The Rome IndexRome's hidden gems
Remarkable places that most visitors walk straight past.
The Protestant Cemetery
One of Rome's most quietly beautiful spots — Keats and Shelley are both buried here, among ancient Roman remains and towering cypresses, near the Pyramid of Cestius in Testaccio.
Palazzo Spada
Contains a Borromini trompe-l'oeil corridor that appears 37 metres long — it's actually 8 metres. A small gallery, an extraordinary trick, and almost never crowded.
Santa Maria della Vittoria
Bernini's Ecstasy of Saint Teresa — one of the most technically extraordinary sculptures in Rome — sits in a side chapel of this small church near Termini, often with a handful of visitors rather than the queues you'd expect for a work of this quality.
The Pyramid of Cestius
A genuine Egyptian-style pyramid from 12 BC, built into the Aurelian Wall near the Testaccio metro stop — improbably intact and genuinely startling the first time you turn a corner and see it.