Ten free places in Rome

1. St Peter’s Basilica

The largest basilica in Europe, and entry is free for everyone. You pay only to climb the dome. The one condition is the dress code: shoulders and knees covered, or you are turned away at security. The details are in our guide to getting into St Peter’s and climbing the dome.

2. The Vittoriano and the view from its terraces

The huge white building on Piazza Venezia that Romans call the typewriter. The lower terraces are free, and from them you get the best view down over the Imperial Forums. There is a paid lift to the very roof — but you do not need it.

3. The Janiculum hill and the midday cannon

The best panorama of Rome, and almost without tourists, because you have to walk uphill. And at exactly 12:00 a cannon is fired from there — a blank, but loud. The tradition is a century and a half old: the city’s bell towers once set their clocks by that shot. For a child it is one of the strongest impressions in Rome, and it is free.

4. Nasoni, the drinking fountains

Cast-iron columns with constantly running water; there are more than two thousand in the city. The water is drinkable, cold and free. Block the lower opening with a finger and the stream rises from a small hole on top — you get a fountain that is easy to drink from. Children enjoy that quite apart from being thirsty.

5. The squares and fountains

Navona with its three fountains, Piazza del Popolo with the obelisk, Piazza di Spagna. And the view of the Trevi Fountain from the upper square: that stayed free, only going down to the basin now costs.

6. The basilicas nobody looks at

Santa Maria Maggiore, San Giovanni in Laterano, San Pietro in Vincoli with Michelangelo’s Moses. Entry is free everywhere. In the last of them stands a statue that would have a queue in any museum in the world — and here you will be almost alone in the room.

7. The orange garden on the Aventine

A small park with a view over the whole city and the dome of St Peter’s in the distance. Nearby is the famous keyhole in the gate of the Knights of Malta: look through it and the dome sits exactly in the centre of the avenue. There is a queue for the keyhole, but it moves.

8. The Appian Way

An ancient road you can walk or cycle along, right on paving two thousand years old. On Sundays it is closed to cars. Everything is free except the catacombs, which charge separately.

9. The Circus Maximus and Trastevere

The field where the chariots raced, and the quarter across the river that people go to walk in rather than look at. Both are free and both belong in the plan as a breather between paid sights.

10. The first Sunday of the month

On the first Sunday of every month state museums admit visitors free — including the Colosseum, the Forum and the galleries. Plus the public dates: 25 April, 2 June and 4 November.

And an honest warning straight away: with children this is a bad idea. On free days the security queue at the Colosseum stretches for hours and inside there is no room to move. You save EUR 36 for the family and lose a day. On a short trip it is better to pay and walk in calmly — how that works is covered in Colosseum tickets and what they include.

What it saves

A day built only from free things costs a family of four exactly as much as you eat. For a trip where money is counted this is a working tactic: one paid sight a day, everything else from this list. What food and transport cost is counted separately: how much money to bring to Rome.

And if you would like someone to walk the free Rome with you and explain it, our quest tours go exactly along the streets and squares, with no museum tickets involved.