When in Rome, the saying goes, and for a few days in September 2008, I did. One of my good friends welcomed me for my second trip to the city, and my first experience of the surrounding towns in Lazio.

The forum we see today is only a suggestion of its former glory as the centre of the empire. For hundreds of years people removed the marble for other construction, notably the Vatican.
Hadrian rebuilt Agrippa's Pantheon after a fire. The dome forms a perfect sphere from the oculus to the floor.
The greatest church in Christendom, St. Peter's Basilica, is largely to the design of Michelangelo, and is built over the tomb of the first pope, St. Peter. The dome is the tallest in the world.

Poggio Bustone is a small mountain-side village near Rieti. The village has several monuments and stories relating to St. Francis of Assisi.

It is said that when St. Francis visited Poggio Bustone, he walked up the mountain to the cave now surrounded by the Sacro Speco, where he received absolution from Archangel Gabriel. Along the way are seven tiny chapels containing impressions of his knee, his hood, the Devil's finger, and so on.

Other towns I saw include Rieti, Palombara Sabina and (the waterfalls of) Marmore (actually in Umbria).

The waterfall at Marmore was constructed by the ancient Romans to protect Rieti. It is the tallest man-made waterfall in the world.
The cathedral of Rieti.	Palombara Sabina.

Tivoli is the site of two distinguished villas. Villa D'Este is a renaissance villa chiefly notable for the hundreds of fountains in its gardens. Villa Adriana is the country retreat of Emperor Hadrian (he of the wall).

Hadrian's Villa is a huge complex comprising multiple baths, temples and libraries. Perhaps most enchanting are the Canopus and the private island in the 'Maritime Theatre', where one can imagine the good emperor escaping from the responsibilities of ruling everyone from Newcastle to Jerusalem.