Rome at Night on Foot, Pasquino to the Colosseum

In July and August the centre of Rome is unwalkable between eleven and five. The stone holds the heat, the squares have no shade and the queues are in full sun. By ten at night the temperature has dropped several degrees, the coach parties have gone and the monuments are lit. That is the case for this walk, and the route is built to take advantage of it. It starts at Piazza di Pasquino, just off Piazza Navona, and runs east and downhill through the centre before climbing to the Colosseum. Piazza Navona first, with the Fountain of the Four Rivers and two thousand years of uses for the same oval of ground. The Pantheon next, best seen from outside at night when the portico is lit and the square is quiet. Then the Trevi Fountain, with a stop for the coin and for photographs that do not have four hundred people in them. After that the walk turns to the ancient city: the Altare della Patria, Trajan's Column, and the imperial forums of Caesar, Augustus and Trajan along the Via dei Fori Imperiali. It ends outside the Colosseum, floodlit, with the arches empty. The group is small and guided in English throughout.