Exploring Rome
Rome is full
of interesting things to do, details of which are easily found on the internet.
Just use Google search or Google Maps or TripAdvisor. For bob's
tips on dining in Rome go here.
Hotels?
- We don't have much experience with hotels since we have longer term
solutions when we stay BUT do not look for cheap spots far from the city
center or worry about amenities in the hotel. You are there to enjoy being
in Rome, outside in the streets, not in your hotel room. Being close to
everything is worth spending a bit more. Look for rooms in the low 100s per
night. How often will you get to enjoy this city? And you can get a 3 day or
week long
tourist pass for all the buses and metro. Euro 1.50 a trip, Euro 24 for
unlimited one week. And don't hesitate to use a taxi when needed with the
phone app itTaxi.
And Google maps has live bus and metro timing information, you must have a
phone with internet to navigate. See public
transportation below.
(Window) Shopping?
- The amazing
flagship store of La Rinascente
(Renaissance) has "recently" opened (2016-17) minutes from Piazza
di Spagna (The Spanish Steps) on the corner of via del Tritone and via delle
due Macelli, an amazing spectacle of all things Italian. No need to buy
anything in the overpriced high end department store, but walking up to the
top is an experience (see a photo of the 7 stories from the inner courtyard
in the store link above). The laser show history lesson of
the escavated Roman aqueduct in the basement is no longer active, but the top floor food area with
rooftop terrace bar and panoramic view is available even for the wandering
tourist. Selfie roof shot paradise. Clean bathrooms! And some nice lunch
food court offerings, like the
de Santis panini bar, as well as dining with a view with decent Italian
food. Nearby are many shops from the
low to high end of the shopping food chain, as well as the famous steps
where tourists gather.
The restaurant at top [formerly the fabulous
MadeITerraneo killed by the
pandemic! see
bob
TripAdvisor review] has excellent pastas and menu for an elegant lunch
or dinner.
- Pompi on via della Croce (many lunch choices, near the
Spanish Steps) has many flavors of personal
tiramisu servings, Italy's most famous dessert.o/pompi-roma-via-della-croce/
[there
are more!]
and Venchi gelato is nearby, Italy's high end chocolate that never made it
to the USA until 2023! Next to
Nordstrom's first floor! A high end Italian chocolate company we often
used to gift friends. It moved into the gelato industry this past decade and
is high quality.
Tripadvisor review
- Food shopping? Find a few special items to take back home
and choose from 18 restaurants to lunch at
Eataly, now in the pandemic age collapsed to one for
a great lunch or dinner! And the Illy Cafe
there has special coffee drinks to die for!
https://www.eataly.net/eu_en/stores/rome
- The morning market at Campo dei Fiori has lots of food
items aimed at tourists.
Yelp review
- Trastevere is full of small shops and restaurants
[including our poppy flower
speciallist artist]
lonely planet review
- Mercato Centrale at Stazione Termini Railway Station is a new attraction for food lovers, and it conveniently located near the Sapienza University
http://www.mercatocentrale.it/en/rome
- Take bus 38 from Stazione Termini or bus 80 from Piazza
Barberini to Rome's most accessible super shopping mall Porta di Roma
(Gateway to Rome) to see how Italians do malls. Lots of interesting stores
plus coffee bars and lunch spots and restaurants, plus Ikea. And air
conditioning!
Tripadvisor review
Museums?
When the heat strikes, museums provide an airconditioned escape!
- Everyone has heard of the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel, but
easier to digest is the incredible Galleria Borghese just a short walk from
the top of Rome's most famous street via Veneto, but you have to reserve a
time slot in advance. Worth planning ahead!
***********************
https://www.rome.net/borghese-gallery [direct website:
http://www.galleriaborghese.beniculturali.it]
[check the calendar:
calendar (in italian)]
- Museo di Arte Moderna (Museum of Modern Art) is just a short walk from
Galleria Borghese and really worth seeing.
http://www.galleriaartemodernaroma.it/en
- Macro Museum of Contempory Art, only 10 minutes by Tram 19 from the
viale Regina Elena entrance of Sapienza university!
Tripadvisor review
- Maxxi Museum, interesting exhibits and the building architecture is
worth seeing too. Read about it. Accessible via public
transportation from Piazza Flaminia by tram (get there in Tram 19 from the
university).
http://www.maxxi.art/en/
- The Ara Pacis Museum, designed by architect Richard Meier, housing The Altar of Peace, one of the most important series of sculptures of Augustan Rome,
via della Ripetta near the Tiber river
http://www.arapacis.it/en
- Not quite a museum: Palazzo degli Esposizioni, sesonal exhibitions, on via Nazionale not far from Stazioni Termini
https://www.palazzoesposizioni.it/
- Right next to Piazza Venezia: Palazzo Valentini:
two underground Roman houses with laser recreation, great show!
https://www.palazzovalentini.it [description]
- In front of the Roman Forum: Nero's Domus Aurea exhibit, weekend enhanced laser version preferable:
https://colosseo.it/area/domus-aurea/
(Nerone is the Italian name).
English:
https://colosseo.it/en/area/the-domus-aurea/
Churches?
Tourist gathering spots
Book in advance the Coliseum and Roman Forum on the internet but you can
also walk by on a tour of classic Roman sights starting from the Metro B
Colosseo stop. Besides the Spanish Steps already mentioned in the shopping
section:
Other?
Public Transport?
Make sure you have a cell phone internet
connection for navigation! Times for arriving buses on Google maps.
Bus/Metro single travel tickets are 1.50 Euros for 90 minutes. Buying individual tickets is
probably the most efficient way to go, but you can get
tickets for 1, 2 3 or 7 days. Look for the big T sign for "Tabacchi"
shops to buy tickets. The phone app Moovit will help you use the transit system
if you have internet on your phone. The city transit system has a website:
https://www.atac.roma.it/en/home
Airport shuttle?
Traveling light? Every 15 minutes there is a cheap bus (8 Euros?)
connecting FCO with Stazione Termini. The fast train is 14 Euros. The slow train
8 Euros? We use our favorite black Mercedes sedan shuttle
YourAirportDriver.com for 50?
Euros up to 3 people, we give 5 Euro tip. We've used them maybe 8 times in
recent years, always a pleasant experience.
Day Trips?
Palaces? [Art dense]
Music?
Naples is nearby!
1 hour 10 minutes by fast train from Rome, cheap if booked months in advance! Even a day
trip is feasible. 9.90 Euros each way if you plan early.
For Pompei transfer to a 35 minute (?) local train at Napoli Centrale.
You can wander around "old Napoli" = Quartieri Spagnoli = Spaccanapoli and
nearby, and see great stuff.
Capri is a hydrofoil away. 40 minute ride. Prepare to be ripped off to have a
coffee or gelato in the main square up in the Capri village, but it is a once
(usually) in a lifetime experience. We fondly remember a lemon pasta lunch dish
off the main square decades ago.
The Regia di Caserta is Italy's answer to France's Versaille, only a 30
minute train ride north of Napoli. [Facebook
views, Wiki]
Pompei is 30 minutes south of Naples by local train. The Archeological Museum
in the city has some of the artifacts from there.
The rest of Italy?!
- Transport by train, choice of State Trains
TrenItalia (high speed:
Frecce Rosse!) or Private high
speed lines Italo (we prefer Italo
when it goes to the main cities)
[advance planning can often save you lots of cash!]
- Naples is only 1.5 - 2 hours away! [Old Napoli, Pompei, Ercolano,
Regia di Caserta, Capri, Sorrento, Amalfi, Positano]
Regia di
Caserta is an amazing Italian version of Versaille (30 minutes north by
local train).
Pompei is 30 minutes south by local train.
- Florence is 1.5 hours away from Rome [walkable, lots of attractions]
- Bologna 2.5 hours from Rome [great food!]
- Venice is only 3.5 hours from Rome! [no other city like it]
One can do a Venice trip with an overnight stop in Florence on the way to or
from, staying at least 2 nights but 3 in Venice is better for 2 whole days
there. The island of Murano is a must see stop for its amazing glassware
sculptures, 30 some minute boat ride.
Venice Hotel Marte is 10
minute walk without having to carry luggage over a pedestrian bridge from
the Main Train Station, reasonable at about $100 per night. We stayed there
3 times. Next to the Jewish quarter.
Hotel Antiche Figure is
double that but right across from the train station (cross over the
pedestrian bridge there). Very nice people, very nice location, nice
breakfast outside by the canal.
Hmm, what is this?
2019.
Through theoretical physics (black holes no less) I ended up having 40 years of
regular visits to Rome, after marriage just in the summer (when I am not
teaching at Villanova) but since Ani bailed out of Big Pharma, we have spent the
last 11 summers together in Rome, traveling around Italy to visit the many
friends we have accumulated over all these years (but doing academic research
work that justifies our presence).
There are many questions
and comments already in this stream. I will try to touch on some. Rome, Florence
and Venice are the big three. Venice is unlike any other city, Florence is
romantically walkable, Rome is Rome, so much to see. Naples and the Amalfi coast
and Capri are also worth consideration but it depends on how much time you spend
on your trip. Cinque Terre!
Climate is also key to enjoying Italy. July August can be brutal if excessive
heat strikes, but even the normal heat makes tourist work hard since you cannot
sacrifice the hottest hours of the day to a nap to escape it, tourists have to
see as much as possible every day! June is better. Even late June early July or
late August if school summer vacation is an important consideration.
For Rome, I have some generic advice but the Borghese Museum is the one jewel
that people are often not aware of and should not be missed---it requires
advance reservation of a time slot. And for trains, if you plan your movements a
few months in advance, you can get really big discounts on the fast comfortable
trains; Italo is a private network of high end trains that connect the major
cities from Naples to the north and offers the best deals.
Coffee enthusiasts who like chocolate should look for the marocchino espresso
with foamed milk and cocoa, but the cappuccinos are almost universally better
than nearly every American product.
list compiled by bob
jantzen in summer 2018, later updated.