Planning a sightseeing route in advance will allow you to make the most of your time in Rome. RELATED LINKS City Guide Rome

Rome was not built in a day, nor was it ever organized like a museum. With art and architecture from so many different historical periods piled up in a confusing jumble all over town, it's easy for visitors to get overwhelmed and disoriented.

One effective strategy for lending structure to your explorations is to choose a particular artist or period and try to learn as much as you can about that subject during your stay. The baroque painter Caravaggio, for example, was a fascinating character whose powerful canvases can be seen at a number of different churches and museums throughout the city.

Or you might prefer to focus on Renaissance architecture, or the early Roman emperors, or medieval Christian iconography. Finding a focus doesn't mean you have to ignore everything else you see, but you'll at least feel a certain mastery over one slice of Roman history.

Blue Guide Rome, published by W.W. Norton and now in its eighth edition, offers extensive historical and cultural information, and its index of artists makes it a useful tool for organizing your quest.