(Editor's Note: This museum is currently closed for renovation. No word on when it will re-open)

Ever wonder how Rome would have looked when it was the mightiest empire in the world? For anyone wishing to understand the layout of the ancient city, the fascinating models of ancient Rome at the Museo della Civiltà Romana make it well worth the 20-minute metro ride to this highly informative museum. There are full-size plaster casts of the reliefs of Trajan’s Column—unraveled at eye-height so all can see the full stories of the victories over the Dacians—as well as models of Roman war machines and aqueducts, with hordes of schoolchildren getting their first indoctrination into their illustrious ancestry. But the absolute highpoint of the museum is the phenomenal 1:250 scale model of the city of Rome, as it appeared in the early a.d. 4th century.

The EUR suburb was built in the Fascist era to stage the planned World Fair of 1942—canceled due to World War II. Though never completed, EUR’s mix of rationalist and classical-inspired elements will enthuse anyone with a serious interest in architecture.