It’s easy to miss – a narrow walkway that winds around the southern side of Trajan’s Market, taking you to Monti. It’s a useful shortcut, but I use it primarily as a place to stop, look, and soak up the atmosphere of Ancient Rome.

Of course there’s no shortage of monuments in this part of Rome, but there’s something especially evocative about this bridge through the ruins. It feels a little like standing on the deck of a ship, only instead of the sea, you’re overlooking the shattered fragments of the world’s largest shopping centre, with a medieval palace at your back. The palace is the headquarters of the Knights of Malta, wedged between Trajan’s Market and the Forum of Augustus – another spectacular archaeological site.

There are never any crowds on the walkway. Hardly anyone seems to use it, or even notice that it’s there. Sometimes it feels like my own private path into the past…