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Rome Itinerary

I think I've got a 4 night itinerary locked down in Rome and mainly want to check to see if there are any flubs and get further restaurant recommendations:

Day 1 (Sunday in May) - Arrive FCO from Iceland in the early afternoon. Have a driver pick us up and take us to our Monti apartment. Taxi to Piazza Farnese and (more or less) follow Rick's Heart of Rome walk (just a few modifications - like putting Spanish Steps before Trevi) and then dinner in Monti.

Day 2 (Monday) - Breakfast at La Biga near the colosseum before our private Colosseum / Forum / Palatine Hill tour with The Roman Guy (6 of us total). Back to Monti for lunch and a 90 minute break afterward. Then taxi to Trastevere for a walkabout and dinner (seeing Santa Cecelia and Santa Maria along the way).

Day 3 (Tuesday) - Early morning Vatican tour (Liv Tours). Thinking of trying pinsa at Pinsa 'mbo in Prati afterward. Again, back to the apartment for a break. Afternoon has a little taxi hopping to Catacombs of San Callisto and Baths of Caracalla before walking or taxiing down to Testaccio for dinner.

Day 4 (Wednesday) - Morning side trip to Ostia Antica followed by lunch in Monti with a mid-day break at the apartment before heading to Trajan's Market/Imperial Fora museum and a (too short) visit to the Capitoline Museums before apertivo at the rooftop bar at Capitoline (Terrazzo Caffarelli) and then a bus ride to a final night dinner with view of the colosseum at Le Terraze al Colosseo.

Day 5 (Thursday) packing and quick visit to nearby San Pietro in Vincoli before taking the 11:00 train to Salerno (arrives 1pm) and then connect to the 2:10pm ferry to Amalfi (forecasted times at this point) - unless we're late and then there should be a 3:30 ferry as well. We can always take a taxi to Amalfi if the ferry doesn't work out, but I think the ferry would be more comfortable and more fun. We'll have a brunch at Mercati Centrale at the Termini station before we leave.

Restaurants in Monti: Ai Tre Scalini, La Barrique, La Taverna dei Monti, I Monticiano, Taverna Romana, Trattoria da Valentino, La Nuova Piazzetta, and La Carbonara (not all open on Sunday night or Monday for lunch, but most are open Wednesday lunch).

Restaurant in Trastevere - thinking about Essenza Wine Bar (or other place that catches our eye) for apertivo and Otello for dinner. Happy to hear other recommendations. I've heard Trilussa (sp?) can be overly loud and touristy.

Restaurant in Testaccio - thinking about someplace on Piazza Testaccio for apertivo and dinner at Osteria San Giorgio. This is going to be an early-ish dinner (shooting for 7:00pm) and my first choice - Felice a Testaccio - only has outdoor seating at that hour.

If anyone has had very good or bad experiences with any of these places (or any other itinerary observations) - thank you in advance.

Posted by
1814 posts

...our private Colosseum / Forum / Palatine Hill tour with The Roman Guy (6 of us total). Back to Monti for lunch ...

Seems rushed - many do the colosseum one day and come back the next for the Forum/Palatine. You might consider lingering in the Forum after the tour ends, then go directly to the Capitoline, which is adjacent. Or walk back to Monti by routing along Trajan's column, etc.

Similar reaction to the schedule for Ostia Antica - by the time you get there, it will be time to head back to your Monti lunch. Maybe look into options for eating locally near the scavi.

Posted by
316 posts

Just here to say that I live in Prati and pinsa m'po is delicious. :)

Posted by
8590 posts

For our last 3 visits to Rome, we’ve stayed in the Testaccio area, but will never again eat at Felice a Testaccio. The last time, they would only seat us outside (not ideal, but we got a table), and immediately after taking our order, the waiter remarked, without being asked, “Oh, and you can leave your tip for me on the table.” He didn’t get one. When bringing the wine we’d ordered, the sommelier acted like it was a real inconvenience for her, which cemented the feeling that we were not welcome as guests. After going there twice before, it seemed that we were now seen only as annoying Americans, a source of easy money to get rid of a quickly as they could. Felice? Never again.

Instead, we’ve had better service and better food in Testaccio at both Lo Scopettaro and at Bucatino.

Posted by
4528 posts

our private Colosseum / Forum / Palatine Hill tour with The Roman Guy
(6 of us total)

I did a 3.5-hour group tour like this with Dark Rome way back in 2015. I thought it was fine to do all 3 together. We did Capitoline after that tour, and I was definitely "antiquitied out" by the time we finished that.

Ostia Antica is pretty cool. Depending on your level of interest, you may be there longer than you think. Maybe pack a snack in case you want to stay there longer and push lunch out a bit.