Italy Pantheon, Rome

The Pantheon is an ancient 2nd century Roman temple and, since AD 609, a Catholic church called the Basilica of St. Mary and the Martyrs in Rome, Italy. It is perhaps the most famous, and architecturally most influential, rotunda.

The building was completed by the Roman emperor Hadrian and probably dedicated c. AD 126. Despite being almost 2,000 years old, the Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome.

It is one of the best-preserved of all Ancient Roman buildings, in large part because it has been in continuous use throughout its history.

The Pantheon is very very crowded with tourists, especially during the summer peak season. This image was captured at 5am in early June, meaning the surrounding streets were mostly empty, aside from a few street cleaning vehicles and the occasional drunk tourist stumbling around.

Definitely bring along a tripod so you can take a long exposure as well as use a wide angle lens. For this shot, I stood right in front of the fountain (Fontana del Pantheon) that can be found in the large public space in front of the entrance of the Pantheon.

The closest metro station is “Barberini” on line A, which is about a 10-minute walk or 700 metres from the Pantheon, although note that Rome’s metro system only starts operating at 5:30am.

You can catch a bus and get off at the Largo di Torre Argentina stop, which is about 400 metres from the Pantheon.

At night time, however, special night buses operate instead, check your GoogleMaps app or the dedicated Rome ATAC app for times and routes.

Getting around Rome using the night buses is simple and efficient, especially as there is little to no traffic.