Rome Itinerary-input appreciated

You can see if you can check into your hotel early or at least store your things at the hotel.

Bascilica San Clemente is an amazing church that your son would appreciate for its unique history and it is close to the Colosseum are where you are staying. You could easily fit this in either before or after a visit to the Colosseum. Have a great trip!

OK, I'll come up with some ideas (THAT won't be difficult: HA!) but right off the bat, the Priscilla Catacombs are a no-go as they're closed until Sept. 2nd (http://www.catacombepriscilla.com/index_en.html). That's OK as they're out of the way; if you're going out to the Appia, you can kill two birds and see one of three out there. Take a look? (we did S. Sebastiano but Callixtus is also very popular).

San Sebastiano:
http://www.catacombe.org/uk_index.html

Callixtus:
https://www.catacombe.roma.it/en/index.php

Domitilla
https://www.catacombedomitilla.it/en

In Rome, San Clemente Church (editing: I see Cathy also mentioned that one whilst I was typing) might be of interest as it's one of those old structures built upon an even older structure, built upon a 1st -century Mithraeum... Constructing Christian churches upon or around pre-Christian Roman basilicas and temples wasn't all that unusual as not only did it make economical use of existing materials but was symbolic of the church's dominance over the pagan past. There is a fee to see the subterranean levels:

http://www.basilicasanclemente.com/eng/

But even the pre-Christian Romans were thrifty recyclers of building and ornamental materials; have your son read up on the Arch of Constantine near the Colosseum:

https://www.ancient.eu/article/497/the-arch-of-constantine-rome/

If the focus is on ancient Rome, I might skip Galleria Borghese...although I much prefer that one to the Vatican Museums (I am an art geek). You might look at the National Etruscan Museum that's roughly up in the Villa Borghese part of the city?

https://www.museoetru.it

I'd also take a walk through the Jewish Ghetto and get a look at citizens nearby living with ancient Rome right on their doorsteps! There were signs in this area in English to tell you what you're looking at - I actually knew someone who worked on that project - so hopefully they're still there. Free.

https://www.turismoroma.it/en/node/1113
https://www.turismoroma.it/en/node/1098

Walk by San Nicola in Carcere while you're in that area: you can see how that church was built from 3 earlier temples as some of the older bits are very visible from the exterior. The bases of those temples temples can be visited in the basement of that one ( 4 euro fee, I believe) but can be skipped: San Clemente would be more interesting, I think. Use this just for some background on the pre-Christian bits:

https://revealedrome.com/2011/09/underground-ancient-sites-in-rome-san-nicola-carcere-church/

Oh, another free walk-by with some signage but I'd recommend some reading. It says it's closed but you can see down into it from the surrounding sidewalks. That "Et tu, Brute" fella in the bedsheet? He met his sorry end in the curia here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largo_di_Torre_Argentina
https://www.turismoroma.it/en/node/1040

More coming but just a start? LOL, tell that lucky kid of yours to get all over his guidebook or you'll be taking ME to Rome instead! :O)

One more before I have to run but San Giovanni in Laterano is very near San Clemente. This is officially the Pope's church as Bishop of Rome. The man wears more than one hat...or miter, more accurately. Well worth a stop in, and entry is free. It has a long history: google up more background reading than I'm providing here:

https://www.turismoroma.it/en/node/708

Yes, Egypt was ancient when the Romans took over in the first century BC.

Rome is still ancient to us, today.

I suggest visiting Trajan's Forum near Trajan's Column.
The Capitoline Hill Museum is located where the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus was located.

I did the Catacombs once and it was interesting, but not as much as I thought. Still, it is worth a visit.

The National Museum of Rome near Termini (there are other locations elsewhere) has busts of most of the emperors, mosaics from Livia's villa, and other pieces of historical interest (some with more artistic merit than others). It takes a couple of hours. More of a history museum than an art museum, I'd say.

You know, I'm neither a Catholic or a religious person so any attraction to soul-saving relics isn't why I've done 20+ or so churches or so-called holy sites - like a catacomb - that I have in Rome. The history, the culture, the architecture, the art and the legends themselves are reasons enough to get a ticket, as long as one has some healthy skepticism about some unproven claims. As far as San Sebastiano, a look at what were once above-ground, pre-Christian mausoleums added to the bigger picture for us.

If your interest is ancient Rome, I would consider Aqueduct Park. It's just a few subway stops from the heart of Rome to either Lucio Sestio or Giulio Agricola and then its a 10 minute walk to the park. You can walk around and through the ruins of several ancient aqueducts. We brought a picnic and enjoyed a nice day with many locals. There were few other tourists, which was so nice.

Another ancient spot we enjoyed was Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli. These are the ruins of Hadrian's palace about 45 minutes drive from Rome. There are also plenty of tours if you don't want to drive.

I would also make a point of walking along the Tiber River near Tiber Island. This is between the Jewish Ghetto and Trastevere where Ponte Fabricio crosses the Tiber.

Enjoy!

Great suggestions everyone! Good to know that Priscilla Catacombs is closed. I hadn't seen that. With your input and after discussing our trip with a friend who is almost a soulmate of my son, I have made the following modifications. Remember, ancient history and Biblical history are the goals. Art is a nice side note but not the goal:

Wed (arrival 09:30 by night train): Walk Imperial Forum, Capitoline Hill, Mamertine Prison, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps

Thurs: 09:30 Colosseum tour-Roman Forum-Palatine, (Trajan's Column?, Circus Maximus?, Baths of Caracalla), Appia Antica, Catacomb visit. We could start the day early by visiting something before the Colosseum (overall, it looks like too much. Will weed it down with DS's input)

Fri: Vatican Day. I will probably purchase 12:00 (earliest available) Vatican Museum tickets to supplement the evening tickets I already bought (3 1/2 hours will NOT be enough time). Maybe start with the museum, move on to St Peter's, climb the dome, eat dinner then return for the evening Vatican museum time, seeing the Sistine Chapel without the crowd. Add Castel Sant'Angelo in there somewhere.

Sat: Churches such as St John Lateran, St Peter-In-Chains, Gesu, Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, Holy Stairs, San Clemente, St Paul's Outside the Walls. I believe that all of these are free.

San Clemente will charge you something to go down to the Mithraic temple beneath, it's well worth the price. Trajan's Column is right next to the Imperial Forum so you can see it easily that day.

Looks like a good plan, with flexibility and some down time if you need it.

ptlovesot, I think Thursday is very overloaded. The Colosseum/Forum/Palatine is going to be a real energy sucker for people like yourselves with more than the usual tourist's surface-level interest. I don't mean "energy sucker" in a bad way: I mean that your brains may have had enough by the time you stagger out of the Forum/Palatine...which have to be visited at the same time; you can't leave one and come back to do the other. Let's just say that I wouldn't have personally had the energy - not to mention adequate time - to take in the Baths of Caracalla or the Appia after having done those 3 particular attractions (+ we did the Capitoline museums that same day). Depending on how much energy you have left, I might circle around to Circus Maximus and climb the Aventine for a visit to Santa Sabina: very old, interesting and free.

As it includes some of places you mentioned, here's how I grouped our Appia Antica day: as I'd noted in your other post, we started out on the further reaches early in the morning and worked our way back into the city. Along with stopping to examine some of the tombs along the way, this is what we covered on foot in a long but very interesting day, starting from Casal Rotondo: Capo di Bove> Villa/Circus of Maxentius> Catacombs of S. Sebastiano> Chiesa del Domine Quo Vadis (that one takes just a couple of minutes at most)> Baths of Caracalla> Chiesa San Stefano Rotundo> San Giovanni in Laterano (+ you could do Scala Sancta) > San Clemente> collapse at an outdoor bar in Parco di Colle Oppio (HA!). Look at where these are on a map and you can see how they follow a linear route? That's the idea, although you certainly wouldn't have to start your own walk as far out as we did: maybe Villa of Maxentius or the one of the catacombs might be far enough for ya.

My personal take on the Mamertine? It's a skip.