Rome · shot June to October 1952
One day of small lies, told in real places. Irving’s sheet is ringed at frame 13: Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck on the Spanish Steps, in a Paramount publicity photograph of 1953. Here is what is still true in Rome today.
Night · the Forum, then Via Margutta
Joe first finds the sleeping princess by the Arch of Septimius Severus. In 2025 the exact spot was behind a barrier for maintenance, though similar views were open nearby.
Inside the Roman Forum, on a named Forum ticket (Forum Pass Super, €16, one day and one entry).
Number 51 stands in for Joe’s flat: Ann arrives there at night and leaves the next morning. The big wooden doors are still there, but the archway is now gated and entry is discouraged.
Private homes behind a gated archway: see the doors from the street and go no further. Not on the map.
Ancient Rome · To 24 Oct 8.30am–6.30pm · from 25 Oct 8.30am–4.30pm
Timed, named tickets for the Colosseum, the Forum where Joe finds Ann asleep, and the Palatine.
Book tickets
Regione Lazio places Ann’s haircut scene at the Trevi Fountain.
Snip again for the Trevi today.
Ann has her hair cut, then wanders the Spanish Steps with a gelato. The steps were built between 1723 and 1726 by Francesco De Sanctis, and restored again in 2016.
One more snip for the gelato.
Afternoon · two wheels
0.00 km · next: Piazza Venezia
Straight-line distance between the squares, not the route they rode.
The Vespa ride begins here, with the obelisk and the entrance of the Hotel Hassler in shot.
It is now one of the busiest spots in Rome, and has a zebra crossing the film never had.
A public square at the top of the steps, open at all hours.
Rome
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Compare toursPiazza della Trinità dei Monti 6
At the top of the Spanish Steps. The BFI spots its entrance in shot as the Vespa ride begins. 82 rooms and suites, and the Michelin-starred Imàgo. Pictured: Trinità dei Monti, with the hotel on the right.
Check roomsSanta Maria in Cosmedin · since 1632
Medieval legend said it would bite the hand of anyone who had not told the truth. Rome’s tourist board says Roman Holiday made the mask famous around the world.
The marble mask has stood in the portico of Santa Maria in Cosmedin since 1632.
Statement 1 of 10
“You can still sit on the Spanish Steps with a gelato.”
0 true · 0 bitten · 10 to go
In 2025 the BFI found it busier than ever, partly because of the film. Peck hid his hand in his sleeve and nobody warned Hepburn first: her scream was real.
Daily 9.30am–1pm and 2–5.50pm, with the church; hours change, so call 06 6787759. Expect a queue under the portico.
Night · the Tiber
Joe and Ann dance at a riverside bar on a jetty below Castel Sant’Angelo. Regione Lazio places the party on the Tiber, and the fight with the agents, here.
The jetty has gone; the bridge pillars and the castle behind are unchanged.
Museum Tuesday–Sunday 9am–7.30pm, last entry 6.30pm; €18 from 1 July 2026, free on the first Sunday of the month. The riverbank is open.
Lungotevere Castello · Tue–Sun 9am–7.30pm · €18
Hadrian’s tomb turned fortress and museum, above the stretch of river where they danced.
Plan a visitAccredited press
Regione Lazio places the café scene with Joe’s photographer friend in front of the Pantheon. In the café Irving snaps Ann with a tiny camera hidden in a cigarette lighter.
Wyler insisted on shooting in Rome rather than Hollywood; Paramount agreed, paying with money that could only be spent in Italy.
Roman Holiday was the first Hollywood picture shot and processed in Italy; its studio interiors were filmed at Cinecittà. Shooting ran from 23 June to 11 October 1952.
Dalton Trumbo, blacklisted, wrote the story without credit; the Writers Guild credited him in 1991, and his Oscar was restored in 1993.
Hepburn won the Oscar for Best Actress; the story and Edith Head’s costumes won too. Georges Auric wrote the score.
Cinecittà si Mostra, the studio’s visitor exhibition: check days, hours and prices on cinecitta.com before you go, or call 06 72293269.
Via Tuscolana 1055
The studio where the film’s interiors were shot, with guided walks through its permanent sets.
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The next day · Palazzo Colonna
The last scene, the princess facing the foreign press, was filmed in the palace’s 76-metre Great Hall. A French cannonball fired in 1849 is still lodged in the staircase up to the hall.
The princess faces the foreign press in the Great Hall of Palazzo Colonna. The AFI’s synopsis has Irving hand her the photographs he took.
Saturdays 9.15am–1.15pm (last entry), from Via della Pilotta 17: €15 short tour, €25 complete. Fridays by guided tour only, booked ahead, €35.
Empty. Irving hands back the photographs he took; you have not taken any. Flick his lighter on the way through.
Trevi · Saturdays 9.15am–1.15pm · €15 short, €25 complete
Walk the Great Hall where the press conference was filmed. Saturdays you go in from Via della Pilotta 17; Friday visits are guided and booked ahead.
Plan a visit13 places you can visit today. Joe’s flat at Via Margutta 51 is a private, gated courtyard and is not on the map.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Open to walk at any hour. Sitting, eating and drinking on the steps are banned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A public square at the top of the steps, open at all hours.
Piazza di Spagna
Ann has her hair cut, then wanders the Spanish Steps with a gelato.
Open to walk at any hour. Sitting, eating and drinking on the steps are banned.
Top of the Spanish Steps
The Vespa ride begins here, with the obelisk and the entrance of the Hotel Hassler in shot.
A public square at the top of the steps, open at all hours.
Stay
The hotel whose door is in shot as the Vespa ride begins.
Piazza della Trinità dei Monti 6
At the top of the Spanish Steps. The BFI spots its entrance in shot as the Vespa ride begins. 82 rooms and suites, and the Michelin-starred Imàgo. Pictured: Trinità dei Monti, with the hotel on the right.
Check roomsGo there
The press-conference hall on a Saturday, the Forum and Colosseum, the castle by the river, the studio, and scooter tours.
Trevi · Saturdays 9.15am–1.15pm · €15 short, €25 complete
Walk the Great Hall where the press conference was filmed. Saturdays you go in from Via della Pilotta 17; Friday visits are guided and booked ahead.
Plan a visitAncient Rome · To 24 Oct 8.30am–6.30pm · from 25 Oct 8.30am–4.30pm
Timed, named tickets for the Colosseum, the Forum where Joe finds Ann asleep, and the Palatine.
Book ticketsLungotevere Castello · Tue–Sun 9am–7.30pm · €18
Hadrian’s tomb turned fortress and museum, above the stretch of river where they danced.
Plan a visitVia Tuscolana 1055
The studio where the film’s interiors were shot, with guided walks through its permanent sets.
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Live marketplace results for scooter tours of the centre, with or without a driver. Check each itinerary.
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Compare toursWhat’s on
The Rome Film Fest, from 13 to 25 October.
Checking current event dates…
Take it home
A 1960 re-release poster from our store, and lives of Hepburn, Peck, Wyler and Trumbo.
A rare cardstock poster made in small numbers for the 1960 re-release, never folded, with the three of them on the Vespa. Mint.
In stock
View posterSean Hepburn Ferrer
Her son’s portrait of her, with family photographs.
Find the bookBarry Paris
The full biography, Roman Holiday included.
Find the bookJan Herman
The life of William Wyler, who insisted on shooting in Rome.
Find the bookBruce Cook
The blacklisted writer behind the story.
Find the bookDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
14 of 14 places · 14 of 14 Moments
Piazza di Spagna
Ann eats a gelato on the Spanish Steps, and Joe finds her there.
Top of the Spanish Steps
The Vespa ride begins at the top of the Spanish Steps.
Via Margutta, Campo Marzio
Via Margutta 51 is Joe’s flat; Ann spends the night and leaves in the morning.
Piazza di Trevi
Ann has her long hair cut short, by the Trevi Fountain.
Palazzo Colonna, Via della Pilotta 17
The princess faces the foreign press in the Great Hall of Palazzo Colonna.
Via delle Quattro Fontane 13
Palazzo Barberini and Palazzo Colonna serve as the embassy where the princess stays.
The Quirinal hill
The police-station scene is shot in Piazza del Quirinale.
Piazza della Rotonda
At a café by the Pantheon, Irving photographs Ann with a camera hidden in a lighter.
Roman Forum, by Via della Curia
Joe finds the princess asleep by the Arch of Septimius Severus.
Below the Vittoriano
The motor-scooter scene is filmed in Piazza Venezia.
Piazza del Colosseo
The Vespa ride passes the Colosseum.
Portico of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Piazza della Bocca della Verità 18
Joe puts his hand in the Mouth of Truth and pulls back an empty sleeve; Hepburn had not been warned.
Lungotevere Castello
Joe and Ann dance on a jetty below Castel Sant’Angelo, until the agents arrive.
Via Tuscolana 1055
The studio interiors are filmed at Cinecittà.
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