10 Hours in Rome

Well you do what you can do, not what people tell you. First go to the Vatican with the metro subway line A from the Termini train station.
My suggestion is to book the Vatican museums online so you avoid the queue.
https://biglietteriamusei.vatican.va/musei/tickets/index.html
The Sistine chapel is accessible only through the Vatican museums. Once inside the museum you can choose among some color coded itineraries (all of which cover the Sistine chapel). Given the limited time choose the shortest (~2 hours), then follow that color (the colored strips are on the floors, just follow your yellow brick road you selected). After the museum walk to the St. Peter's basilica and visit that. In the afternoon head to the Colosseum and Forum (take metro subway or taxi). For Colosseum and Forum you will enjoy the visit more if you hire a guide who can explain what you are looking at, otherwise they will look like just mean less rocks and ruins. Do lunch on the go (sandwich or something), because a sit down restaurant might take precious time. After the colosseum and Forum walk to the historical center and see the pantheon, piazza Navona, Trevi fountain and Spanish steps. You won't have time for much more. You can take the metro from Spanish steps (station name: Spagna) back to the Termini train station.

Roberto has laid it all out for you wonderfully. Just do what he recommends.

Thank you very much Roberto, that is exactly what I'm looking for. Should I be concerned about getting earlier tickets to the Vatican given the Pope is holding audience that day or will that likely not have an impact?

Ten hours in Roma is better than no hours. I think Roberto's advice is excellent.

Some recommend going to the Vatican Museum precisely during the papal audience for less crowding. This will be an extremely tiring day, but OK if you are young and full of excitement.

I would definitely skip Palatine Hill and maybe even skip the Forum if you are running out of time, or just a simple walk down the main area and exit on the north end near the edge of the historical quarter. It's included with the Colosseum admission. Many consider the Pantheon the highlight of a Rome visit.

I agree in Roberto - the Metro will help getting from place to place a lot quicker. Plus, the Metro is very easy to understand. Before I left, I got familiar with the Metro route so I didn't have to spend time figuring it out while traveling.

This link may help: https://www.rometoolkit.com/transport/rome_metro.htm

Excellent, thanks everyone. Really appreciate the insight. Can't wait to get to Italy.

Rome is country of lovers. I would say, it's better to go there than not to go. I like the statement - When you are in Rome, live like Romans.

we spent a number of days in rome in may, loved it. we booked our vatican musuem tickets on line and walked past the 'absolutely ridiculously long' line of people waiting to buy tickets and went straight in, when inside it was like something else, parts of the museum were great BUT the quantity of people was down right a safety hazard, so many people you could not even fall over.( packed like sardines literally) people weren't looking at the beautiful items , they were too busy trying to move.
then when we got to the sistene chapel it was equally as bad. luckily we got a seat along the side of the wall. the attendants spent all their time shouting at people to be quiet???

I mention this hopefully not to dampen your interest but please be aware of what can happen. the rest of the vatican 'area' was the same type of 'busy' on every day we were there (believe me we tried to visit, as we were staying nearby)

looking back we much preferred the forum, Colosseum and other parts of rome.

hope this helps.

Thank you Glenn, I did buy our tickets in advance per suggestions. Not looking forward to crowds like that but it is indeed what I would expect. Cheers!

another thing worth thinking about is the rick steves audio guide ( walking tour). we found them great, just load onto our phone ipod etc and listen and look. while we are there and often we listen before we get there to get a feel for what to expect. they are free and great.

From the timestamps it seems that you have already passed through Rome ... but my suggestion could apply to a number of cities. Your post caught my eye because I had nearly the same situation a few years back. We arrived in Rome at 11:00 with a plane departing 1st thing the next morning.

We did a bike tour which was about four hours. It took us along the hills overseeing the city and then dropped us down onto the cobblestone streets. We stopped at a café just around the corner from the Pantheon, rode by the Vatican, the Forum etc. We returned right at sundown ... in time to catch a nice dinner before bed.

This was not our first trip to Rome ... so we did not feel the need to repeat the standard sights. It was a nice option to see some scenery and get some activity before the trans-Atlantic flight the next morning.

Hi All!!

We're back! What an amazing time we had, and we managed to do the following in 9 hours, had an hour at the train station where I managed to get my iPhone stolen (only negative thing on the whole trip) but we had a blast.

Arrived by train from Firenze at 10:30 AM, took a cab (12 Euro) to the Vatican Museum, skipped the line because we already had tickets. Went through it pretty quick, found it to be glorious but very overwhelmingly repetitive (I guess I'm not great with art, but still had a good time!) Sistine Chapel was unreal.

Then had gelato on the way around the wall to St Peters Square, popped in line for the cathedral and climbed all 500 steps to the top for a killer view! After that we walked across the river, found a spot for pizza and sat down to enjoy. Then walked to the Pantheon, very cool building! After that walked to Trevi Fountain. We arrived by foot at the Colosseum around 5pm, no line, practically nobody in the building at all! Felt like a private tour, we did buy in advance but didn't need to. Had that and the forum to ourselves basically for a couple hours and then took the metro back to the train station. At that point, after being crazy cautious and aware all day of pickpockets, someone dropped about 200 Pope postcards on our table while eating and stole my phone (I wasn't even aware I left it on table like an idiot.)

Lesson learned, but also Rome can rock in 10 hours. We walked just about everything, which according to our phone apps was about 10 miles.

Cheers and thanks for all the help!

Good report. You should put it under Trip Reports. And, of course, now you know why we always warn about leaving thing laying around loose, bags hooked on backs of chairs, etc., Even the best of alert people can be distracted. Hopefully you had you phone locked.

thanks Frank, will do! I considered myself very smart and savvy having lived in NYC for a while. Only took a lapse to get busted, frustrating but is what it is. Just a phone!

Cheers!