Rome

Roughly three thousand euros in loose change lands in the Trevi Fountain every single day, swept up by workers with long-handled brushes and a suction hose, then handed over to Caritas to fund food and shelter programs for Rome’s homeless population. That’s been the arrangement since 2001, and it turns a superstition, one coin for a return trip, two for a new romance, three for marriage, into roughly a million and a half euros a year of actual charity funding. I like knowing that before I toss my own coin over my left shoulder, because it makes the ritual feel less like tourist theater and more like an odd, functioning piece of civic infrastructure.

The city just finished a construction decade, and it shows

Rome spent 2024 and 2025 preparing for the Catholic Church’s Jubilee year, which wrapped up in January 2026, and the physical result is a city that’s noticeably more walkable than it was a few years back. Piazza Pia near the Vatican was widened into the largest pedestrian plaza in Rome, and sidewalks across the historic center got rebuilt or expanded as part of the same push. The Jubilee crowds themselves are gone now, but the infrastructure they justified is staying, so 2026 visitors get the benefit of a genuinely more pedestrian-friendly Rome without having to fight the pilgrim crowds that packed the city through most of last year.

Booking the Colosseum properly

Standard adult admission to the Colosseum runs 18 euros, with a compulsory timed-entry reservation that you need to lock in ahead of your visit; tickets open for booking 30 days out, and slots release gradually through the day matching when you actually want to walk in. EU citizens aged 18 to 25 pay a reduced rate, and anyone under 18 from an EU country enters free, but free doesn’t mean skip the booking step: everyone, including free entries, needs a reserved time slot or they’ll be turned away at the gate. If you want to go deeper than the standard ticket, the premium options covering the underground chambers and arena floor run a bit more and sell out well before the standard slots do, so book those first if they’re on your list at all.

One quirk worth knowing about: as of May 2026, ticket holder names can only be changed once, and that change has to happen by midnight a full week before your visit date. Plan around this if you’re booking for a group where someone might drop out.

My honest opinion on the greatest hits

Skip the Sistine Chapel on a first visit if you’re short on time and the line is brutal that day. It’s extraordinary, but so is walking the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill with almost no line at all most mornings, and you’ll get a far better sense of how the ancient city actually functioned as a working capital than you will craning your neck at a ceiling in a room packed shoulder to shoulder with people being shushed by guards. The Pantheon, meanwhile, is free, largely uncrowded compared to the Colosseum, and arguably the single best-preserved building from the ancient world still standing anywhere, so put that ahead of paid attractions on your list rather than after them.

Eating and moving around like it’s not your first trip

Roman restaurants and plenty of shops still close for a few hours in the afternoon, generally between about 1 and 4 pm, so don’t plan a big lunch outing expecting every kitchen to be running. Street food fills that gap nicely: supplì, the fried rice balls with a molten mozzarella center, and a panino con la mortadella from a proper deli counter will get you through the afternoon without needing a sit-down meal.

The city runs potable public drinking fountains called nasoni all over the historic center, and refilling a bottle at one costs nothing and beats buying water at inflated tourist prices near the major sights. For getting around, ATAC’s public transport network is cheap and covers the city well enough that a car is more hassle than it’s worth in the historic center, where much of the street grid is now pedestrianized anyway following the recent upgrades. A Roma Pass gets you discounted museum admission plus transit if you’re hitting several paid sites in a short trip, though if you’re mostly doing free or cheap outdoor sights like the Forum and the fountains, it’s not worth the upfront cost.