Trip Report: Rome, Dec. 2022

Day 2: We had 9AM tickets for The Borghese Gallery. Since it was raining, we took a taxi and found that this was a useful and cheap way to save time and energy. We took taxis 3 or 4 times and it was always about €10 or less. What we should have done though was realized that we were incredibly early. The driver dropped us off before it was even 8AM and it had started raining harder by this point. We walked around the building trying to find shelter but there wasn’t an inch of roofing or veranda to be found for two hapless fools with flimsy umbrellas and rapidly soaking feet. My husband was trying to find a café or somewhere on Google Maps when I said we should just walk and find something. This turned into 10 minutes of power walking down a main street until we found a bus stop and took shelter. Right. We’ll just stand here for about an hour and then go back. Ha. A bus dared to show up to its own stop and proceeded to send a wave of water over me. Back to the intense power walking it was. My husband was convinced there was a church nearby but we never did find it. Instead, I noticed an entryway to what looked like an apartment building of some kind and we stood under there for a few minutes until a man appeared and asked us if we were trying to get inside. My Italian is fairly basic but I was able to tell him we were sheltering from the rain and he said that was fine. He came back 5 minutes later with a new personality and seemed annoyed that we were still standing there. By this point I gathered it was an office building and he wanted to clean the stairs that we were standing on. We decided to leave and power walked back to the bus stop where we stood until we figured the museum was almost open. By the time we entered we were wet, annoyed, and cranky….

…But, wow. This place. The entire museum is stunning and from the moment I saw Bernini’s The Rape of Proserpina I forgot about the rain and became mesmerized. Seeing pictures is nothing compared to standing there and it’s no longer marble, it’s actual flesh and skin, it just has to be. Bernini’s David was a close second favorite. My husband was thrilled by the Caravaggio’s and I was particularly taken by Madonna, Child and Serpent. By the end of the trip, I’d leave a Caravaggio fan, too.

It was still raining so we had to skip walking the gardens. We had a quick lunch at Baghettando in Toscana, run by a very nice and talkative father-son duo, then spent the afternoon walking around random streets, eventually going by the Trevi Fountain, The Temple of Hadrian, and back to The Pantheon. The surrounding streets here made for some great photos.

We had dinner at Emma pizzeria (no reservation, we just walked in, they weren’t busy). The Cabonara was excellent.

Day 3: We had nothing scheduled today so it was a delicious day of walking and exploring. We turned down so many side streets and took lots of pictures. We wandered into the Jewish Ghetto and while looking at the Portico of Octavia ruins an older (local?) woman began talking to me, pointing to a plaque on a building and telling me how important it was to the history of Rome. I once again put my rudimentary Italian to use and told her how beautiful I thought Rome was and she beamed. I loved this area and how atmospheric it is. We walked the ruins, the little back streets and then around the stores and restaurants. There was barely anybody around.

We then found ourself outside the Victor Emmanuel Monument and hiked up to Basilica di Santa Maria in Ara coeli. Lavish doesn’t begin to describe this one. There were actual chandeliers. We wandered over to Piazza Navona (another place that looks better in person), and visited a series of churches whose names I can’t remember.

Day 4: We had 9AM tickets for the Vatican Museums but when we showed up at 8:30AM they let us in, we got our tickets, and scanned them through the turnstile and were inside half an hour early. There seemed to be a lot of tour groups gathering but they were nowhere to be seen inside. The first hour here was so amazing I still can’t believe it worked out this way. For some reason we were ALONE. We wandered through the Pinocateca in awe, whispering and almost tiptoeing. We came across a series of Raphael paintings lit up in a dark room and were both struck dumb. The only other person in the room was a guard dozing in a chair. After about an hour a few people turned up but it was still pretty sparse. I suppose everyone was at the Sistine Chapel (or the Trevi Fountain). I also particularly liked Caravaggio’s The Entombment of Christ. I left the Vatican (and the entire trip) more of a fan of Raphael then when I arrived. The School of Athens – another thing that can’t be captured on film. Am I allowed to say the Sistine Chapel was just OK? Probably the best part was when a booming voice periodically commanded “Silenzio!” which everyone startled at and then ignored.

St. Peter’s Basilica is as grand as you’d expect. I wish we could’ve gotten closer to Michelangelo’s Pieta, but it was still beautiful to see. So many people were taking selfies in front of it without even looking at it. The burial sites downstairs were also interesting. About this time, I had started to feel a bit sick, so our afternoon was spent back at the hotel.

Day 5: Awful day sick in the hotel. We had tickets to the Colosseum but instead I spent the day falling in and out of sleep and discovering the joy that is Italian game shows.

Day 6: I was well enough to venture out and there were still plenty of tickets to the Colosseum available, so we went there in the morning. This was one of the least crowded experiences of the trip. We were able to stroll around the Colosseum, Forum, and Palatine Hill without feeling rushed or bothered by crowds. My husband said it was surreal to actually be there after a lifetime of seeing it on TV. And yes, it’s yet another place that looks so much grander and breathtaking in person.

We spent the afternoon and evening in Trastevere which we loved. It was very uncrowded and also different than I was expecting. It didn’t even feel like Rome. It felt like a little town somewhere far away. I know it’s a different story during the summer, but in early December it was peaceful and absolutely beautiful. We spent hours just wandering around taking pictures and as it turned dark, we went to Basilica di Santa Maria, which was yet another breathtaking church. The square and the streets around here were particularly interesting. We wandered into a bookstore, stopped at Suppli Roma and sampled a few flavors standing up outside, then made our way across the bridge and felt like walking some more, so we went back to Piazza Navona, where the Christmas market was already in full swing. It was really interesting to see the different booths and watch families and couples walking around. We went inside Sant'Agnese in Agone, another interesting church, this one with an actual skull on display. It was quite fitting because when we emerged there was a puppet show going on in the square where a puppet dressed like a chef and what looked like a Phantom of the Opera mask beat another puppet to death with a rolling pin. Buon Natale!

Day 7: We started out early walking past the Pantheon (again!) briefly to take pictures without crowds, then went to the Trevi Fountain and threw the coins in, before heading to Palazzo Barberini. We loved this place! Absolutely beautiful building and another uncrowded place. Rome seemed to swing wildly between severe congestion (Vatican, Trevi) and mercifully peaceful. I fell in love with Corradini’s La Vestale Tuccia sculpture. I couldn’t stop staring at her. Exquisite. My fandom for Raphael grew here with La Fornarina, which was delicate and beautiful, and Caravaggio, particularly Giuditta beheading Holofernes. We walk around and around before I randomly picked a place for lunch based on nothing but the fact that everyone eating was speaking Italian. I can’t remember the name but the Spaghetti alla Gricia was really good.

Day 8: We went to the Capitoline Museum in the morning which we both liked, then spent the rest of the day visiting a few sites we missed (Santa Maria della Vittoria to see Bernini’s Ecstasy of Saint Teresa was a highlight). It was raining, we were tired and fighting between trying to cram in more “stuff” and just wandering and soaking everything in one last time. The soaking won out, and we wandered, ate, and reflected on a very chaotic, challenging, awe-inspiring visit.

Overall: Rome is not for the faint of heart. Challenges with steady rain about half the time, me getting sick, and oppressive crowds at times cut into our sightseeing time and we didn’t get to everything we wanted (but who would on a first trip to Rome?). I think we’ll be back at some point since we’d likely fly in/out of Rome on future trips to Italy and might add on a couple of nights here.

Scams: The bracelet scam was most prevalent. We saw it constantly around the main tourist hubs. I was approached many times, increasingly aggressively it seemed. One man started trying to put the bracelet on me while my hand was raised looking at a map on my phone but I was able to snatch it away in time. Another grabbed my husband by the arm trying to make us stop walking and then yelled at us for being “disrespectful” as we walked away. We never felt unsafe, just annoyed. We just said “no” repeatedly and kept walking each time. I did see some people in the thick of the scam though, bracelet fully installed on wrist and tense discussions begun. ☹

Favorite Gelato: Frigidarium near Piazza Navona.

Second favorite Gelato: Fatamorgana Chiavari near Campo de' Fiori. Really interesting flavors, my favorite was basil, honey, and walnut.

What's next: Spain in March

Thanks Roubrat for a great trip report. It brought back wonderful memories. Except the sick part. So sorry you were ill.

Excellent trip report - enjoyed your lively writing.

Thank you! What a great report.

Enjoyed your report. I was able to visualize you and your hubby standing in the rain, it was almost like a movie script.

What a fun time you had...well except for losing a day to feeling poorly and the rain! I am so glad you loved the Borghese! Just really AWE-some. And the School of Athens is just amazing. And Ecstasy of Saint Teresa...wowser.....

Thanks for the report and my word you all packed a LOT in in a week!

Roubrat -
Great report!!!
Always appreciate the specifics of a trip. Thanks.

roubrat, I loved your trip report of time in Rome and all of your personal descriptions were fun. No doubt, you will enjoy your next adventure to Spain

Your trip report helped me relive my recent trip to Rome. I share your wonder that is the Borghese Gallery. I was almost reduced to tears when I entered the first room. I saw many of the sights you did, but it sounds like you walked quite a bit more than me! Thanks for sharing this and I hope you go back to Rome again soon.

Thanks for this. I got caught in the rain in Rome once so I know the feeling. You were lucky to be in the Vatican with so few others. I share your ambivalence about the Sistine Chapel, one of the most crowded and least "silenzio" places I've been. Too bad you lost a day to illness, but now you'll be prepared to go on a game show on your next trip! Good way to pay for travel if you can pull it off!

Much more to see -- National Museum of Rome, Ostia Antica, Ara Pacis, San Clemente Church, St. John Lateran, and more. Have a good time in Spain and get back to Italy whenever you can. Thanks again.

Thanks for the comments! We definitely plan to go back to Italy, hopefully in '24.

Thank you for sharing. Do you think you got sick because of something you ate or just a 24 bug?
Was it worth it to have less crowds versus better weather and more crowds?

Thanks for a great trip report!!! All this info. will be super helpful for my March trip. I was pleasantly surprised to read you were able to find some non-crowded areas of Rome.

Do I dare ask, “Did you tip anyone?” 😊

diveloonie aka Tammy, no it wasn't food poisoning. I think for us we'd take the cooler weather even if it means rain over heat and crowds.

Carrie, I'm not opening that can of worms! 🤪

A fun trip, despite the weather!
Roscioli is talked up a lot in Sarah Murdoch's travel videos...Adventures with Sarah.
She is always in there when in Rome.

Roscioli is talked up a lot in Sarah Murdoch's travel videos...Adventures with Sarah.
She is always in there when in Rome.

Makes sense. The restaurant we really liked, Emma Pizzeria, is owned by the same family, so they're doing something right!

Aw, this brings back many memories of my trips to Rome! I need to get back there again - it has been too long!

Thanks for sharing "Your" Rome with us!
I once spent an hour in an upmarket baby shop sheltering from the rain in Rome.
Churches are useful for escaping the weather so I'm sorry you didn't find one!

How does one not find a church in Rome? I still don't understand it.

So great to read your report, thanks for sharing!

I love your concise and descriptive writing style.

Is that the Vatican?! Oh wow, Castel Sant'Angelo! Look at that building! Look at that statue! Look at this, look at that. Wow. Wow. Rome is all “wow.”

You’re right, Rome is like walking into a huge museum full of wonderful ruins, churches, statutes, fountains, outdoor markets, beautiful ancient stone buildings and bridges.

Where are you going in Spain?

Wishing you a great trip!

Where are you going in Spain?

Toledo, Valencia, and Madrid.

Very nice!

I’ve not been to Valencia (yet), but Toledo is one of my favorite medieval cities!

Wishing you a fabulous trip!

Thank you! I'm really excited 😊

Roscioli is on everyone’s list so not surprised to hear about the crowds. We ran into the same challenge at another famous pizzeria, Bonci, in Prati, when we were there in November. 3 years of pent up demand.