By Giovanna Dell'orto

updated 11:14 a.m. ET Sept. 5, 2008

ROME - The light splashes liquid gold over marble columns in the Roman Forum and the faded facades of Baroque palaces in the distance. Nearby, a heated dialogue resonates in the hearty Roman accents that infuse everyday interactions with playful theatricality.

I am standing in the center of Rome, amid its absurd profusion of gorgeous monuments, historic sites, religious wonders — and everyday contemporary life.

A man on a scooter drops off dry cleaning next to a 1,900-year-old temple. A woman in extravagantly high heels heads to her office, housed in 17th-century Papal palaces.

This is why Rome, majestic and down-to-earth, has a hold on me like no other city. Every turn down a cobblestone street hides yet another magnificent piece of art and history that feels decadently ignored and singularly mine.

Trying to get in all the sights is virtually impossible — I didn't make it even when I lived here a few years ago for six months. Now that I barely manage a weekend a year, I have developed my own walking itinerary of favorite spots. Here is my personal pick of what to see in Rome if you only have two days. Best of all, every site listed here is free, except for the Vatican Museums (about $20, free the last Sunday of the month, ) and the Roman Forum, which includes the Colosseum (about $16).

Caput Mundi: Let's start in the morning at Piazza Venezia, the logistical center of the metropolis that a couple of millennia ago called itself — and for centuries indeed was — caput mundi, the "head of the world."

Climb the grand ramp up the Capitoline Hill to Michelangelo's Piazza del Campidoglio, then walk to the terraces on either side of Rome's town hall. There it is: The heart of the Roman Republic and Empire lies in ruins at your feet, a sweeping vista of muscularly carved arches, columns, statues and basilicas.

Alessandra Tarantino / Associated Press Tourists eat in front of the Pantheon, in Rome.

Imagine yourself in the power center of the ancient world by walking down the length of the Roman Forum along the Via Sacra, the sacred way. I'm oddly, movingly reminded of this city's breathing history every time I see the faded wreath of fabric flowers lying in front of the Temple of Caesar at the reputed site where his assassinated body was cremated. I circle around the Colosseum, inaugurated in 80 A.D. to a crowd of about 50,000 spectators and for 300 years the site of bloody battles between gladiators and beasts. Then I head back along via dei Fori Imperiali.

On the right are the Imperial Forums, built as the Roman Forum started to be too tight for the growing empire. The most impressive ruins are at the end, as you reach back toward Piazza Venezia. The Mercati Traianei were Rome's mall, with some 150 shops along several floors, and just past them rises the 98-foot Colonna Traiana, a column whose spiraling bas-reliefs depicting Rome's campaigns against eastern European tribes are a masterpiece of Roman sculpture.

I always stop for lunch just across Piazza Venezia, down via del Gesu. When I want to sit down to classics like saltimbocca (thin veal slices rolled with prosciutto and sage), I head to Enoteca Corsi (via del Gesu 87).

Alessandra Tarantino / ASSOCIATED PRESS A view from inside the Pantheon in Rome.

If I feel compelled to keep going, I step in any of the compact, family-run grocery stores like the Tiberi brothers', a couple of doors down from the enoteca (Italian for wine shop), for a slice of pizza bianca — chewy, crusty pizza dough — filled with arugula, mozzarella di bufala and prosciutto crudo.

On one visit, after I had been gone for about two years, I had barely crossed the threshold when one of the brothers greeted me with a reproachful, "We're out of pizza bianca, Miss, you should have called us from the plane!"

I usually take my pizza break on the low wall next to the Pantheon (Piazza della Rotonda), marveling at perhaps the best-preserved monument of ancient Rome — this perfectly proportioned, vast dome-topped structure has been a temple for 1,900 years, the last 1,400 as a Christian church.

Armed with ice cream from one of the nearby gelaterie, I amble through the contorted medieval streets, past Renaissance and Baroque palaces, all in the earthy ocher and golden tones of Rome, until I make my way to the most annoyingly tourist-thronged attraction of all, Fontana di Trevi (Piazza di Trevi).

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