Rome Itinerary

The Capitoline Museum
Trajan's Forum
The Pantheon
The Domus Aurea
The Palantine Hill and site of Circus Maximus
Castel St. Angelo (Hadrian's Mausoleum)
Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps
Piazza Navona

We were very pleased with Carla Zaia as our tour guide in Rome.
[email protected]
She was an excellent guide, very helpful, flexible, and provided great advice and service beyond expectation. She is highly recommended.

Thank you!

One of the most under-rated attractions we saw was Hadrians Temple. I recommend going to it before Castel St. Angelo. They had a great informational video for you to watch that goes through the history of Rome and the history of Hadrians temple as well. Capuchin crypt was also unbelievable

Thank you so much! We will definitely go.

Do not miss the church of San Clemente. It has been excavated below to ruins from BC. Early Christian church to pre- Christian all are all there.
It is an incredible way to explore Rome’s history.

If you’re near Piazza del Popolo around sunset, (1600) try to pop up the Pinico Terrace to see Roma in its golden glow.

https://www.turismoroma.it/en/places/pincio-terrace-and-promenade

We spent the week between Christmas & NY 2019 in Rome, plan on crowds later in the day as lots of Italians come in from all over to celebrate. It was fun but crowded at all the popular monuments, so best to get out early to see things like the Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, & Hadrian's temple which as someone else mentioned, was a gem. Your plans include a LOT of walking, much of it on cobblestones. We gave up after our first evening wearing trainers & switched to hiking boots.

• We stayed at the Hotel Fontana in front of the Trevi Fountain, it was a fantastic location, great service, amazing breakfast room overlooking the fountain. I'm not sure it's handicap accessible, I seem to recall stairs leading up to the breakfast room. https://www.hotelfontana-trevi.com/en/
• A food walking tour - we did the Testaccio tour through Eating Europe on our first day, wonderfully knowledgeable guide with great recommendations on where to eat during our trip. It also gets you out of the tourist hub into a fantastic neighborhood. https://www.eatingeurope.com/rome/taste-of-testaccio/
• Great way to acclimate / get an overview of the old center - "Rome Walks" (recommended in Rick's books). They offer a 2 hour "Twilight Rome Walk" & I've heard good things about it on the RS Forum. (My Italian relatives were my tour guides, so I've not been on it myself.)
• The Vatican Museum leads you eventually into the Sistine Chapel. Having done this on our own, I would strongly suggest a tour. I would love to go back to see the Sistine Chapel early in the morning without the crowds. Frankly I get museum burnout and wouldn't want to do this the same day as St Peters Basilica, unless on a combo tour, but others will feel differently. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/vatican-tour-e7ab7c77-d5e4-4ccd-8a89-77d3c1fd661c
• Other churches besides San Peters Basilica & the Pantheon? There are SO many with amazing art work inside churches, maybe along your walks pop inside a few or better yet, pick some ahead of time.
  
• We used RomeWise (no affiliation) for restaurant recommendations & were never disappointed. I found her grouping of places to eat near major sites particularly useful. And our hotel recommended several simple nearby pizzerias that were great. https://www.romewise.com/places-to-eat-in-rome.html Hope that's helpful, have a wonderful trip!

hey hey denise
how many adults for this family vacation and how many nights will you be there? it will be extra busy, crowded with everyone (tourists and locals within the country) wanted to see same thing as you plan. much of your time will be standing in long lines, you can "skip the line" but not "skip security lines" read all you can and cannot do at any attraction, dress codes, no bags/backpacks
look at: rome-like-a-local.it
beautiful countryside day trip to castelli romani. this is the pope's summer palace and his gardens. email him if he does more than 3, thought he has a van for more people. short train ride to frascati then a tour of frascati and it's small villages and lake nemi. stop at ceralli.it, for their bakery/pizza oven for the "best porchetta" sandwiches and goodies in the family owned bakery where nonna is 94 still baking, look for her famous buxom cookie. get out of the hustle and bustle of rome.
known for the vineyards there to do wine tasting.
lacucinaitaliana.com/ famous buxom cookie from frascati
oldfrascatitour.com
read up about us and tours available
likealocalguide.com
skip the line: semo private vacation afternoon tour including sistine chapel
mercatidiroma.com
the different markets of rome to roam around and see what they sell in them
eatwith.com.com
rome, check event type. lunch/dinner in a locals home, couple food tours does the catacombs, cooking class
we went to ristorante carlo menta in trastevere (via della lungaretta 101)
it was so so good. outside family sitting, had pizza, pasta and tartufa ice cream was dessert. everyone has their own opinions good and bad, ours was great. then we walked down thru the jewish ghetto.
so many places, walk down the side alley for mom/pop places.
loved campo de fiori, piazza navona, pantheon, vatican/prati area just roaming around. we were there middle october before our transatlantic cruise few year back. enjoy and have a great time
aloha

Thank you all for your wonderful tips! I am sifting through everything and will be using many of these suggetions. So much to see so little time! This forum is wonderful!!

I also want to recommend San Clemente. Descending into that subterranean area is truly like going back 2,000 years.