Rome

See: Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. Seek out this stunning church in the east of the city containing numerous frescoes, artefacts from the Holy Land and a replica of the Shroud of Turin. You can also request a tour of its prety vegetable garden tended by the monks next door.

Taxi from the airport is about 40 minutes to the centre.

When in Rome, do as the (extremely wealthy) Romans do, and pop into Christian Dior. If your credit card can take the heat, this is the place to go. Italy's key fashion designers (Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Fendi) are bassed on Via Condotti.

At sunset, climb up the Passeggiata del Gianicolo to Piazzale Garibaldi. Sit on the wall, dangle your legs over the hill and watch Rome spread out before you.

If Via del Corso is too hectic, head to the elegant Piazza San Lorenzo in Lucina, where you will find historic cafes, restaurants and trendy wine bars.

Millions of gallons of water were pumped into ancient Rome via aqueducts. Modern Rome still enjoys an abundance of cold and clean water which you can drink from street-fountains known as nasoni (big noses).

In addition to the incredible Pantheon which dominates the piazza like some ancient lunar module, Piazza della Rotunda is a maze of narrow streets, packed which churches, restaurants and cafes.

If you have been brushing up on your italian before visiting, you may still find yourself confused in Rome. Many people use the local dialect which, among other things, means chopping the ends off most words. For instance, "lets est" in standard italian is andiamo a mangiare, while in Romenesco it becomes namo a magna.

Via Margutta, as soon as you turn the corner into this cool cobbled street, the thermometer seems to drop to a more civilised level. Until well into the dolce vita years, this lane of pastel palazzos draped with wisteria in the artists' quarter north of the Spanish Steps was full of artisan workshops. Today, only a handful survive, in among the art galleries and antique shops that now line the alley. One is the marvellous cluttered Bottega del Marmoraro at number 53B where former architect Sando Fiorentini carries on the cave-of-wonders marble workshop founded by his father. Nearby, at number 51, is the courtyard where Gregory Peck. bohemian bachelor pad was located in Roman Holiday.

In a residential palazzo on elegant Piazza di Spagna lies one of Rome's best kept secrets: a house-museum in the apartment where the metaphysical painter de Chirico, known for his surreal deserted cityspaces, lived for 30 years with his wife Isabella until he died in 1978. Little has changed in his comfortably bourgeois home since then, apart from the arrangement of his paintings and sketches, which give an excellent overview of his long career. Upstairs is a glorious studio. Look behind the easel and you will see a coral horn, a horseshoe and other good luck charms that belonged to the superstitious artist. (31 Piazza di Spagna)

In the 1630s, for his first independent commission, a church and monastery for the Spanish Trinitarian order, architect Francesco Borromini had to work with a tiny site, not much bigger than the footprint of one of the piers that holds up the dome of St Peter's. He ran with the remit to deliver a masterpiece, centring on a church around a lozenge pattern rather than the traditional cross plan. Borromini traced a convex and concave line that creates the illusion of continuous movement. Viewed from the pews, the oval dome above appears to float on a bed of light. The design was immediately recognised as revolutionary. He was the Frank Gehry of the baroque. (via del Quirinale)

The Turtle Fountain (fontana delle tartarughe) is only 10-minute walk from its Trevi cousin but it seems to belong o a different world. Where the Trevi struts and thunders, the Turtle, which dates from the 1580s, charms and gurgles. For the Ancient Rome-inspired basin sculptor Taddeo Landini was asked to create the four smiling bronze boys who rest their feet on water-spouting dolphins. The turtles that the boys appear to be helping as they scramble into the upper bowl are later touches, added around 80 years afterwards, perhaps by Bernini. This area has been the hub of Jewish Rome since the Middle Ages, and the kosher in nearby Portico d'Ottavia is known for its ricotta-and-sour-cherry pie.

Day trip: Lago Albano. This beautiful volcanic lake is perfect for swimming, sunbathing and assuaging your hunger at one of the many lakeside restaurants. It is all overlooked by the Pope's summer residence at the pretty town of Castel Gandolfo, also worth a visit.

Day trip: The Parco dei Monstri (Monster Park) at Bomarzo is about 90 kilometres north-west of the city. This surreal garden, with its weird sculptures, was created by Duke Vicino Orsini in memory of his wife back in the 16th century.