Bus 117 to Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano

The 117 bus is another small, electric bus. It’s quite popular because it runs from Piazza del Popolo, down the Via dei Corso, loops through Piazza Venezia, up Via Nazionale, and downhill towards Via Cavour. Then it heads to the Forum, stops at the Colosseo, turns right at San Clemente, and finally ends up at Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano. Whew, I’m tired just writing about this route. Because the route is popular, and the buses are smaller, they’re often crowded.

Riding Buses in Rome
Metro and Bus Tickets in Rome
Kiosks for Metro and Bus Tickets
The Metro in Rome
Bus 117 Corso-Popolo

The 117 is a micro-bus with only ten seats and standing room. Like the 116 bus, it navigates some of the more narrow streets of the city, going where some of the bigger buses don’t travel. The path to Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano starts in Piazza del Popolo. Many people reach this bus by getting off a bus, tram, or metro at Piazza Flaminia and coming through the Porta del Popolo (gates) into the piazza.

The stops and map for the 117 “regular” bus route to San Giovanni in Laterano are below. In the map, the starting point is marked by the red circle and the ending point (on the right side of the map) is the blue circle.

 •  Corso/Popolo
 •  Corso/S. Giacomo 
 •  L.go Goldoni
 •  Corso/L.go Chigi
 •  Corso/Minghetti
 •  P.za Venezia
 •  P.za Venezia
 •  Nazionale/Quirinale
 •  Serpenti
 •  Serpenti/Cavour
 •  Cavour/Ricci
 •  Fori Imperiali
 •  Colosseo 
 •  Labicana/Colosseo
 •  S. Giovanni in Laterano/S. Clemente
 •  S. Giovanni in Laterano
 •  P.za S. Giovanni in Laterano 

< Click on the map above to go to the ATAC site and see the entire Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano route >

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Corso/Popolo

The 117 bus starts at Corso/Popolo, at the north end of the Via del Corso. This street is one of the primary shopping streets in Rome. In the above picture, you can see the 119 and 117 buses lined up waiting to start their run. In the map above, the bus stop is circled in red. The blue arrow marks Piazza del Popolo. The blue circle represents the closest metro stop, Flaminio. A major bus stop is just in front of the metro station… and there also is the #2 tram just outside the Porta del Popolo.      

The red star marks the Pincio Gardens, which overlooks Piazza del Popolo. It’s also a great place from which to enjoy Rome’s picturesque sunsets!The red arrow at the bottom of the page marks the location of the Spanish Steps. You can see above the red arrow, the “”M” marking the Spagna metro and above that (literally), Villa Borghese.  < Click on the map above to go to the ATAC site and see the Corso/Popolo bus stop. >

L.go Goldoni

Two stops down the Via del Corso, you come to the L.go Goldoni stop. In the first photo, taken early in the day, you see the bus stop circled on the right – and not much traffic. The left-pointing yellow arrow, in the shaft of sunlight, is Via dei Condotti, This fashionable street leads to the Spanish Steps. In the second photo, taken later in the day, you can see the 117 bus traveling down the Corso. It’s in the middle of the intersection of Via dei Condotti and the Via del Corso. Note the total lack of respect the pedestrians give the 117 bus!

The third photo looks down the Via dei Condotti as you pass through this intersection on this bus. At the end of the street, circled in red, is the Spanish Steps. In the ATAC Map, you can see the bus stop circled in red and the red arrow pointing to the Spanish Steps. < Click on the map above to go to the ATAC site and see the L.go Goldoni bus stop. >

Corso/Minghetti

As the 117 bus continues down the Via dei Corso, you’ll pass the Column of Marcus Aurelius – shown in the red circle in the top photo. The next bus stop after the column is Corso/Minghetti. You can see that this is a busy bus stop because of the multiple bus signs. This stop, circled in red on the map above, is close to the Trevi fountain (in green) and the Pantheon (in blue). You would get off the bus, turn right and walk back the way you came on the bus… Once you get to the first traffic signal, you go left to the Pantheon and right to the Trevi Fountain. < Click on the map above to go to the ATAC site and see the Corso/Minghetti bus stop. >

P.za Venezia

Once the bus reaches the end of the Via dei Corso, it enters the Piazza Venezia. The 117 bus has two stops in this piazza. The first is on your right as you enter the piazza, just under “Mussolini’s balcony” on the Palazzo Venezia.  In the top picture you see the bus stop circled in red and the balcony in blue. In the 2nd picture, you see a longer view with the bus stop marked on the right and the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II (circled in blue) in the background. 

The bus departs from the first stop in the piazza, loops around in front of the Vittorio monument, and then heads back the way it came, turning right as it exits Piazza Venezia (as shown in the third photo). Here it stops at the the second Piazza Venezia bus stop, marked in the fourth photo with the red circle. You can see the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II in the far right corner of the picture.

In the map above, the first bus stop is marked by a red circle; the second stop by the blue circle. The red star is where Trajan’s column is located. The black circle on the left side of the map is the general location of the Jewish Ghetto.  < Click on the map above to go to the ATAC site and see the first P.za Venezia bus stop. >

Serpenti

The bus leaves the Piazza Venezia stop and heads up the hill onto Via Nazionale. Then the bus turns right onto Via dei Serpenti, a narrow street that heads towards Via Cavour. In the top picture you can see how narrow this street is and the location of the bus stop, circled in red. In the far distance, circled in blue, you can see the Colosseo. In the second photo, we are looking back up the hill from the direction the bus traveled.

In the map, the bus stop is circled in red. The Cavour Metro Line B station is circled in blue. In the black circle is the approximate location of the Forum.  < Click on the map above to go to the ATAC site and see the Serpenti bus stop. >

Serpenti/Cavour

At the end of the Via dei Serpenti, you come to the next stop, Serpenti/Cavour. The first photo shows this bus stop circled in red on the right. The yellow circles mark the traffic signals of Via Cavour. The bus takes a right at the traffic signal and heads down the hill. The yellow arrow in the second photo marks the stairs you climb to get to San Pietro in Vincoli (Saint Peter in Chains). This is the view once you get to Via Cavour and look LEFT. The last photo is when you get to Via Cavour and look RIGHT. The yellow circle is the Forum in the distance.    

In the map, the bus stop is circled in red. The Cavour metro station is marked by the green circle. And San Pietro in Vincoli is marked by the blue circle. < Click on the map above to go to the ATAC site and see the Serpenti/Cavour bus stop. >

Fori Imperiali

The bus turns right onto Via Cavour and continues downhill, heading straight for the Forum. You’ll see the Forum grow larger in the windshield as you get to the bottom of the hill. The bus then turns left on Via dei Fori Imperiale, the road that takes you past the Colosseo. The bus will stop first at Fori Imperiali. This is a great stop to get off the bus if you plan on buying your Colosseo combo ticket at the Forum entrance.

In the top picture, the bus is just turning onto Via dei Fori Imperiale. The yellow circle (behind the traffic signals) marks the Forum entrance. Here you can purchase tickets and/or enter the Forum. Also in the picture, you can see the bus stop circled in red… So if you plan to buy tickets here, you’ll have to walk BACK to the Forum entrance from the bus stop.

In the 2nd photo you’re at the bus stop, circled in red. You can see the Colosseo further down the street. On the map, the bus stop is circled in red, the Forum is in black, with the entrance marked by the blue star. < Click on the map above to go to the ATAC site and see the Fori Imperiali bus stop. >

Colosseo 

The next stop is probably the most visited stop on the 117 bus route, the Colosseo. As you can see from the picture, the bus stop is DIRECTLY in front of the Colosseo – hard to miss getting off the bus here! On the map, the bus stop is circled in red. The Blue star is the Forum entrance, the red star is the Colosseo entrance, and the black star is entrance to the Palatine Hill. Many people head to the Palatine Hill entrance to purchase their tickets for the Colosseo combo, avoiding the HUGE lines at the Colosseo. Across the street from the bus stop is the B Line metro connection. < Click on the map above to go to the ATAC site and see the  Colosseo bus stop. >

S. Giovanni in Laterano/S. Clemente

After leaving the Colosseo, the bus travels alongside the Colosseo and down Via Labicana (first photo above). After passing the Labicana/Colosseo stop, it comes to the grounds of San Clemente and turns right. In the second photo, the bus has turned right and San Clemente, circled in red, is on your right. At the next intersection (about 30 meters), the bus turns left onto Via di San Giovanni in Laterano. The bus stop, S. Giovanni in Laterano/S. Clemente, is just on the right – see the third photo. This is the best stop if you want to see San Clemente.

In the above map the S. Giovanni in Laterano/S. Clemente bus stop is circled in red. The blue star is the location of San Clemente. The black circle is the Domus Aurea, the former “Golden House” of Nero.  < Click on the map above to go to the ATAC site and see the S. Giovanni in Laterano/S. Clemente bus stop. >

P.za S. Giovanni in Laterano

The last stop of the 117 bus to Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano is… a parking lot on the backside of San Giovanni in Laterano. The bus stop is aptly named P.za S. Giovanni in Laterano. In the first photo you can see the parked 117 buses, circled in red, which have completed their routes. Here, the drivers will take their breaks and then the bus starts back to Piazza del Popolo.

In the map above, you can see the bus stop circled in red. San Giovanni in Laterano (also known as the Basilica of St. John Lateran) is circled in blue. Across the street from the Basilica, marked by the star, is Scala Santa – the Holy Staircase – a “must-see” spot for many visiting Christians. < Click on the map above to go to the ATAC site and see the P.za S. Giovanni in Laterano bus stop. >

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Alternate Routes of the 117

The 117 bus runs a little bit of a confusing schedule – on Sundays and holidays the 117 bus does not operate. On Saturdays, or the days before a holiday (called prefestivi), the 117 bus does not operate from Piazza di Popolo because of the closure of traffic on Via del Corso between 15:00 and 20:00. On it’s return route, the 117 bus, on prefestivi, goes only to Piazza S. Silvestro. If you look at a time-based schedule for the 117 bus on a Saturday it shows this chart:

On the right side of the chart you can see the HOUR that each bus starts it’s route… The top line shows that during the 08:00 – 09:00 hour, ten buses depart from the first stop at 8:00, 08:07, 08:13, 08:20, 08:26, 08:32, 08:38, 08:44, 08:50, and 08:57. As you look at this chart, you can see the red box at 15:00 (or 3 PM). There are only 4 buses this hour and then no buses until…. 20:00 (or 8 PM), which is shown in the blue box.

Between 15:00 and 20:00 on Saturdays, you get a different route – because of the closures on the Corso. The map for this 3 PM – 8 PM route looks like this:

On the map, the red circle marks the spot where the117  bus USUALLY runs. The Blue lines represent the “alternative” route. The timetable on Saturdays, or the days before a holiday (prefestivi), starts at 3 PM and looks like this:

So, you can see how this timetable “fills the gap” from 15:00 – 20:00 on Saturdays.

Summary

The 117 bus is a little small, often packed, but a great ride! This bus cuts through the heart of many of Rome’s sites. Yet it also takes riders a little of the beaten path, through Via dei Serpenti and by San Clemente. Certainly a bus well worth riding – Enjoy!

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All photos in this post, including the header – The 117 bus at Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano – have been reproduced from Google Maps Streetview