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Two Weeks in Rome- Mostly Ancient Sites and Food

This was my 3rd trip to Rome (1st in college, 2nd in 2022) and my husband's first. We really wanted to plant ourselves in one place and enjoy the city. Even though a lot of the fountains and some monuments were covered with "Caput Mundi" scaffolding, we still had a fantastic time. Maybe because we figured out a routine of morning sightseeing, an afternoon rest, followed by the great italian custom of aperitivo - wine/cocktail with free snacks to accompany - which held us over to the Italian dinner hour of 8pm or later.

I am especially interested in ancient Rome, so we focused on those sites - Instead of doing a day by day tour for the 2 weeks i'll include what we saw without dates, and include some restaurant recommendations!

We did 2 different food tours with Eating Europe - Twilight Trastevere and one at the Testaccio food market. A slight preference for Trastevere because there was more walking between stops- with all the food you eat it's good to be moving! The testaccio market had excellent food but it was mostly in the market hall. But i have to say the bruschetta and the porchetta there were unbeatable! Top stops on the Trastevere market were Da Enzo - a restaurant that always has a long line but which you get in with your group with no waiting, to have prosecco and fried artichokes! So good. Also, another stop was a restaurant called Spirito da Vino, where you can visit their 2000 year old basement (now wine storage). Wine and food was plentiful!

An unusual tour we took was the "City of Water" tour, which takes place underneath the Trevi Fountain. They were remodeling a cinema when they found an archeological area including an ancient water tank which was connected to one of the aqueducts and used to supply the Trevi fountain. Very cool!

Taverna Ripetta was a cute restaurant we ate at twice - very small and run by two ladies. There is also a dog named Mo, who wanders around at will, inside or outside the restaurant (a dachshund, very popular dog in Rome). Great carbonara and salad.

We did the usual 3 hour tour of the Colosseum - last time i went i did the underground, but i really don't feel that's necessary. Afterward, we went over to the Monti neighborhood nearby and got a table at Ai Tre Scalini. They don't take reservations, so you will probably have a wait, but they are very friendly and the lasagne and eggplant parmigiana were excellent!

We took the bus everywhere. We just tapped to pay with our phones, no app needed. I had heard that sometimes the machines were not working, but it always worked for us over the 2 weeks. We wondered how the inspectors who come on the busses occasionally to check tickets would know that we had paid, but we were told that in that case you just need to supply the last 4 of your credit card, and they are able to track it. It was so much easier than the last time when i used paper tickets.
We also used Uber when we needed a taxi - I've taken taxis in Rome, but prefer it to a regular taxi because you don't have to worry about communicating with the driver- he has the address and you don't have to worry.

One of the highlights of the trip was visiting the Domus Aurea - the palace that Nero built, which was preserved due to it being used by Trajan for a later building. It was truly amazing, with some preserved wall paintings. And toward the end you do a VR headset which shows you what the whole palace complex looked like. The tour goes on limited days, i think only Fri/sat/Sunday. It's a must do!
After that tour we had a lunch at one of the cafes surrounding the colosseum - there are many and they are touristy, but still fun!

(to be continued)

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One day we did a half-day tour to Ostia Antica. It's an easy 30-minute train ride from the Piramide subway station. Very glad to have a guide. I have heard people say they did it without, but there are things the guide showed us that we never would have seen. Booked with VIator through City Wonders, and we were very happy. It's not as well preserved as Pompeii (visited there on a previous visit) - so you don't see many houses, etc. but there is a very nice theater and also an insula (apartment building) as well as amazing mosaic floors for different businesses. It's huge and i really liked the Roman pine trees everywhere - our guide showed us how to get the pine nuts out of a pine cone.

Dinner at Ditirambo - another place we ate at twice, very good food near Piazza Navona.

Another day we did a golf cart tour. These are becoming very popular in Rome- you will see them parked at the major sites. I wanted to see the Appian Way and so we did a 3 hour golf cart tour that took us out of the city - we visited a catacomb and another huge roman villa. It was a sunday and everyone was out biking- i would maybe do another day for less crowds if you have the choice. We used Ecobike Roma because they went farther out on the Appian way and didn't include stuff that i didn't want to do. They were excellent!!

We also visited some of the Rome Super Sites. You buy a ticket for these which gets you into the archeological park of the colosseum and then you can go to the ones you want. Highlights were the House of Augustus and the House of Livia - extremely beautiful wall paintings in these residences of Augustus and his wife. I was blown away. the same day we went to the Capitoline Museum and also saw the Colossus of Constantine statue which is new to the area, it will be there for a year, i think? You can see the foot and part of the hand in the museum - the statue is a re-creation. Amazing nonetheless!

Our airbnb's neighborhood was a great place to come back to because thought it was in the center between some busy streets, there was a quiet square with several restaurants and cafes if we didn't feel like going far. Ciampini Roma was the cafe where we had our apertivo most nights- great for people and dog-watching!

What else? We also did a tour of the Baths of Caracalla. I visited last time and wished i had a guide so booked a tour, but in retrospect, it was a bit too long for me. Sometimes there's just too much standing with tours and the Baths really have no place to sit. Beautiful place though!

Another day we walked north from our apartment to the Piazza del Popolo and climbed up a bit to the edge of the Borghese gardens. There is a sandwich place nearby which we stumbled on which turned out to be a Bobby Flay recommendation (there is a video where he visits) so a lot of people order the the Bobby Flay sandwich - Porchetta with pesto and cheese on the pizza bianca bread. My husband wanted to be original and ordered porchetta with eggplant and zucchini instead of the cheese and he said it was excellent. it was huge! Go a little before 1pm so you can beat the line...

Another nice lunch place with sandwiches is Pane e Salame, on a side street right in the center, with excellent sandwiches with all kinds of charcuterie. Friendly guys making the sandwiches and quick service.

one day my husband had a cold, so i went to the Galeria Doria Pamphili by myself. The palace has been in the same family since 1500 or so. An incredible art collection including some Caravaggios. I also took the time to shop, of course. Did i buy 3 different leather bags? Possibly. But so reasonable! Da Simo near Piazza Navona had a really nice selection - where i bought 2 of the 3! I also bought some pants and a sweater in a boutique called White Mood (strange name?). I never want to spend a lot so am always looking for reasonable shops. For jewelry, Vestopazzo has about 4 or 5 stores around the city.

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I forgot we also did a wine tasting dinner on one of our first nights. The famous Roscioli (restaurant and bakery) has another location where they do wine tastings every day at 5pm an 8pm. It's a full tasting from sparkling wine to reds, paired with light food. We met some nice people at our table. We booked ahead - it was about $60 each. It's called Rimessa Roscioli.

We also had a special dinner at the Salumeria Roscioli, which we booked 5 or 6 weeks out. We were seated near the entrance so we watched all the people who didn't have reservations get turned away! excellent service and food - we got a platter of assorted salamis/meats for an appetizer which was huge so they wrapped the leftovers up for us. We also had a crostini starter with four different toppings. I had a pasta with rabbit (sorry!) and my husband had meatballs. We had Amaro instead of a dessert which finished off the evening for us. More expensive than most of the places we ate, it was a splurge.

We also visited the Roman houses of Celio which are some roman dwellings that were found under a basilica and where St. John and St. Paul lived and were buried. This is an off the beaten track site that i found incredible. There are frescoes from the 4th century when it was a domus (wealthy persons house) and you can also see the burial area of st. john and st. paul. And almost no one was there with us. We were in Rome at a very busy time, so enjoyed seeing things that weren't mobbed.
Right nearby is the museum Forma Urbis, which are the remaining pieces of an ancient giant map of Rome. Also completely uncrowded.

And if you're looking for. break from all the italian food (why though??), we found a very cute restaurant called Ginger. Its an upscale lunch place that does fresh juices salads, even acai bowls! Who knew.

We were so sad to leave Rome ,but it was physically necessary after two weeks of pasta! We hope to be back again. Arrivederci!

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2766 posts

Great report!!

I'm jazzed about the high tech improvements for getting around and paying for things.

Posted by
7974 posts

It sounds like you had a wonderful trip, annemargaret! I agree about Italian food—so good! Thanks so much for writing a trip report! I've been to Italy twice but it's been over 20 years since my last visit and this is making me want to move it up the list. :-)

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626 posts

Great report! I’ve been to Rome twice and did a few of the things you did, so your report brought back nice memories. I’m interested in all the ancient sites you visited, so will bookmark this for future reference. Thanks!

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190 posts

We booked an Airbnb that was a 10 minute walk from the spanish steps, and 15 min. from the Pantheon.

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6523 posts

Definitely bookmarking! Thank you for this great report.

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540 posts

Great report. We really liked Eating Europe tours too. And did both that you did.

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627 posts

Love all the detail in your trip report! I thought I was done with Italy, but you’re making me want to go back and see even more things in Rome