Cost
- Free
- Visit with respect
- Do not climb the arches.
DirectionsAdd your hotel to get directions from it. · stays in this browser; shared with the pocket card.
Approximate position 41.8520, 12.5620 · Italy
How places get on this list
- Fewer visitors than the city's top sights: no place on the usual first-day list.
- Open to the public: a street, park, market, museum or place of worship anyone can walk into, or a tour anyone can book.
- Legal and safe to visit as described. We leave out private property, closed or fenced sites, abandoned buildings, active rail lines, rooftops and rock pools known for drownings.
- Where access is limited (Hanoi's Train Street, Berlin's Spreepark, Barcelona's bunkers), we say what the rules are and how to see it without breaking them.
- Prices, hours and access rules change: anything marked check was right when written but should be confirmed on the day.
Checked 2026-09. Coordinates are approximate; use the map links to find the entrance.