Arriving in Rome on a Sunday afternoon and restaurants

Posted by trbbls on 01/11/25 05:21 PM

We are traveling to Rome in March of 2025, we arrive on a Sunday we will be checked in and ready to head out around 17:00. We are staying near Ponte Cavour. What would be a casual evening for our first night. My thoughts were Trevi Fountain walk to Pantheon and then Piazza Navona, our Thursday is free would you recommend these places during the day. Suggestions for a Sunday afternoon in our area. We will be there 5 days. Tours of the Colosseum and Roman Forum, The Vatican and a day trip to Pompeii have been scheduled. Other than the day trip our afternoons and evenings are free, any suggestions on what we need to see during a casual evening. Can you recommend any restaurants? We are not interested in any "5 star" dining just good eats at a reasonable price, where we can get the true flavor of the city thus avoiding tourist traps.

Should we be worried about large crowds since Jubilee is happening in 2025?

Thank you in advance.

Posted by Ruth

Ithaca, NY, USA

01/11/25 06:13 PM

760 posts

You could visit the Pantheon etc Sunday late afternoon but everywhere is likely to be packed with tourists. A better time to walk through Piazza Navonna, to the Pantheon, to the Trevi Fountain is as early as possible the next morning. If you leave your hotel at 7:00 a.m., you’ll actually be able to experience these sites and it won’t feel like Disneyland on steroids. Not that you shouldn’t take the walk on Sunday…but if you can take it a second time without the crowds it will be an entirely different experience.

One thing to consider for your free day is the Eating Italy 4 hour Taste of Testaccio tour. We did this in May 2024 and loved it. The groups are small (maximum 12 people). Our guide was so personable, knowledgeable, and fun. Testaccio is not at all overrun by tourists (yet) so you get a feel for an authentic neighborhood. And you will eat a ton of all kinds of delicious food. You might not even be hungry for dinner that night!

From Testaccio you can walk to the Protestant cemetery where John Keats is buried and a very well fed cat colony is in residence. You can climb to the Orange Grove and return to downtown Rome (right near Circus Maximus) on foot. Makes for a great day.

Posted by johnt

Atlanta, GA area (USA)

01/14/25 05:55 PM

94 posts

If you find yourself at Piazza Navona around supper time I recommend walking a couple blocks south into Campo d’Fiore and eating at Elle Effe. Be sure and order one of their wonderful desserts! We ate there twice the day we arrived but then went back on New Year’s Day and found they were closed through the weekend for a holiday, so we never got to try the dessert. Good luck!

Posted by Jay

Chicago

01/15/25 07:00 PM

2124 posts

If you find yourself at Piazza Navona around supper time I recommend
walking a couple blocks south into Campo d’Fiore and eating at Elle
Effe. Be sure and order one of their wonderful desserts! We ate there
twice the day we arrived but then went back on New Year’s Day and
found they were closed through the weekend for a holiday, so we never
got to try the dessert. Good luck!

John--

I'm SO glad Elle Effe is still there!

It was February 2017, chilly day, and we were just wandering near Campo de' Fiori around noon, up one street down the other. Came upon Elle Effe, and the owner was standing outside, smoking a cigarette. We struck up a conversation, and turns out he's from Sicily and the cuisine is Sicilian. We dined there that night and one other. Sicilian-style pizza (no cheese, but with hot pepper oil and anchovies), arancini, caponata. Fantastic! We'll be back in April!