Rome for The Solo Traveller: a Friday-to-Monday weekend

The best free view of the city, with the cannon fired at noon and the lighthouse of the Italians of Argentina; the busts line the walk.

Bramante's perfect little round temple in a courtyard, usually open and usually empty; the great fountain below is the spot for the sunset.

Fried rice balls and a beer standing up, then walk the Tiber back to wherever you are sleeping.

Ride the ancient road out past the catacombs and aqueducts to Villa dei Quintili; three hours out and back, no one to wait for.

Seven aqueducts marching across a field, the location of La Grande Bellezza's opening; a sandwich in the grass under the arches.

Rome's best pizza al taglio, eaten standing at a shelf outside with whoever is next to you; the toppings change by the hour.

Thirty minutes to the port city of ancient Rome: theatre, baths, mosaics, and no crowds; a whole town to walk at your own pace.

Walk the beach to the monument where the director was killed in 1975, then swim; the train back runs every fifteen minutes.

Tram 8 to the end of the line for fried artichokes and gnocchi at the counter; the wine list is the best of any trattoria in the city.

Look over the Forum from the back terrace before a single ticket is sold; Michelangelo's square is empty and the light is from the east.

The hill made of broken amphorae, open on request through the Sovrintendenza; otherwise walk its base, where the shards show in every wall.

A sandwich of braised oxtail from the market stall, eaten at the counter with the regulars, then the Leonardo Express.