Sometimes I think your second visit to Rome, and many visits after that, are even more rewarding. Your first time you want to sit on the Spanish Steps (not allowed now and monitored at times by the ‘step police’), and see all the famous sites that tourists make a beeline for - the Colosseum, St. Peter’s Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona.

All are seriously worth spending time at because the history is amazing, but that history will only be brought alive in a compelling way if seen with a reputable, well qualified guide who lives and breathes what they do with passion, enthusiasm and knowledge. I have been using the same company in Rome since 2009 for tours of the Colosseum and Sistine Chapel and the guides are always excellent.

I can’t emphasise enough how much I love walking to the Trevi, Pantheon and Piazza Navona before breakfast whilst Rome still sleeps.

The second time round you realise how walkable Rome is; you start noticing unobtrusive details; you learn to look up more; you discover unusual, hidden, forgotten and sometimes bizarre places off the tourist gridlock, simply by wandering aimlessly.

Hidden a few steps from the Campo di Fiori market, you pass through a dark archway that opens into a small square where time has stood still for more than five hundred years. It is enclosed on all four sides by colourful houses that, despite some alterations in the 16th century, have retained their late medieval character with their outside staircases and overhanging roofs.

Until the end of the 19th century there were many courtyards like this in Rome. Far more people lived in the historical centre then which gave Rome a villagy feel for a long time. In 1871 when Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, its rapid growth began, yet the charming Arco degli Acetari has managed to survive.

Never a time goes by without a visit to the Bramante Monastery, a little oasis only 200 metres away from the busyness of Piazza Navona, yet many people walk straight past. The cloister that Donato Bramante built in 1500 transports you to Renaissance times. Thick walls deaden the sounds of the world outside and welcome you inside to wonderful, artistic exhibitions that change every year; a bookshop that specializes in art; a cafe that always tempts with hard to resist cakes and pastries and depending on the time of day, coffee or aperitivo. The best surprise, though, is a room that looks like a hotel lobby with comfortable armchairs and sofas to relax in and enjoy your food and drink, but there’s more. There is a window with a view into the church where, if you look to the right on the opposite wall, you will see Raphael’s famous Sybil fresco, which he painted in 1524 for the banker Agostino Chigi’s chapel.

There is a very old building in Via dei Portoghesi that has a tower dating back to the Middle Ages. The story tells us that long ago a nobleman called Frangipani lived there with his wife and baby. At the time it was fashionable to have an unusual pet and their household included a chimpanzee called Hilda. One day the monkey grabbed the baby and climbed to the top of the tower. When Frangipani came home, he found an excited throng of people in front of his door. He sent up a quick prayer, then whistled to Hilda and down she came holding the baby unharmed.

The family installed a lantern and a Madonna on the roof in gratitude. Although there have been many owners since then, the Madonna and the lantern remain on the top of the tower.

The window behind the balustrade was the apartment Julia Roberts lived in during the filming of Eat, Pray, Love. The barber shop below also featured in the movie.

Since time immemorial, Rome received its water by aqueduct. They channeled so much water from the mountains to the Eternal City that not only did the population always have enough to drink, by the beginning of the 4th century AD they were also supplying eleven large imperial baths, over 900 bath-houses and many private households. Later, public fountains on the many squares guaranteed that people and animals always had fresh water.

Today, more than 2,500 water dispensers are scattered throughout the city. The water is cold, perfectly safe to drink and tastes like water should taste. Romans call these cast-iron hydrants “Nasoni”, which means big noses. Fill up your water bottles, or drink from one. The trick is to block the large spout with your hand so that the water shoots out of a small hole in the top, making it easy to drink.

Near the Trevi Fountain is a superb courtyard. At the end of the 19th century, the owner of the stately palace was Maffeo II Barberini Colonna di Sciarra. This politically active prince was a member of parliament and the publisher of a newspaper, which was headquartered in his palace. When the paper closed down in 1885, he decided to have the building altered and the courtyard remodelled. The architect, Giulio De Angelis, designed a roof of metal and glass. In 1890, the painter Giuseppe Cellini was commissioned to decorate the facades with frescoes.

Three years later there was a major banking scandal in Rome. Prince Maffeo was involved and fled to Paris. The work on his courtyard continued, however. The frescoes were completed in 1895 and portray aristocratic ladies in roles typical of the time: wife, mother, gardener, musician and conversationalist. The upper floors illustrate female virtues: chastity, modesty, patience, strength, humility, reserve, goodness, mercy, kindness, loyalty, generosity and justice.

All the figures are dressed in clothes appropriate to the virtue being depicted and show what Roman fashions were like in 1900.

Every street you walk down in Rome, there will be a shuttered window, a crack in a wall, a thick stone door - all suffused with history that can tell a gripping story. My notebooks have filled over the years with hundreds of stories that are gently divulged as we walk the streets of the eternal city.

Ci vediamo la prossima settimana.

Deb