OT - MgoBloggers Guide to Rome, IT

Just my advice, but I'd skip Rome and either stay in Florence for the extra few days, or take a train down to the Amalfi Coast instead. My wife and I did a Spain/Italy trip a few years back and split time between Florence and Positano for about a week. I'd been to Florence before and always loved it, but never to the Amalfi Coast, and it was one of the best experiences of my life. Positano, Ravello, and Capri are all breathtaking. We did go to Rome for a day, but that was mostly to catch our flight home. 

As for Rome, I won't be able to recommend much in the way of sightseeing that you can't already find in the highlights of a Rick Steves book. But as far as restaurants, I can't remember the name of the place, and I think it starts with an M, but there is a restaurant right around the corner from the Pantheon that specializes in pasta carbonara, and man it did not disappoint. One of the better meals I had on our trip. 

I was in Rome for a few days last October and it was great. Since it was our first time, we did all of the standard tourist stuff. We went to the Colisseum and saw some ruins, went to the Vatican, and then spent time walking around the city for some cool restaurants and culture.

I would go and get tickets for the Colisseum ahead of time as it is crowded, but they have guided tours in English that are only about an hour or so, then you are free in there to see what you want.

As for the food/drinks, we would just try and find a smaller place with outdoor seating and nothing disappointed. I highly recommend getting Prosciutto and Melon when possible as it is absolutely delicious. 

If you like Coffee, there is no shortage of options, but remember that they do not serve as quickly as we do in the U.S. You will likely have to be patient with food and drink service.

What's a round trip budget cost for 2 people in Rome for 5 days?  5k?  10k?

This is on my bucket list

Watch your wallet around Rome.

No specific advice for Rome.   My strategy when I visited for a few days:  wander around aimlessly and soak in the sites.  I had a great time walking the streets almost randomly, picking off major points of interest as they became targets of opportunity during my meandering.   I was lucky enough to have a local friend walking with me, so maybe that's why this strategy worked.   

Go to Giolitti for the best Gelato you'll ever have.

Walking through one of the neighborhoods at night you can find a restaurant to eat in.

We toured the Vatican and Coliseum. Also did a day trip to Tivoli, that was very cool.

If you are doing any museums check to see if you can pre-buy your tickets on-line, we saved about a two hour wait in line at the Uffitzi (in Florence) and walked right in via will call queue.  Otherwise get on line first thing, don’t casually do breakfast and saunter over, recipe for a long wait.

Rome has too many sites to adequately see and enjoy fully in a few days.  But you can see a lot in that time.  I'd check out https://theromanguy.com/tours/italy/rome for some great tours.  They have benefits that most other tours don't offer such as skip the line tickets, early access and priviledged entrance to many sites such as The Vatican and The Colosseum.  They also have night and underground tours of the Colosseum.  They have Florence and Amalfi tours as well.  You should check these guys out.  Great tours.  

Also, if you get a chance, check out Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica.  Not the size of the Sistine Chapel but it's a beautiful place non the less.  It's in the middle of Rome between the Colosseum and the main train terminal.  Make sure you walk around Rome at night.  This is when Rome is at its most beautiful.  Many of the important sights are backlit.  When I was there a few years ago, the Colosseum was backlit in an incredible purple hue.  

Did Coach Harbaugh not return your email?  Pretty sure he can get you a meet-n-greet with the pontiff.

I love Rome, but agree with most of the posts here that if I was meeting up with my wife for a few days in the situation you’re describing, I’d head out to the Amalfi Coast. Having gotten engaged on Capri, I’m admittedly a bit partial to it ... but that’s a very cool part of the country to hang out.

Also underrated: Siena.

April of '18 for our 30th anniversary, my wife & I did the Rome, Athens, Mykonos package.  One of my favorite things in Rome was a Segway tour.  Went to all the historical sites & got the details from the tour guide, who provided us all with bluetooth earpieces.  At a couple of the spots we stopped to put on some VR headgear, to see how the structures would have looked 2000 years ago.  We ended up at a park where we were able to listen to this guy:

There were a few dozen of us sitting around, listening, enjoying the weather, & I'll never forget, there was a large man sitting across from us on the ground who was just quietly weeping.  Made me wonder what the lyrics were to whatever song Ricardo was playing.

Check out the Scavi tour of the Vatican. You have to schedule ahead of time, but it takes to down below St. Peters to see the original base of the church and what is possibly the crypt of St. Peter. There is a web site to help you schedule - they do it by language so you can understand the guide.

Out of all the places we ate at in Rome, the only restaurant we went to twice was Osteria da Fortunata. It's just that good.

Must try the Pici Carbonara. The pici is homemade by a little old lady sitting in the front and it's incredibly good.

Rome - Trevi Fountain, Panthenon, Colliseum, Spanish Steps, Forum,  Victor Emmanuel Monument (Il Vittoriano) at the Piazza Venezia are a must.

Vatican is cool, that's gonna probably take up 5 hours of a day - id buy tickets for that ahead of time. no idea on the lines in February, but in the summer you do not buy ahead of time, your gonna be standing in line for a long time.

A Roma pass gives unlimited subway use for 3 days

usually when I Stay in Roma, I try to stay near Termini station they way easy subway tranporation for all the subway lines.

I am gonna sound very American here , but try the Pistachio Mcflurry at Mcdonalds !  Will not find

it in the USA

Pompeii - A must I say - a whole day for sure , amazing, i'd also look for a way to go up to Vesuvius. A place called Dolce Atmosphere - On Vesuvius itself, best meal I had the last time I was in Italy

Food - The Birra Peroni Restaurant I really enjoyed not far from  Victor Emmanuel Monument (Il Vittoriano) at the Piazza Venezia , they have different flavors and style of Peroni their also to drink besides what we have to drink here in America as far as Peroni goes, the food is very solid also . Coffee will be abundant - Gelato is a must !  I may recommend trying gelato ona Crossaint , quite tasty I must say !  If you go to Vesuvius - Dolce Atmosphere while its still some light outside , breathtaking view from atop Vesuvius.

Porchetta and Carbernara are probably the 2 truest roman food dishes of the Lazio region I can think of.

Watch your wallet , Napoli is the pick pocket capital of the world.

if you got time, a SERIE A soccer game !  I was in Milan in 2012 and caught my team Cagliari playing Milan at San Siro when ibra was their in his first stint. Also the FIGC Soccer Museum is in Rome if your a soccer fan like myself is now open in Roma !

Amalfi Coast is awesome but to truly appreciate it you will need 3 days at least I say.Add Pompeii and make it 4 days total !

Roma depending how fast and detailed you do it can be done in 4 days, 5 if you wanna get truly detailed

Florence can be done in like 2 1/2 days I feel .

12 days congrats.

As for Rome, you haven’t said if you have been or not? If you haven’t you can spend time doing the typical touristy stuff for 3 days and be happy. If you’ve already done that I recommend going to AC as well. Everyone should go once to experience it. Or you could also go to cinque terre. I haven’t been but I know it’s close to Rome and I’m sure people on the board can give you advice. Btw watch your wallet in Rome. 

MGoRoma!

Of course any suggestions would be based on what you like to do and see.  Churches?  History?  Religious relics?  Ruins?  Gravesites?

One suggestion: poke your head into different churches as you walk around.  They're like geodes.  Neat, but not overwhelming on the outside, but on the inside....a favorite of mine was Sant Ignazio di Loyola, the ceiling of which is painted to look as if 1) it has a dome, which it does not, and 2) it is open to the sky.  Fairly convincingly, I might add.

You have to see St. Peter's, too.  The sheer size and scale of it is impossible to show in pictures, doesn't show well on the outside, and will knock you flat.  And I had seen Notre Dame and the Cologne Cathedral before I saw St. Peter's.

I guess if I was a tourist in Rome, I might eat at Alfredo’s, home of fettuccine Alfredo. My own preferred dinner spot was Orazio’s, which is right across from the Baths of Caracalla. Coffee is good most places, but Tazza D’oro is considered the best by some. And I agree on Giolitti’s for gelato. If you’re getting pizza sold by weight somewhere that cuts you off a piece of a big, square one, I’ve always had a soft spot for potato pizza, much better than it sounds. 
 

I won’t say much about sightseeing, except to comment that the metro goes to a lot of the best tourist sites. Also, the train goes out to Ostia, if you want to go to the beach or to Ostia Antiqua. 

I won’t dwell much on crime, but the pickpockets are good. Also, if anyone throws something to you, don’t catch it. Yes, this is especially true of babies.They are about to pick your pocket. (It’s a doll) This is also true of anyone who puts post cards up in your face. They’ve been ripping off tourists at the Colosseum etc for 2000 years. They’re better at doing it than you are at avoiding it, so be ready and have a plan.

In general, remember that they do things their way, which means that the trains can be on strike at any time, and gnocchi is sold one day a week. Just roll with it all, and it’ll be great.

EDIT: If you can get on a tour down below St. Peter’s, there is a spot that some believe is the burial spot of St. Peter. Of interest mostly to Christian people, not surprisingly.

Congrats, my MgoWife and I did the same trip a few years ago.  For Rome, we actually stayed in a place the overlooked the plaza directly in front of the Pantheon.  It was a great location and we could get to most everywhere easily from there.  Bonus, it was very close to Tazza D'oro and some of the best espresso I ever hope to have in my life.  If it's hot out, try the frozen espresso with whipped cream.  I forget any of the other specific restaurants because they were all great (and my wife did the planning). However, I would highly recommend getting tickets in advance prior to the Colliseum if you're planning to go there (I would recommend it) and if you're of the Vatican persuasion, get the "Pristine Sistine" chapel tour, I don't recall the company, but I'm sure it'll pop up with google.  That was the highlight of our time in Rome, hands down.  The tour not only gets you access to the Vatican before all the other folks waiting in line, they blitz straight to the Sistine Chapel so you are there with a couple of dozen people with room to walk around and take in the ambiance without being squished in like a sardine later in the afternoon.  It's more expensive but...that was a bucket list type experience for me and the extra coin was a no brainer.

Ciao!

First off, Rome is amazing! While I haven't had the opportunity to visit the north west of Italy yet, I did go to Venice, Rome, Pompei, Naples, and Sorrento with the wife two years ago and Rome was by far my favorite.

We stayed in a B&B right downtown in the old part of the city next to the river. It was fantastic. We saw the main sites but didn't do any of the official tour groups...exploring on your own is better ;)

I would highly recommend for sure Antica Bottega di Norcia. It's a deli just north-west of the pantheon, and near the Piazza Navona. The sandwiches there are fantastic! Simple, fresh bread, amazing cured meats, and cheeses, etc. They have cured meats hanging from the ceiling all over with a couple small tables to sit at inside if you want. I went back late at night before we flew out in the morning and bought half a cheese wheel and man was it good! Absolutely loved that place!

Also, definitely check out the Piazza Navona. It's built right over top of the old hippodrome foundations of ancient Rome. There's also a little museum you can pay to get into and see the still standing (though below street level now) columns and entrances of the old hippodrome. Very cool city area with lots of shops and fountains.

Also, check out Il Cantanese. This is the cafe that our B&B gave us breakfast vouchers to every morning. The was a really nice older guy who worked the counter and he'd greet us every morning. The crescents are excellent and so is their blood-orange juice. Plus they have really good other cafe / bakery items as well. The older guy who worked there was so nice, we all got our picture with him on our last day.

The best gelato we had was from Old Café Ruschena. A little shop right around the corner from our B&B (B&B Calamatta). Amazing gelato and a cute little place where you can sit outside and watch the river. Also, the B&B Calamatta was so cool. I would highly recommend it to anyone planning on staying in the city.

If you want a place for food and drinks + live music in the evenings, check out RED laFeltrinelli Tomacelli. It's actually located on top of a bookstore, so you have to walk up stairs. But it's really cute, pretty decent city view, and the food, music, and wine were really good.

If you want a very cool, old world feeling, small, local place for dinner, check out Cantina Belsiana. It's down one of the old town side streets, and is really small and narrow. We went here for dinner one night and got the lasagna and it was fantastic. Not touristy at all. I would go back here in a heart beat.

Here's another good place we went to for dinner and got Rome style pizza: Cantine Cavour. Very good pizza, nice ambiance and right down the street from our B&B. We sat outside. Again, didn't feel touristy at all.

And if you like museums, check out the Capitoline Museums. Located near the ancient city ruins and has a plethora of old statues, art pieces, etc. Very very cool if you're interested in that sort of thing.

The only real negative of Rome (and Venice and Naples were like this too) was all the trash on the streets. Like, paper trash, water bottles, etc. were EVERYWHERE. Not so much that you were wading through garbage, but literally every place we went in the city you could see it on the streets. Outside of that, I loved Rome and have every intention of going back. Be prepared to go out late at night. The city does NOT shut down in the evenings. We saw men, women, kids, families, old people, etc. all walking about and doing things well past 10pm. I felt safer walking around Rome then I feel walking around downtown Detroit at night. Obviously don't be an idiot and always watch out for pick pockets and what not (I didn't have any trouble) BUT, don't feel like you have to stay in after 9pm. Walking through the old streets at night is one of the best things to do. All the shops, cafes, and restaurants and live music, it's really pretty cool. 

I hear the Italian food is good in Rome.

With all the comments here about pickpockets, in general I think most times I’ve seen them I’ve almost laughed at how pathetic their attempts were.

That being said, if you’re concerned about it and don’t mind being a nerdy tourist a little bit (okay, maybe a lot), the passport holder/wallet combo that hangs from your neck and stashes inside your shirt is a very secure option. Very few pickpockets are so deranged as to try to swipe that from you — would require some actual, pre-planned violence.  That’s really not their thing.

The Pantheon is amazing.  As Communist Football notes above, there is incredible history on every street and corner.  I enjoyed Florence, Venice, Lucca, and Silicly but loved Rome.

Never been to Rome but I know a lot about IT.  

Rome is very special. Like most things travel, it depends on your interests. If I have one recommendation it would be to get a Blue Guide on Rome. It's the most comprehensive tour guide you will ever own and would cover, in detail, whatever really interests you.

A few off the beaten path things I did, you might enjoy:

Walked the old Appian Way. Took a bus out of town and then literally walked about 6 miles back into it. Fascinating to just think of the people who took that route 2000+ years ago. Wrapped that up around the Circus Maximus which is just grass now, but huge.

Ostia Antica. Near the airport about 20-25 miles from central Rome. Remarkably well preserved coastal town from ancient times.

If you're into architecture, walk around the EUR district which is south of the city. Some very well preserved fascist architecture which I haven't really seen elsewhere.

I had an incredible pizza near the Pantheon at La Sagrestia--it was like melted cheese and sauce on a cracker, the crust was so thin. But it was truly remarkable.

If you want to act local, have an espresso coffee at one of various places around the city, but stay standing. They charge you less.

My favorite part was just wandering around and going into the random neighborhood churches. We stayed in an AirBnB apartment which I thought was pretty neat also.

First thing I did in Rome was buy a Rome Pass, it got me into my first three sites for free; unlimited public transportation; and a city map. It cost 35 Euro I think. You jump the line at the Colosseum too. It doesn’t include the Vatican. If your going to the Vatican museums, buy a ticket in advance. You get to skip the line at your appointment time. The line wraps around the country. See St. Peter’s and go to the space below like others suggested. You can pay extra to take an elevator to the top. If you can do it physically, taking the steps is a really cool experience. Pantheon is awesome, as is the Colosseum and Forum. 
 

As far as fine dining, nightlife, and shopping, I can’t help you there. When I went, I was a poor, single 3rd year law student, so my interests in those areas were probably a lot different then yours. I do agree staying near the Terminii train station makes it very convenient. Two things I wish I did were renting a bike and cruise down the Appian Way and going to the catacombs. I went to Florence too. Loved them both. Have fun and safe travels!