Having visited Rome previously on several occasions and seen all the prominent tourist sights, this year I decided to seek out the more obscure sites included in the WHS inscription.

My first call was the church of San Paolo Fuore la Mura, a monster church beside a metro station in SW Rome.

The rest of the day I spent touring the palazzi, mausolea and churches listed as properties of the Holy See enjoying extraterratorial rights.

Of the churches, San Giovanni in Laterano was lavish and splendid, as also was Santa Maria Maggiore. Santa Maria in Trastevere was rather shabby and insignificant by comparison.

Augustus' mausoleum was a rather insignificant ruin, while Hadrian's was concealed within the Castel Sant Angelo.

The Palaces varied from the shabby and neglected to the pristine serving as museums and offices. My favourite was the Palazzo delle Cancelleria in Corso Vittorio Emmanuele II, where the courtyards housed a collection of Leonardo da Vincio's Big Machines. Another architecturally pleasing example was the Palazzo di Propaganda Fide in the Piazza di Spagna.