Firenze this past Sat-Tues, Roma from Tues afternoon. (more to come)
- Atlanta-Rome nonstop. Maybe 10 minute line at Immigration. Leonardo Express to Termini, Frecciarossa to Firenze. TIP: don't make the mistake I did & get distracted by the already highlighted, shiny red button in the Trenitalia app asking you to CONFIRM your upgrade to Premium (with Premium not very noticeable in the long sentence). Yup, I paid €20 for the soda & cookie instead of the Standard ticket I meant to buy. DON'T BUY PREMIUM. That aside, fun watching the countryside roll past at 250KPH.
- weather: every day almost everything from bright sun (not much) to heavy sideways rain & lightning, even a bit of hail!
- Florence crowds; basically none. Walked right up to the Venus in the Uffizi & David in the Accademia. Anything you wanted to see there was at most one person in front of you (like at the viewing doors for The Tribune). There were even open seats right behind David. Incredible. But timed tickets for the Uffizi were still handy - we entered at 8:30 and when we exited about 10:30 or so there was something of a line.
- Rome Taste of Travestere; awesome food tour, went about 4.5 hours, really fun group and that made it more fun for the guide. HIGHLY recommend.
- No line for the elevator to the top of the Altar of the Fatherland. Managed some great photos with sun through cloud breaks. No crowds, no line at the Pantheon, any church we went into (great way to give the feet a break).
- Coopculture Underground Colosseum tour today, rain light & heavy (sometimes REALLY heavy with lightning). No line at entry, and attendants took pity on us & let us in early so we could wait out of the rain in advance of the 20 min standard time.
- Roman Forum; well, I took a photo down the length of the Forum and there were about 8 people in the entire frame. That's gotta be sorta unusual. ;)
- tomorrow's the Vatican, so less concern about rain - got the big one in (above)!
- Masks; EVERYONE wears indoors & even outdoors at historical sights (Forum). Used a printed copy of CDC card, no problems anywhere. Only a few places asked for ID as well. Having both CDC & passport photos on the phone made it easy. Green card/CDC asked for on Frecciarossa, most of the really major attractions.
- Now to wait to see what the CDC says today about coming home. Looking like it'll be 24 hr instead of 72 antigen. Since we've the BinaxNow with us, not a big concern.
Posted by
Asheville, NC
196 posts
Thank you for this report. We leave for Florence and Rome in two weeks. I'm especially interested in your experience with testing to return to the US.
Have fun!
Posted by
OP
23 posts
Florence & Rome mayors add outdoor mask mandate. Starts 12/4 in Rome. Green Pass will be required for all public transit after 12/6, with police spot checks.
Posted by
Western Canada
3098 posts
What is the Altar of the Fatherland?
Posted by
Gettysburg PA
6006 posts
Victor Emmanuel monument
https://vittoriano.beniculturali.it/it/luoghi/altare-della-patria-e-tomba-del-milite-ignoto
Posted by
OP
23 posts
12/3: 7:30am Vatican Prime Experience (aka, breakfast tour). Wow. Just... wow. Group of 15 and did not see ANYONE else in the Museum during our tour until we got to the end, and saw... lines to get in. Photos of empty halls, guide said make sure you get a photo - it never looks like this! Walk and stare anywhere you like. So many incredible sights & photos. Sistine Chapel, just us. Still over 2 hours. And the breakfast was quite good! Much more food than we could eat. Had to take the long way around to the Basilica, guide said the shortcut's been closed. Only about 7 minute walk.
- St Peters - again, walk anywhere, never more than 1 person in front of you at the altar or the Pieta. Walked down to the papal crypts without knowing it dumps you outside, but simply walked around to the doors & right back in to see the Pieta.
- Spanish Steps & the Trevi: aha! HERE'S some people! Mild crowds at both. But it almost lent a more fun atmosphere! Watched a number of folks get whistled & gestured to not sit down on the Steps. Seems a rather silly law (law because it's been classified as a monument, so no sitting/defacing) since you're WALKING on them, why not sit on them? But it gives a couple Carabinieri an easy shift. Threw a few cents into the Trevi. Decent lunch at L'Antica Birreria Peroni.
Posted by
44 posts
Hi, editingfix - which company did you use for your breakfast and early morning Vatican tour? Starting make arrangements for our April trip and (even knowing that with COVID, things change daily), want to pre-book as soon as possible. Thanks!
Posted by
OP
23 posts
We booked directly with the Vatican Museums. It's called Prime Experience - Vatican Museums, €70 + €17 x 2 of us = €104 total. But I believe starting 1/1/22 there's a booking fee as well. Tour starts at 7:30, an hour before the museum opens and lasts about 2 hours, followed by an excellent breakfast. Considering that St Peters took us another 2 hours, this was a perfect duration. I was just looking at some of the 3rd party tour vendor websites and notice that at least Viator's site is still indicating there's a special skip the line entrance to St Peters from the Museums, but our guide told us this is no longer the case.
The experience of walking around the Vatican Museums with no one outside our group of 15 in sight... awesome.