Best Neighborhoods
to Stay in Rome

The Celio is Rome's best-kept secret. This ancient hill, rising just south of the Colosseum and east of the Circus Maximus, is one of the city's original seven hills — and yet it remains almost entirely off the tourist radar. While visitors swarm around the Colosseum and then disappear back to their hotels in the centro storico, the Celio stays quiet, green, and genuinely Roman.

Staying here means waking up to one of the most extraordinary views in the world: the Colosseum, lit gold by the morning sun, a five-minute walk from your front door. The neighbourhood is dotted with early Christian churches, hidden gardens, medieval towers, and small trattorias where the owner knows every regular by name. It is, in our view, the single best base in Rome for a visitor who wants to experience the city deeply rather than just check off the sights.

Our apartments at Colosseum Holidays are located right in the heart of the Celio — which is why we know this neighbourhood better than anyone. We've watched the light change over the Colosseum at dawn, discovered the hidden gardens of Villa Celimontana, and eaten at Li Rioni around the corner so many times we've lost count. This is not just a neighbourhood we recommend. It's home.

Monti is the neighbourhood that Romans move to when they want to feel like they're living in a village — and that visitors discover when they want to feel like Romans. Wedged between the Colosseum and Termini station, it occupies the ancient Subura, Rome's most notorious working-class district in antiquity, and has reinvented itself as the city's most characterful, liveable neighbourhood.

The streets are narrow and photogenic, lined with independent boutiques, wine bars, excellent restaurants, and small churches. The social hub is Piazza della Madonna dei Monti, where locals gather for aperitivo every evening in what feels like the most naturally perfect scene in Rome. Monti is walkable to virtually everything in the centro storico, is 10 minutes from the Colosseum on foot, and has excellent restaurant and nightlife options within the neighbourhood itself.

No neighbourhood in Rome is more photographed than Trastevere — and for good reason. The labyrinth of golden-ochre buildings, ivy-clad walls, and uneven cobblestones on the west bank of the Tiber is genuinely, stubbornly beautiful. In the evenings, when the light turns amber and the restaurants fill with the sound of conversation and clattering glasses, Trastevere is simply one of the most atmospheric places in Europe.

It is also home to two of Rome's finest trattorias — Da Enzo al 29 and Trattoria Da Teo — as well as the magnificent Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere, one of the oldest churches in Rome. The neighbourhood has become increasingly popular with visitors over the past decade, which means it can feel less local than it once did, particularly on summer evenings. But stay in the right part of Trastevere — away from the main tourist strip around Piazza di Santa Maria — and you will still find a genuinely Roman experience.

The Centro Storico — the historic centre bounded by the Tiber to the west and the Roman Forum to the east — is where first-time visitors to Rome instinctively want to stay. And the logic is sound: the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Campo de' Fiori, the Trevi Fountain, and dozens of other unmissable sights are all within a 15-minute walk. You can step out of your front door and be standing in front of a Caravaggio within minutes.

The trade-off is price and crowd density. The centro storico is the most expensive place to stay in Rome, and during peak season the streets around the main monuments can feel genuinely overwhelmed. But if it's your first time in the city and you want to be at the absolute centre of everything, there is nowhere better.

Prati occupies the area immediately north of Castel Sant'Angelo, on the right bank of the Tiber. It was built in the late 19th century as a prosperous middle-class residential district, and it still feels like exactly that: wide, tree-lined boulevards, excellent food shops and delis, a neighbourhood market, and a pace of life that is distinctly more relaxed than the centro storico.

Its great advantage is the Vatican. St Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museums are a 10–15 minute walk, making Prati the obvious choice for visitors whose priority is the world's greatest art collection. Castel Sant'Angelo — one of Rome's most dramatic monuments — is practically on the doorstep, and the Tiber walk into the centre is genuinely lovely. It's also a great neighbourhood for families, with excellent supermarkets, wider streets, and a lower noise level.

Testaccio is Rome's most authentically working-class neighbourhood — and, for many food lovers, the most important place in the city. Built around the ancient Monte Testaccio (a hill made entirely of broken Roman amphorae) and the site of Rome's historic slaughterhouse, it gave birth to the cucina romana: the nose-to-tail cooking tradition that produced cacio e pepe, carbonara, coda alla vaccinara, and all the other dishes that now define Italian food worldwide.

Today, Testaccio is home to one of Rome's best food markets, a cluster of outstanding restaurants including the legendary Felice a Testaccio, and a neighbourhood feel that is refreshingly free of tourist infrastructure. It's slightly further from the main sights than Celio or Monti, but for visitors who prioritise eating and living like Romans, there is nowhere better.