Rome is not a city you skim. It is a city where a single afternoon can take you from a republican-era temple to a Renaissance cardinal's palazzo without breaking stride. This itinerary is built for travellers who want to read the city as a continuous story of power — how it was seized, displayed, and handed down from emperors to popes to the great aristocratic families who ran the place long after both were gone. If you find yourself more interested in why something was built than in getting a photograph of it, this trip is for you.

Start on the ancient spine of the city: the Colosseum and the Roman Forum lay out the machinery of imperial authority in stone, while the Capitoline Museums give you the finest collection of Roman sculpture anywhere and a view over the Forum that makes everything click into place. The Pantheon, still the best-preserved building from antiquity, belongs on day one as well. On day two, cross the river — Castel Sant'Angelo was Hadrian's mausoleum before it became a papal fortress, and the Vatican Museums show what happens when an institution accumulates art for five centuries without restraint. Day three belongs to the baroque families: Palazzo Doria Pamphilj and Palazzo Barberini are still half-lived-in, which makes them far more interesting than a conventional museum. The Catacombs add a deliberately quieter register. Save a full day for the Tivoli excursion — Hadrian's Villa and Villa d'Este together make the best argument Rome's hinterland has to offer.