The city center consists of clearly separated and characteristic quarters. The network of streets that make up the centro storico occupies a patch of land on the left bank of the Tiber, bounded to the east by via del Corso, and from the north and south by the water. From here, central Rome stretches eastwards past via del Corso towards the main shopping streets and more convoluted streets and alleys around the Spanish Steps all the way to via Nazionale; towards the larger monuments of the ancient city to the south; to the enormous stretches of the Villa Borghese park in the north. Left bank of the river, which cuts itself off from the hustle and bustle of this part of the city, includes the Vatican and St.. Peter, and to the south of them Trastevere. Even in ancient times, this district was separate from Rome proper and is still considered to be so, and at the same time it has the highest concentration of nightlife.
It would be crazy to expose your nerves, moving around Rome by any means of transport, and besides, the really best way to explore the city center and the sites east of Termini is on foot. The same applies to the monuments of antiquity, Vatican and Trastevere. Public transport can be used by driving to Testaccio, EUR, catacombs or other attractions dotted around the city's outskirts.
Piazza Venezia is not so much a square, at the intersection of streets, and mobile. This is a good starting point for your sightseeing tour, because it is located near both the medieval and renaissance center of Rome and the ruins of the ancient city. Despite heavy traffic, it is a dignified place surrounded by majestic buildings. You keep coming back to this point during the tour. The west end of the square is the Palazzo di Venezia, the first great Renaissance palace in the city, built for the Venetian Pope Paul II in the mid-15th century, and for a long time serving as the embassy of the Venetian Republic. The more known fact is, that Mussolini had moved here after coming to power, occupying the enormous Sala del Mappamundo. From a small balcony overlooking the square, he delivered pathos to the crowds below. In those years, the palace lights never went out, which was supposed to create an impression, that work is in full swing at the headquarters of the fascist political and military authorities; nowadays the building plays a much smaller role, occasionally hosting a temporary exhibition and housing a museum of arts and crafts (pn.-sb. 9.00-13.30, nd. 9.00-12.30; 4000 L), with the harvest, gathered by Paul II.
From the south, the palace is touched by the Church of San Marco (codz. 9.00-12.00), with entrance from Piazza San Marco, basilica rebuilt in 833 r. and supplemented by various Renaissance and 18th-century popes. It is nice, a cozy church restored by Paul II - whose effort was to create a graceful portico and a gilded ceiling - with a date from the 9th century. mosaic, depicting Pope Gregory offering his church to Christ.
But the church, the palace and everything else pales in comparison to the marble monstrosity, on the other side of the street. Monument to Victor Emmanuel, that is, the Altar of the Fatherland, erected at the turn of the century to commemorate the unification of the country is equally beautiful, what other constructions inspired by this event. The Romans sardonically call the monument "a typewriter", American soldiers have dubbed it the "wedding cake" and it is undoubtedly pompous, vulgar creature, too big, too white (marble, which was applied, it will never develop a patina) and in general, too pushy. King Victor Emmanuel II, to which the monument is to some extent a tribute, he probably wouldn't be delighted with it either, for everything points to it, that he was a modest man; seems to, that the only person, whose construction of the monument turned out to be good, was the then prime minister, acting (which may not be a complete coincidence) the function of MP from Brescia, where does the marble come from. By the way, statue of the king on horseback, behind the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, it is considered the largest in the world (the mustache is three meters long), though, it's ironic, royal dynasty, to which it is dedicated, there were only four monarchs.