progol

We are going to Rome in March 2017 for 8 days! It's our second trip (first, though, was 18 years ago) and we've seen some of the major sights. We will probably return to some and not to others, but haven't really figured out which. We are most interested in getting a better feel for each of the areas of Rome and especially getting a good feel for the layers of history (ancient Roman sites, Baroque). We will be staying in an apartment in the Campo De Fiori area so will be centrally located.

I would love suggestions for places that you've enjoyed that are not necessarily the "standard fare" ( ie, the Colosseum or Vatican), and would ***especially*** appreciate recommendations for any of the sites that require reservations ahead of time. I do have my tickets for the Scavi tour in hand and am looking forward to this visit.

Recommendations for restaurants (trattoria, etc) welcome - we are more likely to eat at a modest, local-style place with good food than a more luxe or high end place, but one or two "nicer" restaurants would be great. So many choices -- I've been bookmarking recent trips to Rome (ie, Ger's recent TR is remarkably helpful).

We are planning to stay in Rome for those 8 days and our focus really is on getting to know Rome and its different neighborhoods. Any favorite spots? If we do a day trip, it would be local (ie, Hadrian's Villa); we've already visited Ostia Antica (loved, but don't feel the need to revisit it).

A few more words about us: 60s, in reasonably good shape, although I do have some difficulties walking extensively (I can go on for long stretches but may need to stop frequently for a few minutes, especially on the uphills), so group tours are probably not the best for us.

So I welcome your recommendations and am very excited about a long stay in Rome. Many thanks in advance!

Paule

flinn

Hadrian's Villa is very spread out and involves considerable walking, some of which is uphill. I enjoyed Tivoli much more. If you have never been to Aqueduct Park it is very memorable. You reach it by the Metro A line. If you google it you will find directions. There is walking through a nice neighborhood once you get off the metro but there are cafes along the way for a rest. If you are interested in Italian food and wine I think Eataly is worth a visit to see the incredible array of products available from all over the country. It is much larger than the NYC Eataly, and on the Sunday we were there they had a large number of locall cheese producers selling direct, with samples available.

progol

Thanks, Flynn, I'll definitely keep Tivoli in mind if we do a day trip. The Aqueduct Park looks especially interesting -- definitely not a place I was aware of, so appreciate this suggestion.

The idea of visiting Eataly in Rome seems odd considering I live all of a few avenues away from the one in NYC, but your description, especially with the local vendors who participate, may tempt me!

progol

Autocorrect again - I wrote flinn, but it revised your name. Apologies.

AJPeabody

See if Context will be running their 5 euro docent led tours (once a month I think) to sites not usually open (we saw Livia's villa while undergoing restoration.)

See if the Doria Pamphilj is doing their Saturday tour with music.

Both of these need reservations paid in advance.

If you haven't done a visit to the Borghese, do it. Reserve, of course.

Of the less visited major sites, the Palazzo Massimo was quite impressive. I think it comes on a multi site ticket, too.

bvlenci

Hadrian's Villa is actually in Tivoli, although a bit out of town. I think Flinn is referring to the Villa d'Este, which is also in Tivoli, in the center. Everyone has different tastes, but I found Hadrian's Villa more interesting. I don't remember any hills there, but it's been some time since I've been there.

One of the places that requires a reservation in Rome is the Domus Romane, the excavation of an ancient Roman upper-middle-class dwelling, near the Imperial Forums. You have to visit on a tour, and they do have tours in English. There is an excellent sound-and-light show (although I usually don't care for those) that seeks to recreate how the house looked in ancient times. Much of the excavation is covered by glass, and some people find it disconcerting to walk on the glass floors.

If you're interested in the Baroque, you might want to visit the Galleria Borghese, a must for Bernini fans. This requires a reservation.

I've been to Rome more times than I can count. Here are a few of the things I very much enjoy.

The Villa Farnesina (in Trastevere). Open only until 2 PM, closed on Sundays, except on those Sundays when they have a musical entertainment along with the visit to the villa. I would suggest also visiting the Corsini Gallery, just across the street from the Villa Farnesina. It has a small but excellent collection, mostly paintings.

The Baths of Caracalla

The National Roman Museum, with four sites. The ticket is good for three consecutive days to allow you to visit all four. My favorite is Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, which has a superb collection of ancient Roman art and artifacts, including things that are not famous but that I've never seen the like of anywhere else. The wall frescoes from the suburban villa of Livia, wife of the Emperor Augustus, are an example. The household items, including jewelry, and intact ancient Roman glass, are other examples.

The Barberini Gallery, which has a wonderful collection of Italian paintings from late medieval to early modern times. They've just reopened after a major restructuring, and I'm looking forward to my next visit.

The Capitoline Museums, with another excellent collection of ancient art and historical objects. Some would put this museum ahead of Palazzo Massimo; it's certainly larger, and has some world-famous pieces. However, I consider Palazzo Massimo to be at least its equal.

The National Etruscan Museum in Villa Giulia, on the northern edge of the Villa Borghese park, is a must if you're interested in the ancient Etruscan culture.

The Villa Medici, site of the French Academy, on the southern edge of the Villa Borghese park.

The Palazzo Farnese, just south of Campo de'Fiori. This is the site of the French Embassy, and visits have to be reserved in advance.

The Case Romane, on the Celio Hill. You should print out pages from their web site that show a route through the complicated structure, to help you understand it. http://www.caseromane.it/en/the-visit

There are also many churches worth visiting, and neighborhoods that I love to explore.

progol

bvienci, Thank you! This is exactly the type of information I'm interested in! This will be enormous help in planning. Of the places you've listed, we've only been to Villa Borghese but all of the other places you mention are of great interest.

AJPeabody -- many thanks as well! It's very clear that the Palazzo Massimo is a must. You've given me some good ideas - I will look into the Context tours and see whether there will be anything offered when we are going.

Great suggestions and much appreciated!

annhig

did you know that you can visit the presidential palace at the Quirinale? no, I didn't either til recently.

there are two tours, itineraries 1 & 2, and so far as I can tell, 2 is simply an extension of 1. 1 is free save for a booking fee and the other is €10 [€5 if you are 65 or over]:

http://palazzo.quirinale.it/visitapa...rcorsi_en.html

Definitely on my list for my next visit.

I would also recommend some time strolling around the Monti district [the Via dei Serpenti and the little streets around it] and if you have't already, following Rick Streves walk around 4 mosaic churches, to which I would add St Cecilia in Trastevere which has a wonderful mosaic chapel in the crypt.

yestravel

Great suggestions so far! We were in Rome last Spring and visited some of the places mentioned. We really enjoyed the Doria Pamphilj tour. We enjoyed it so much we decided to also see the "private quarter." I suggest skipping that as I felt like it wasn't much.

Really liked Domus Romane. I had never seen anything like that and found it a fascinating re-creation. I htought they had too many people on the tour and you definitely need a reservation.

While we had been to the Pantheon, our apt was right at it and we enjoyed the early mornings when it was empty. It was particularly nice for photos.

Again very near our apt and not too far from Campo Di'Fiori is Sant'Eustachio Il Caffè--really, really good coffee.

Our favorite restaurant was Armando al Pantheon. It's in the heart of the tourist area at the Pantheon but is a wonderful family run place. We wandered over our first night and they had us wait a few minutes but then fit us in. I think some peole may not have shown up We wanted to eat there again and could only get a very early reservation a week later. I don't think we had a bad meal anywhere though.

We didnt do a TR for this trip, and my memory is not so great I'll see if we have any notes and add onto this. But I'm sure you'll get more suggestions that you can possibly do in 8 days.

yestravel

Also check out welltravelledbrits' blog -- she had some great info on Rome.

denisea

Can't recommend Villa d'Este highly enough. We thoroughly enjoyed a day trip to Orvieto, also. Agree with the Doria Pamphilj visit...really pleasant and calm right in the middle of Rome.

We loved La Gensola for dinner in Trastavere. The pizza at Forno and Roscioli in Campo dei Fiori made wonderful lunches.

Dayle

Bvlenci

Grazie for the list! Several places are already on my list for my next Rome trip, but the Natl Roman Musieum sounds very interesting!

Progol,

I also highly recommend a visit to Tivoli. The Villa d'Este is absolutely wonderful. When I visited I noted that everyone was walking around smiling. It delightful. I also found Hadrians Villa very interesting. What was unique about it was that it had not been buired under thousands of years of civilization like Some of the sites in Rome. Very beautiful site.

If you choose to visit Orvieto, do stay overnight. Its a very special town.

Jean

For a Baroque 'fix,' stop by Borromini's Chiesa di San Carlino alle Quattro Fontane

https://www.khanacademy.org/humaniti...arlo-1638-1646

and the nearby Chiesa Sant'Andrea al Quirinale by Bernini.

https://www.khanacademy.org/humaniti...a-al-quirinale

BTW, you might want to view/read all of the lectures and papers on the left side of the Khan Academy sites above for ideas of others things you'd like to visit.

EYWandBTV

Hi Progol,

Here are some of our favorite not-five-star sites (though I think several of them probably rate 5 stars); also, here's my TR that covers most of these:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rip-report.cfm

These sites are not crowded, all located in the historic center:

Sant Andrea della Valle: excellent baroque, not far from Piazza Venezia; designed by Giacomo della Porta and Carlo Maderno, both of whom worked on St. Peter's; the first scene of Tosca was set in this church

San Clemente: from the street you enter an early medieval church, then you descend to the much older church beneath, and then descend once again deep down to the remains of a Mithraic temple.

Statue of Moses, Michelangelo: in San Pietro in Vincoli; one of his most powerful works, a little off the beaten track, not many visitors

Santa Maria degli Angeli: here you get a "two-fer": the Baths of Diocletian (at least a large part of them), transformed by Michelangelo into this splendid church; located at the eastern end of the Piazza della Repubblica. The western half circle edge of the piazza was the outer edge of the vast Roman baths.

Palazzo Barberini: magnificent palace, with staircases by Bernini and Borromini, housing an equally magnificent collection of art work; a short walk northwest (?) of the Piazza della Repubblica

San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane--another vote for this one: Borromini's masterpiece, complex geometry, brilliant baroque

Sant Andrea al Quirinale--and another vote for this one: Bernini's small oval church, another baroque masterpiece; compare and contrast with Borromini's San Carlo.

Day trip to Orvieto: easy to do-- here's my TR for Orvieto:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...a-and-rome.cfm

Caccio e pepe at Da Enzo on Via Vascellari: outstanding; in Trastevere

Enjoy!

progol

Wow, thank you so much everyone! There is a wealth of information here for me to sort through! So many places -- I suspect that means there's another trip,to Rome in our future as I suspect we can't see all of these amazing places.

yestravel, love the suggestions for sights and will definitely look at the Armando al Pantheon as well as the caffe near Campo de Fiori. I do have wtb's blog bookmarked as well.

Dayle, thanks for the comments. I'd love,to,get to both Hadrians Villa and Villa d'Este, and will,definitely try to include them. We did see Orvieto on an earlier trip so I don't think we'll visit this time around.

Jean, thanks for the info about the Khan Academy -- looks like a good source of info. And both the Bernini and the Borromini churches are on the top of our list.

Great info, everyone! Thank you!

progol

EYWandBTV, Wow, what a list! Many, many thanks! Such great suggestions-- I really do appreciate the time and effort you put in to writing this up!

kja

What a wonderful trip it should be!

Definitely reserve the Borghese. Maybe twice. ;-)

I don’t often see recommendations for the National Etruscan Museum or the Palazzo Altemps / National Roman Museum; I truly enjoyed each. The San Carlo alle Quattro Fontante and Sant'Andrea al Quirinale are, IMO, must-sees even for a first visit; the San Pietro in Vincoli, too ….

See if you can find an old copy of the Baedeker guide to Rome.

Enjoy!

progol

Annhig, I missed your suggestion earlier -- Palazzo Quirinale looks fascinating! The Monti district is a definite -- I'm hearing all about it as THE place to be.

Denisea, thanks for your suggestions. I can see there will never be enough time to see everything! And I'll definitely look for La Gensola as well as Forno and Roscioli for pizza -- especially since it's in my "neighborhood "!

kja, thanks for your suggestions, too! Although we've been to the Vill Borghese, it's on our list for a repeat visit-- tho I don't think we'll do it twice in one week!

kja

BTW, just FYI, this kind of thread is one I often skip. How would I know what you’ve already seen? How would I know what you missed that you should consider a priority? My usual reaction is to think, oh please, just get yourself a good guidebook or two and do some research.

At least you made your question a bit broader, to ask about reservations and restaurants, etc., and so I tried to give you an idea or two. But we’ve already seen that some people are recommending, as 2nd-trip sites, places that I made priorities for my first trip to Rome; we’ve already seen that people are recommending things you already saw….

So I’ll say it: don’t just look for the Baedeker’s guide (which I mentioned upthread), get yourselves several really good, comprehensive guides – perhaps the <i>Rough Guide</i> or <i>Michelin Green Guide</i> or <i>Lonely Planet</i>. See what YOU want to see, progol, and don't assume that any of us will have seen it or have mentioned it.

Good luck!

progol

kja,
Thanks for your comments about the thread. I'm glad you didn't skip it as you've made some helpful recommendations!

As it turns out, I got exactly what I wanted -- and if I get the occasional recommendation that I've already been to, that's fine -- after all, it's been 18 years! And folks will often add suggestions about what might be worth doing, even if I didn't ask - that's fine, too, though I don't necessarily have the time to follow up on them. I don't think I need to spell out which places are the "standard fare" since I assume most people who have been to Rome have an idea what I mean. But the suggestions I received are excellent and very helpful.

I do have (too many) guidebooks but truthfully, I read them quickly and get overwhelmed in making choices, so very helpful to get people's personal reactions to places. I might not be able to see them all, but it's extremely useful in developing a plan.

My work is very exhausting these days, and any little bit of help I can get in planning is most welcome!