If you want to see Rome at its pristine best, then there has probably never been a better time to visit than 2026.
The Jubilee is finished, but it leaves behind all the wonderful restorations that took place for its preperation. Frustrating as they were, in a city with a history as long as Rome and with as mind-boggling an array of extraordinary heritage sites to safeguard, adequate conservation is vital in ensuring that the city’s treasures are handed down in good shape to generations to come. In reality the works were carried off with amazing speed, and we’re already delighting in the results! Here are ten newly restored sites in Rome that you’ll be able to admire in tip-top condition, and with no scaffolding in sight!
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Piazza Navona is the most beloved public space in Rome, and visitors to the Eternal City over the past few months have been dismayed to find its three central fountains, two of them designed by Gianlorenzo Bernini, covered up with scaffolding.
It had been 20 years since Bernini’s dramatic Fountain of the Four Rivers was last restored, and the intervening decades had left their fair share of pollution and incrustation on the 17th-century marble. No more! Just in time for the Jubilee year, Bernini’s masterpiece has been returned to its original splendor, and the Danube, Ganges, River Plate and Nile positively shimmer in the Roman sun as water rushes around them. Learn more about what to see in Piazza Navona with our guide here:
This extraordinarily moving portrayal of the Virgin Mary cradling the body of her crucified son was the sculpture that transformed Michelangelo into a superstar before he reached his 25th birthday, and it’s back on display in Saint Peter’s Basilica after the installation of a new state-of-the-art lighting system and protective glass screen.
Why the protection? Michelangelo’s sculpture has long been the target of iconoclastic vandalism, most seriously when Laszlo Toth used a hammer to knock off bits of the Virgin Mary in an attack in 1972 (thankfully, she was meticulously restored). The new non-reflective glass will keep Michelangelo’s masterpiece safe without detracting from the viewing experience, whilst the superb illumination means you can see details of the artist’s chisel work like never before.
If you’ve been following the news from Rome over the past few months, you’ll certainly have read a lot about the restoration works that have seen the Trevi fountain’s waters run dry and millions of tourists disappointed when they were able to toss their coins only into a little basin nearby. We thought that the municipality’s solution of constructing a temporary walkway over the fountain during its restoration was a brilliant solution, allowing visitors to get up close-and-personal with the fountain’s superb sculptural detailing; but now the waters are running again and the scaffolding has been taken down, we’re reminded why this is Rome’s most atmospheric and dramatic monument. The way you can hear the fountain’s rushing waters before you can see it emerging from the narrow tangle of surrounding streets is sheer theatrical magic!
To manage crowds, there is a new queueing system in place if you want to descend to the level of the fountain’s basin to toss your coin – it means more waiting but much less jostling! A new ticketing system will come into place in February 2026, which will mean you’ll need to pay €2 on site to get up and close with the monument.
Marking the site of St. Peter’s tomb at the crossing of the Catholic world’s most important church, Bernini’s peerless baldacchino canopy is back on show at St. Peter’s basilica after a stunning and whirlwind restoration. Oohs and aahs of appreciation were audible and unavoidable when the massive scaffolding came down late in December 2024: it had been fully 250 years since the baldachin had been last restored, so it’s little wonder that the freshly buffed bronze burns with an intensity we’ve never seen before!
Only now is it possible to see the monument through the eyes of its first viewers back in the 17th century, and to understand why Bernini’s ability to conjure up visions of the divine in stone, metal and paint made him the perfect interpreter of Rome’s Baroque spirit. It’s an exciting and inspiring sight. Find out what you need to see in St. Peter’s with our guide to the basilica.
The magnificent Piazza della Rotonda, home to the ancient Pantheon, is looking its spectacular best once more after the recent completion of the restoration work to its central fountain. The lovely, gleaming-once-more fountain features water-spewing dolphins and grotesque theatrical masks supporting a soaring Egyptian obelisk, installed here by Pope Clement X in the 17th century. It’s a fabulous backdrop for Rome’s most photogenic ancient monument.
Magnificent Ponte Sant’Angelo links the massive bulk of Castel Sant’Angelo on the Tiber’s western bank to the city’s historic centre across the river. It’s one of only two river crossings in Rome to have survived largely intact from antiquity, and became the most important route to the Vatican for pilgrims in the Middle Ages – a status it still holds today. It’s a good job, then, that it’s been restored just in time for the jubilee and the waves of the faithful that will be descending on Rome over the next 12 months!
Hoardings had been covering the series of angels designed by Bernini to line the bridge in the 17th century, as well as blocking the view down the river. These too have recently come down, revealing gleaming white sculptures, freshly scrubbed marble and iron guardrails and the majestic panorama of Castel Sant’Angelo rising imposingly just across the bridge.
After a seemingly never-ending restoration that saw its venerable Renaissance doors shut for the past two years, the wonderful church of Santa Maria del Popolo is open to the public once again, freshly scrubbed and smelling of plaster and barely dried paint. What a pleasure it is to be able to stop by to take a peek into the Cerasi chapel, where Caravaggio’s extraordinary canvasses depicting the Martyrdom of Saint Peter and the Conversion of Saint Paul frame Annibale Caracci’s altarpiece in one of Rome’s great showcases of Baroque art. And that’s far from all: the Raphael-designed and Bernini-decorated Chigi chapel (familiar to all you Angels and Demons buffs out there) is a sumptuous feast for the eyes, whilst various other monuments and artworks too numerous to mention dot the sprawling interior.
The main route leading to St. Peter’s Basilica, Via del Conciliazione, has been a bit of a mess over the past few months, an unsightly jumble of yellow barriers and police tape ruining the usually serene approach to the great church, turning it into a traffic-clogged nightmare in the process. No more! The now pedestrianised thoroughfare, beginning at the newly created Piazza Pia square, makes for a stress-free passage towards the Vatican that doesn’t feel overly crowded even at peak times.
San Giovanni in Laterano is officially the cathedral of Rome, and the venerable basilica will be in the eye of the storm for many of the central events of the Catholic Jubilee. The large piazza in front of the church has long been a building site, but restyling works have just about come to a conclusion here too, creating much more space for pedestrians.
Ok so this might not be as aesthetically exciting as some of the other restorations on our list, but arguably no recent renovation project in the city has been more important than the works to improve the area around Termini station, the city’s major transport hub. The usually grotty and chaotic piazza in front of the station has been completely transformed, and was revealed to the public in early January 2025 as a clean and functional space that’s bright, safe at night and easy to navigate. It’s also now much simpler to find the stops for city buses that pass through the square, a task that has driven many first-time visitors to Rome to distraction over the years.
For 25 years, Through Eternity have been organizing itineraries showcasing the best of Rome led by our resident expert guides. If you’re planning a visit to the Eternal City this year, be sure to get in touch to help plan your perfect trip!
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