Things to do nearRiver Tiber

The River Tiber has defined Rome since before the city had a name. Flowing roughly 400 kilometers from the Apennine mountains to the Tyrrhenian Sea, it passes through Umbria and Lazio before carving its broad, deliberate course through the capital. Ancient Romans called it the Tevere and regarded it with a reverence bordering on devotion, personifying it as a god and crediting it with sheltering the infants Romulus and Remus in the founding myth of the city itself.

Along its Roman stretch, the river connects neighborhoods and monuments that span every era of Western history. Strolling the Lungotevere embankments, you pass Renaissance palaces, medieval towers, and the grand masonry of the Castel Sant'Angelo, the mausoleum of Emperor Hadrian repurposed as a papal fortress. Nearby, you can visit Saint Peter's Basilica, whose dome Michelangelo designed and which remains the gravitational center of Catholic Christendom.

Further along the city's ancient core, landmarks such as the Roman Forum speak to Rome's republican and imperial past. The river once received the city's triumphal processions and its trade barges alike, making it simultaneously sacred and commercial.

The Tiber rewards slow exploration. Its bridges, from the ancient Ponte Milvio to the elegant Ponte Sant'Angelo lined with Bernini's angels, are destinations in their own right, and few experiences in Italy match watching the city's roofline reflected in the river at the close of a long day.