Best ancient sites in Italy

Italy’s ancient sites are mostly Roman, but not only: the Etruscan cities of the dead at Cerveteri and Tarquinia, the Greek theatres of Sicily and the Bronze Age towers and giants’ tombs of Sardinia came first. Rome has the largest group, from the Colosseum, Forum and Palatine to the Baths of Caracalla, the Appian Way and Ostia Antica, the city’s old port. The Bay of Naples is the second cluster, with the towns and villas that Vesuvius buried in AD 79: Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis and Stabiae, with Baiae nearby. Sicily adds Syracuse, Taormina and the mosaics of Villa Romana del Casale, while Verona, Lecce and Benevento keep Roman arenas and theatres in their centres.