The mother city is dotted with ruined temples, triumphal arches, crumbling statues and Roman pillars, but the biggest concentration of ancient remains are at the Forum (or central square) and adjacent Palatine Hill. You can wander the ruins of the Senate, built by Julius Caesar; the site where great orators once preached; and innumerable temples dedicated to gods and vestal virgins. Frescoes still colour some hillside houses. The Colosseum stands nearby and astounds even today with its sheer size. Fans of Gladiator and Colleen McCullough novels will be thrilled. See italia.it

HADRIAN'S WALL, NORTHUMBERLAND, UK

Hadrian's famous defensive wall across one of Rome's wildest and most distant borders links 122 kilometres of garrisons. Housesteads has one of the best locations: it sits on top of a ridge, adjacent to the only section of wall on which you can walk. Otherwise, a track follows its contours through superb scenery across the narrowest point of England. The outpost of Vindolanda– both a military and civilian settlement – brings the Roman period in Britain to life through daily objects such as shoes, jewellery and letters home; archaeologists and volunteers are often on hand to answer questions. See visithadrianswall.co.uk

VILLA CASALE, PIAZZA ARMERINA, ITALY

Sicily's Roman overlords lived in luxury, demonstrated in the remains of this sprawling villa (perhaps Emperor Maximian's hunting lodge) whose floors preserve some of the best and most extensive Roman mosaics anywhere. Scenes show hunters making sacrifices to Diana, a boar hunt, and deer being captured in nets. Other mosaics are surreal, with cupids floating in boats, an enormous duck pulling a chariot, and various mythological beasts. The best-known mosaics show sporting girls in bikinis: a champion accepts a laurel wreath, competitors take part in a race, and gymnasts exercise with balls and dumbbells. See villaromanadelcasale.it

JERASH, JORDAN

This wealthy Roman trading town 50 kilometres north of Amman is extraordinary: you can still stroll colonnaded streets (main street The Cardo runs for 700 metres), sit on the tiered seats of the hippodrome, and admire the elegant, oval-shaped town square and several bathhouses. An arch commemorates the AD129 visit of Emperor Hadrian. Details bring the ruins to life: chariot ruts in the flagstones, and the chiselled names of wealthy citizens who donated money to the city's theatre. Most of the commercial and civic centre of the town has been excavated; huge residential quarters still sit under the desert sands. See visitjordan.com

DIOCLETIAN'S PALACE, SPLIT, CROATIA

Lively Split, one of Croatia's busiest ports, was chosen as the retirement home of Emperor Diocletian, who knocked up a vast palace here in AD305. Amazingly, much of it still stands and has become Split's old town, palace corridors turned into streets and accumulating Renaissance and Venetian layers in the process: surely one of the only World Heritage sites full of fruit stalls, student bars and street buskers. You can hunt down Roman gateways, storehouses and the Peristyle or main palace courtyard; the emperor's mausoleum has been transformed into the cathedral. See visitsplit.com

PONT DU GARD, NIMES, FRANCE

Aqueducts are one of the things the Romans did for us, according to the famous Monty Python sketch, and this superb example some 20 kilometres from Nimes (which itself has a fine Roman amphitheatre) is certainly impressive. The aqueduct spans the Gard River and valley of gnarly olive trees and rosemary-scented scrub, and has a simple elegance that belies its clever engineering. Find out more at the wonderful and very contemporary museum, which details its construction, the amazing sophistication of Roman plumbing (which featured pressurised running water), and daily life in a Gallo-Roman town. See pontdugard.fr