Pantheon, Rome

Perhaps one of the most striking sites in Rome: walk around a corner and bam! There’s the Pantheon, its thick Corinthian columns and oversized pediment jutting out from the dome look like the structure was just dropped there via a time machine. Baroque-era artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini may have snatched all the bronze on the roof for his Baldacchino in St. Peter’s Basilica and plenty of marble was filched for building churches, but the Pantheon is still one of the most striking buildings in Rome. It doesn't matter if you had to trudge through your history classes, or you loved studying Roman mythology, seeing this piece of ancient history is definitely one of the top things to do in Rome. The Pantheon, which means “temple of all gods,” was a pagan temple until it was converted into a church, which is what eventually saved it from being completely destroyed. The spacious inside houses the tombs of a few famous Italians, including the artist Raphael and the first king of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele II.

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