Our last stop before heading home – I think we had both built up Rome so much that we were a little disappointed once we arrived. The city was a bit dirtier than the other cities we visited on our trek across Italy, but the landmarks and history were bar none.
There’s the Underground (public transit), but we walked everywhere and found it pretty easy to maneuver the city. I had downloaded Maps.Me before we left and put all of the major landmarks we wanted to visit, so even if it hadn’t been easy to navigate, we would’ve had offline maps with GPS to help us.
Day One
We drove into Rome from Tuscany early in the morning… just in time for rush hour traffic entering the city. We’re from Boston where Massholes earn their name, in part because of our horrific and aggressive driving. Roman drivers take the cake – motorcycle bumped into cars as they sped between cars sitting in traffic.
After dropping our rental car off at the Stazione Termini (train station), we walked 2.5 km to our AirBnb, dropped our stuff off and then went off to explore!
Pantheon
One of the first things we saw when we arrived in Rome due to its proximity to our AirBnb, I (embarrassing to admit) I only really knew anything about the Pantheon from reading Angels & Demons by Dan Brown.
The Pantheon is free, wheelchair accessible, and a really great first landmark to visit. It’s still considered a church, so they ask that you’re silent when you enter. The oculus (the 9 meter hole in the top) allows rain to enter, so it’s definitely not the place to pop into if you’re trying to escape a storm.
Trevi Fountain
Another landmark just through some twists and turns of the small Roman streets, was the Trevi Fountain. They clean the fountain in the early morning, and by 9 a.m. it’s teeming with tourists.
Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti (Spanish Steps) & Piazza del Popolo
Day Two
On our second day in Rome, we had tickets that we purchased in advance to tour the Vatican. We specifically took a different route so we could see as much of the city on foot as possible.
Largo di Torre Argentina
An Ancient Roman site where the conspiracy against Julius Cesaer in the Ides of March in 44 BC occurred, Largo di Torre Argentina was our first view of Ancient Rome. It was stunning and shocking to think that these columns from tour temples were still standing and were only discovered in the 1920s.
Piazza Navona
The Piazza lays within the perimeter of an ancient stadium, the remains of which you can see 5-6 stories underground from the basement of Sant’Agnese in Agone. Numerous fountains litter the Piazza, including Fontana de ‘Calderari (aka the Fountain of Neptune) – they were stunning… and had lots of fine sculpted, marble butts!
I’m sure it’s blasphemous to admit, but we stopped at Alice for pizza next to Piazza Navona at Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, 35, 00186 – it hit the spot for our big day of walking.
We unfortunately didn’t do enough research before we left, so we didn’t know to cross the Tiber River at the Pont Sant’Angelo (an ancient bridge that’s now just a pedestrian bridge) that would’ve led us to Castel Sant’Angelo. Always a reason to go back I suppose! Instead, we crossed at Pont Umberto I and got a great view of the Vatican as we walked closer, and walked by Rome’s Supreme Court (Corte Suprema di Cassazione).
Vaticano
We arrived inside Vatican City (the smallest country in the world!) by 8:30 a.m., and there was already a line wrapping around St. Peter’s Square! You can enter St. Peter’s Basilica for free, so the line starts early.
This is a little overboard, but I couldn’t choose just a couple. One of the largest collections of art in the world, over 70,000 works of art, reside within the Vatican Museums… it’s rumored to be worth $15 billion (with a B). I would highly suggest buying a “Skip the Line” ticket from a vendor before you arrive. It’s a little frustrating because you end up waiting 30-60 minutes past your tour start time (aka when your ticket says they’ll walk you over), but it saves you hours by not having to wait in line – the STL companies have a separate entrance they walk you in through!
And then the place that everyone wants to see, what people wait in line for… the Sistine Chapel. It’s hard to believe that Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel for 4 years starting in 1508… and he reportedly didn’t want to take the project on!
Cooking Class
After going back to the AirBnb for a siesta, we took an Uber back towards the train station for a cooking class. The family owns a farm that supplies one of the major canned tomato companies in Italy. They get together every Sunday and cook a big supper, and this cooking class taught us the basics of a few different classic Italian tomato sauces – it was amazing, the host was absolutely lovely… we had a blast! It was honestly one of the highlights of our trip.
Day Three
On our last full day in Rome, we walked stopped for breakfast across from the Trevi Fountaini and got as many sweets as we could muster for our last day in Italy.
Before striking out for the day, we swung by a luggage storage company, STARBIKE Luggage Storage (€5 to store each bag for the day; Via Capo d’Africa, 29/D, 00184 Roma RM, Italy), knowing that we’d end our day at the Colosseum and shoot off to the airport from there.
After, we trekked back to Altare della Patria, a memorial for Italy’s first king and WWI soldiers and made our way towards the Colosseum after passing Insula Romana, a dwelling from Imperial Rome, and Cordonata Capitolina, a stairway lined with Michelangelo statues that leads to Campidoglio, a square that Michelangelo designed.
Foro Romano
This led us to the Roman Forum, and we wish we bought tickets in advance and saved more than a few hours to explore… this could easily be a lazy half or faster quarter day. Even though we didn’t have time to do into the ruins and explore, the views from the piazza above were incredible!
Circo Massimo
Next we walked what felt like pretty far out of the way to Circus Maximus, a large field that used to house 250,000 Ancient Romans during chariot races. It was cool to see because of its history, but I wouldn’t go back again.
Colosseo
Leading up to the Colosseum, we passed through Arco di Tito, and then in front of your the Colosseum fills your entire field of vision. It was as mind blowing as you think… and of course it was flooded with tourists. Luckily, we bought our tickets in advance!
While the outside was striking, the inside was unbelievable. The old crumbling walls fading away from centuries of rain, scaffolding as they work to maintain the structure, and excavation equipment in the center – it was a blending of ancient and modern. It was definitely worth the money to enter and tour the landmark.
Walk the World with Schenkers & Manfriend 