Rome trip report May 2024

Day 2: Monday. We had pre booked an Ancient Rome tour with Sonia Tavoletta. It took about 20 minutes to walk to our arranged meeting place. Really glad to have a private guide since there’s really no way to avoid the chaos of the Colosseum and Forum. Sonia was excellent. We had timed entrance tickets for the Colosseum and for the Church of San Clemente underground excavations. I’m really glad we added San Clemente, because it was fascinating and not at all crowded. We had never visited Palatine Hill, so Sonia took us there next. The entrance lines were pretty crazy by this time (late morning). Again, Sonia’s knowledge made this so much more fascinating. By the time we’d finished there we’d spent about 4.5 hours with Sonia (on what was scheduled to be a 4 hour tour) so she gave us an overview of what we should visit in the forum and we parted ways with her. We were in need of a break and also hungry, so we stopped to rest and had a pretty lousy sandwich lunch at the cafe in the forum. Afterwards we spent about another hour in the forum on our own, but we were pretty footsore and overwhelmed; I honestly think the best way to enjoy the forum would be in small chunks over a period of days. Some sort of combo ticket including 4-5 days of Forum access would be a great idea, as you could build short visits to specific areas into a multi day itinerary. We walked back to our hotel late afternoon and at 5:30 met up with a friend who had flown to Rome that afternoon. We had a rooftop drink followed by the first of many great meals; the oxtail stew recommended by our waiter was the surprise star of this one.
Day 3: Tuesday. We got up at 6:00 and made it to the Trevi Fountain before 7:00. We didn’t have it to ourselves, but the crowd was pretty small and we had no difficulty tossing in our coins and just taking it all in. We absolutely loved wandering the streets of Rome early in the morning! It felt like the city was ours alone — between 6:00 - 10:00 a.m. was our favorite time every day. We returned to our hotel for breakfast, then grabbed a taxi (there’s a taxi stand right across the street from Hotel Damaso) to the Borghese Gallery, where we had arranged for a private tour with Giovanna Terzulli. Definitely one of our favorite experiences in Rome! Giovanna brought the palace and the sculptures to life— we wouldn’t have appreciated either nearly so much without her. After our tour she treated us to a coffee and then walked with us through the Borghese Gardens. After we left her we walked to the Spanish Steps. Just before we got there it started to pour — not fun, but the silver lining was that there was absolutely no one on the Steps when we arrived! The downpour didn’t last long and we continued walking, stopping into a tiny bakery where everyone else was speaking Italian for delicious slices of pizza to go. We continued on to Piazza Navonna and treated ourselves to a touristy moment— tartufo at Tre Scalini — which cost 5x more than our pizza lunch but was definitely a “when in Rome” experience. After a mid afternoon rest we connected with our friend and the three of us walked to Trestevere, which I personally found to be way too touristy. I’m sure there’s a real neighborhood somewhere, but we didn’t really experience it. We then walked much farther through Trestevere to Tavernaccia da Bruno, where we had a fantastic meal with exceptional service. Having had quite a full day, we opted to take a taxi back to the hotel.

Day 4: Wednesday. We had booked 9:00 a.m. tickets to the Pantheon so after an early breakfast we arrived in the piazza at about 8:15, and pretty much had the place to ourselves. So we were able to really enjoy the exterior and just being there, and when the doors opened we were among the first dozen people inside. Another wow, and so worth the effort to book ahead for the first available time slot and to arrive early. We used the RS audio guide. It was still pretty uncrowded both inside and out when we left at 9:45. Later in the day it’s absolutely jammed. We met up with our friend at 11:00 and the 3 of us enjoyed a three hour tour and lunch with Katie Parla in the Jewish ghetto. That was a lot of fun; we learned a lot and tried food we would never have known to order had we not been with Katie. Another afternoon rest and then wine and a light dinner at a wine bar near our hotel recommended by Katie. Really no crowds anywhere we went all day.
Day 5: Thursday. We actually slept in until 8:00, then took a taxi to Testaccio for the Eating Rome Taste of Testaccio food tour. Loved every minute of this! There were only 5 people in our group and our guide Luca was fantastic. Tourists are still not flocking to Testaccio and it was delightful strolling the streets and the amazing market. We learned a ton and ate and drank a lot. Add me to the many people giving thumbs up to the Eating Rome tours! After the tour we visited Keats’ grave at the Protestant cemetery, then climbed up to the orange grove for a great panoramic vista, and returned to our hotel with stops at the Rose Garden, Circus Maximus, and St Peter in Chains Church. Somehow found room for another great dinner before collapsing for the night.
Day 6: Friday. We had train tickets (heading to Padua) at 1:00, so we once again got up really early and walked the empty streets and across the bridge to Vatican City, arriving before 7:00 a.m. Unlike our other early morning forays, we encountered what seemed like 1,000 other people already in line. However, once security opened up and we made it through, Saint Peter’s itself was not crowded and there was no line whatsoever to get the elevator up to the first level of the dome. I’m glad we got to experience St Peter’s ten years ago, because the combination of the restoration work being done to the canopy and large areas being roped off for some upcoming event really diminished the experience this time around. This was our first time visiting the dome, which we enjoyed a lot By the time we left the lines outside and the line for the dome were both really long. We walked back to our hotel, had breakfast, bought sandwiches for our train ride and headed out.
Take aways: We absolutely loved Rome. 5.5 days was great but we easily could have doubled that and never run out of places to go/things to see. We felt safe at all times. We got lost a bit but never too badly; by the end of our stay we were pretty comfortable getting around without getting lost. Loved every early morning adventure we took. Rome feels entirely different before 10:30 a.m. and it was truly magical. Loved staying in Campo de Fiori because we could walk almost everywhere but would never want to eat or shop there. Luckily good places to eat are an easy walk away if you’ve done your homework and can get off the beaten path. We made a conscious choice to either walk (90% of the time) or take cabs. Many people are fine with public transportation in Rome but we didn’t want to fight the crowds and have to worry about potential pickpockets. Really really really glad we did so much advance planning. It resulted in full but not overwhelming days and a truly great time on the ground.

Ruth can you share the names of the restaurants you ate at close to your hotel? How did you find your guide to the Borghese gallery. I have been a few times and love it but never with a guide. Thanks

Loved every early morning adventure we took. Rome feels entirely different before 10:30 a.m. and it was truly magical.

So true! We just had one morning to see Rome before taking a train for a wedding outside of Arrezo. We got up really early and walked around on really empty, quiet streets. Sat on totally empty Spanish Steps (this was when you could sit there--don't think you can now), enjoyed Trevi Fountain with just a few people, walked right into the Pantheon, stopped for gelato, examined Trajan's Column, walked around Victor Emmanuel monument, stopped for coffee, then headed to the train station.

Hi Judy — Giovanna is listed in the Rick Steves guidebook under Local Guides. Her background is in Art History so she was perfect for guiding us through the Borghese. She mentioned she had spent time with Rick in April visiting the Appian away area.

Restaurants— all of these are small and reasonably priced: Sunday Ponte & Parione near Piazza Navonna. Recommended by a friend who has a relative who lives in Rome and eats there. The menu and food looked amazing but we were too tired and ended up just getting pizza and a salad— both of which were delicious. Monday Osteria dei Capperllari on a side alley off Campo de Fiori. Recommended by our friend’s B&B. We had excellent pasta and oxtail stew. Nothing fancy but everything tasted great and the service was excellent. Tuesday— Tavernaccia da Bruno — has gotten lots of press recently and was a mini splurge for us. This one is a long walk away at the far end of Trestevere; we walked there and taxied back. Wednesday— sorry, I don’t remember the name of this place. It was a tiny wine bar also near Campo de Fiori and we hared a lovely plate of house made ravioli plus some appetizers. We’d had a big lunch with Katie Parla and she recommended it as a place for a light bite. Thursday— Pietro Valentini— down a dark and narrow side street near Piazza Navonna. This was a recommendation from someone who had been in Rome a few weeks ahead of us and stumbled on it. Tiny is an understatement. Several tables of locals, including two priests at the corner table. Most of the locals were eating the traditional pastas which I suspect were fantastic, but we had sampled them earlier in the day on our Eating Rome tour so opted for other things. I had an excellent risotto with asparagus. This is a 2 person operation— Pietro cooks and his wife waits tables — and it says on the menu that good food is worth waiting for. We did wait a long time for our food but it was excellent. You can check reviews on line for all of these.

Lovely report! We lived there for almost 5 years and are going back this October for the first time in 8 years. This is making me nostalgic!

Thanks very much for an excellent TR, I always learn something from others' recommendations. And have forwarded this to some folks going for the first time, glad you figured out how to navigate the crowds! We were out by 9AM each day over NY 2024, feels completely different from later in the day.

Very helpful Ruth for our future (2026) longer stay in Rome.

Thanks Ruth, appreciate your reply.

@Ruth - thanks for all the information.
Which Testaccio tour did you take it?
Also, how did you book Katie Parl for the Jewish ghetto?

Taty, we took the Eating Rome Taste of Testaccio tour. I know a lot of people rave about the Twilight Trestevere tour, but Testaccio is SO much less crowded/touristy. We thought it was a great value for the price— you will eat a lot of good food!!!

Taty— we found the Katie Parla tours listed on her website. She offers a wide variety of tours, but you need to book way in advance. The prices aren’t listed on the website— you have to email for more information. Katie’s tours are very expensive. But it’s the same price whether there’s one in your group or six, so the larger your travel group, the better the price. It’s definitely a splurge. I loved it but honestly if I were choosing between only doing one food tour I’d probably opt for the Eating Europe Taste of Testaccio. Having said that, if you are a real foodie you might find Katie’s tours more sophisticated. Loved them and recommend them both!

Thanks Ruth for your interesting and helpful trip report. I’ll be in Rome for five days in mid-September.

Great trip report, thank you

Thanks for sharing your Rome experiences, Ruth. I'll be there in October for 12 days. Already booked a lot of things, but you've inspired me on some additional possibilities.

Thanks Ruth. I will look into the options you provided :)

We too loved the Testaccio Eating Europe tour, started at 10:00AM and we had just one other wonderful family along, our guide spoke fluent Arabic, Italian & English and is a chef! Just fantastic.