Wonders of Rome Walk, from Aracoeli to Piazza Navona

A walk through the centre that takes the back streets between the famous stops rather than the direct line. It starts at Piazza d'Aracoeli and ends at Piazza Navona, and the guides fill the distance with the material that does not fit on plaques: emperors, the artists and architects who gave the skyline its shape, and the politicians whose private lives ran through modern Italian history. The tone is not reverent. One stop is worth booking for on its own. The Galleria Sciarra is a 19th-century courtyard, covered floor to ceiling in Art Nouveau frescoes, a few steps from the Trevi Fountain and walked past by almost everyone. It is a working office building and it is free, and most people never look through the arch. There is time at the Trevi Fountain for photographs and for the coin. On Sundays the group does not go inside the Pantheon. The building itself does not close on Sundays. Mass is celebrated at 10:30 on Sundays and holidays and entry during the service is free but for worship rather than sightseeing, which is what the restriction comes down to. This walk sees the Pantheon from the portico in any case.