Civitavecchia, Rome

Civitavecchia — literally "ancient city" — has served as Rome's maritime gateway since the Emperor Trajan commissioned its harbour in 106 AD, and the massive Forte Michelangelo, designed in part by Bramante and Michelangelo in the sixteenth century, still commands the waterfront with imposing Renaissance authority. Yet for most visitors, the port is a prologue to the Eternal City itself, lying just seventy minutes southeast by rail, where nearly three thousand years of Western civilisation unfold in marble, travertine, and ochre-tinted stucco.

Rome scarcely needs introduction, yet it never fails to astonish. The Colosseum, inaugurated in 80 AD with one hundred days of games, rises from the traffic of modern Rome like a colossal stone amphitheatre that simply refused to be demolished. A short walk leads past the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill to the Pantheon, whose unreinforced concrete dome — the largest in the world for over thirteen centuries — still admits a perfect cylinder of light through its open oculus. Vatican City, the world's smallest sovereign state, contains the Sistine Chapel's ceiling, Bernini's colonnade at St. Peter's Square, and the vast Vatican Museums.

Roman cuisine is a study in magnificent simplicity. Cacio e pepe — pasta tossed with pecorino romano and black pepper — demands nothing more than impeccable timing and quality ingredients. Carbonara, its richer cousin, adds guanciale and egg yolk. The Testaccio neighbourhood, once home to the city's slaughterhouse, remains the cradle of offal-based dishes like coda alla vaccinara (oxtail stew) and trippa alla romana. For an aperitivo, the Trastevere district offers cobblestone piazzas where Aperol spritzes glow orange in the evening light.

From Civitavecchia, alternatives to Rome abound. The Etruscan necropolis of Tarquinia, a UNESCO site, lies just twenty minutes north. The gardens of Villa Lante in Bagnaia, among the finest Renaissance gardens in Italy, are an hour's drive inland. Orvieto, perched on a volcanic tuff plateau with a cathedral whose façade rivals the Duomo of Siena, is ninety minutes east.

As the principal cruise port for Rome, Civitavecchia welcomes an extraordinary number of lines: AIDA, Azamara, Carnival Cruise Line, Costa Cruises, Crystal Cruises, Disney Cruise Line, Emerald Yacht Cruises, Explora Journeys, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, Holland America Line, Marella Cruises, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises, P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Royal Caribbean, Scenic Ocean Cruises, Seabourn, Silversea, Star Clippers, TUI Cruises Mein Schiff, Uniworld River Cruises, Viking, Virgin Voyages, and Windstar Cruises. It is a pivotal stop on virtually every western Mediterranean itinerary. April through June and September through October offer ideal weather for exploring Rome's outdoor splendours without the crush of high summer.