10 days Rome Itinerary/VATICAN STRATEGY??? Last week May-First week June

The first option is better for the Vatican. The second option only allows 2.5 hours in the Vatican Museum, which is a very short amount of time. Visit at 1p when you will be able to move freely. If you have requested a specific time for the Scavi Tour you may be limiting your chances of getting a tour. Most people request a day (or two) and are happy with whatever time they receive.

Thank you Sam.

I could extend my time in the morning at the Vatican Museum - to noon? I could have lunch inside Vatican City and go up to Mercato T after the Scavi Tour.

Or are you agreeing with quite a few people that it is just better to go to the Vatican in the afternoon. Since I am on my own, flexible time-wise, I should be able to work it out well from a scheduling standpoint.

I just tried to schedule the Scavi Tour, but it seems they only schedule 3 months out, (they only show February, March, April). I will check again March 1.

Thanks again,

Sharon

While you're in Rome, if he's in town, you can get free tickets to be in the Papal audience by emailing the Pontifical North American College. www.pnac.org If you do go, stay after the majority of the crowd has left, the Holy Father still makes his way around the square and you might get up close?

On your last day - - you don't say from where you will making your journey to the airport nor what your destination is. Assuming you are somewhere in or near central Rome, you are looking at a journey by taxi or train of approaching an hour. That only gives you 2 hours at the airport. I hope that that is a domestic European flight to some local airport for which conventional wisdom is a couple of hours before departure. Conventional wisdom for trans-Atlantic flights, with all the magic hoops you have to jump through is at least 3 hours.

During your very tightly programmed stay you will run into a number of national events. These may play havoc with your plans. Have you planned around them?

May 29: Feast of the Ascension Day

June 2: Anniversary of the Republic

You don't actually get to request a time for the scavi tour. They assign you one. If you put limits on what time and what day you wish to visit you probably won't get on a tour. I suggest requesting for the entire time you're there and building your schedule around that.

The only two sites you'll need to book entry tickets for are the Vatican museums and the colosseum. If you're buying the romapass you won't even need to worry about the colosseum line because you can bypass it with the pass.

You can also use the romapass for transport and entry to Ostia Antica if you plan your days correctly.

You should make a list of all the sites you want to see and check to see which ones are covered by the pass. Then you should work your itinerary to cover these sites in 3 consecutive days in order to get the most out of your pass.

Donna

Thank you all.

Re the Scavi Tour, when I went on line today to schedule, they were scheduling February - April. I think they must have a new way of scheduling. They have you put in a month, it goes to that month and shows what days and times are available. It seems 8:30am times are the most available, which might be a good thing to go to St. Peter's at 7:00am, Scavi Tour at 8:30am, Mercato Trionfale for lunch and back to Vatican Museum at 1:00pm. I will check into that on March 1 as I am assuming they will post May availability on that day. There is a discount if you purchase the Necropolis and Vatican Museum together and you can go directly to the Museum after the Necropolis, but if I do schedule it for 8:30am, then the Vatican would be at 10:15 or so and that would be in the midst of thousands... Once I see what times are available, I can go from there.

When doing my Roma Pass itinerary, I saw that Ostia Antica is a destination on the pass, but thought it might be too much to include a half-day. At my age, I just do not get around like I did - even 10 years ago! I am considering it on the same day as the National Museum - will just see how the day goes.

Re the holidays - it seems that the celebration of the Feast of Ascension has been moved to the following Sunday and I don't think that Thursday is a public holiday. Glad to hear about June 2. It seems there is a parade and a great celebration. I really only plan to wander around and go to Churches that day, so that will a wonderful addition.

Thanks for the tip about traveling to the airport. This is a work in progress - I can definitely leave at 9:00am or even earlier if necessary. I am staying at the Relais Madonna near the Pantheon and they have arranged a private car to take me to the airport.

Thanks for the information about the website re seeing the Pope. I will check into that.

Grazie mille,

Sharon

Which site did you use for booking the scavi tour? The official website still lists that you must email them for a tour. Are you using the official site or a reseller? Also, there is no combo tickets that I know of that includes the museums. They are two separate buildings run by two separate authorities.

Donna

Hi Donna,

The website looks pretty official. If you search for Vatican Museums - Official website, then go into Visitor Information,click on Guided Tours, Necropolis Via Triumphalis, it will bring up guided tours, go down to Visits to Archeological Sites where you will see Necropolis Via Triumphalis, clicking on that will bring you to Type of Visit: group and Individual with compulsory guides. Click on Organize your Visit to the Necropolis. That will bring you to an overview page. At the top of the page, Click on Tickets On Line. That will take you to a page in Italian. On the left side toward the bottom it says Italian in a little box, you can scroll down to English. Click on GUIDED TOURS FOR INDIVIDUALS, then under Select Type of Tour, go to last tour, Necropolis of the Triumphalis and the Museums, click on that and you will see where you can click on the month, year, number of participants. The ticket would be for a guided Scavi tour and for admittance to the Vatican Museums without a guide. Once you put in the month, year, and # of participants, it takes you to the month and shows you dates and times available.

I hope this wasn't too confusing. Please let me know if this isn't the official site.

Thanks,

Sharon

Sharon,
While the Necropolis of the Via Triumphalis looks fantastic (and is something new I certainly did not know about so thanks!), it is not the "Scavi tour" of St. Peter's tomb. The info you need is here . You should provide as many date options as possible and be ready to accept what they offer, then build your day around it.

FWIW I would skip the Mercato Trionfale on the same day you "do" the Vatican. An hour or more for the Basilica, and hour or more for the Scavi (which is very warm!) and 2-3 hours in the museums are enough for one day. You will be in lines and walking a lot, so reserve some energy. Stop for a long lunch if you can between "events." For example, if you get the Scavi tour at 9:00, go to the Basilica earlier if you like, but the Scavi tour will end in the Basilica so you can see the Basilica afterwards if you like. Go to lunch over near the Museum entrance (PM me if you want a suggestion), then go to the Museums about 1:30 or 2:00 when the crowds should have thinned a bit. After, you will be ready for a nice glass of wine!
If you get a Scavi reservation for say 3:00PM, "do" the museums first thing, followed by the Basilica, then escape to lunch, but give yourself time to stand in line and get thru security if you have a bag. That can take a hour!
You can pick up the Mercato Trionfale one of your other days if you are really interested. It's certainly a huge market (actually overwhelming) but entirely skippable, Personally I prefer Campo dei Fiori.
I am glad to see you spending a good long time in Rome! Una vita non basta! Most people fly thru so fast they don't really get to experience this great place!

One more thing: When you go to Tivoli and Hadrian;s Villa, is Villa d'Este also included? It is fantastic and not to be missed. To me, the best part of Tivoli. Easy to do on your own by train from Rome, BTW.

That makes more sense. The Via Triumphalis tour is wonderful but it is not the "scavi" tour under St. Peter's which is what I thought you were talking about.

For the Via Triumphalis tour you need to be inside the Vatican museums 15 minutes or so before the start of the tour, so if you book an 8:30 tour it will only give you an hour or so inside the basilica before you need to leave to make it all the way around the building to the front of the Vatican museums. The walk alone is about 20 minutes.

If you are interested in doing the "scavi" tour under the basilica you'll need to email a request to them. This is a limited tour and hard to get on. Also, they allow no one under the age of 15 on the tour. This tour is very different from the Via Triumphalis tour. You can take picture on the VT tour but not on the scavi tour. The area of the VT tour is much more open than on the scavi tour. The meeting place for the VT tour is in the museums while for the scavi tour you go behind the basilica.

donna

Good grief! Thank you Laura and Donna!

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing! I did not realize that they were different excursions. They both have the name Necropolis, were under St. Peter's, last 90 minutes... I appreciate the clarification and suggestions.

I will skip the Mercato Trionfale - I was just going there if I needed to do something in between activities. I try to be aware of what is in an area and then change plans as I get suggestions or am there and something else pops up. The thrill of travel!

Laura, with regard to Tivoli - the date they have a potential tour is Thursday May 29, and I don't see how I can work my itinerary around that date. I could go on my own, and while it seems very easy to get to Tivoli, and yes, Villa 'dEste is on my itinerary, it is somewhat challenging to go from Tivoli to Hadrian's Villa. What would be your recommendation on transportation from Tivoli to HV and then back to Rome?

Thanks again,

Sharon

Sharon,
I found this paragraph on the R.S. website:
To get to Hadrian's Villa from downtown Tivoli, catch orange city bus #4X. Buy your ticket at a nearby tabacchi shop. When you're ready to leave Hadrian's Villa to go back to Tivoli, catch bus #4 or #4X in the direction of Tivoli. If you're continuing on to Rome, get off at the main road and change to a Cotral bus (ask the bus driver for help — he knows what you need to do). Departures after 16:30 can be sparse.

The full article is here. Rick recommends the Cotral bus but you can also take the train to/from Tivoli and use the mentioned bus #4x to get to Villa Adriano. You will have about a 15 minute walk from the train station to Villa d'Este, which is in downtown Tivoli.

I was 65 and went Solo to Rome for One Fantastic Week in 2012. Loved every minute. Stayed at Hotel Savoy on Ludovisi, 5 min walk to Spanish Steps. I bought a 2 day pass on the Roma Bus and used that to figure out what I wanted to see and when. Bought ticket online for Borghese Museum....don't miss that! and also a full ticket for the entire Vatican, Museums and all. Spent the entire day at the Vatican ....I used Rick Steeves apps on my I Pod and he walked me thru every inch of the museums and sistine chapel. I also used his "Walk thru Rome" to see everything. His Pocket Rome book is worn out I used it so much.
I'm going to Italy again this year (my 5th time) and wish I could buy a place there......
Have a great time and use all Rick Steeves Tips; they are great.