I will be meeting up with my adult son and dil at the very end of my trip to Italy. I have stayed near Pantheon and I will be staying at Hotel Smeralda when I fly in. I am looking for a different area. We will be doing a couple of day trips in the Rome area and I would like to book Domus Aurea as well as spend some time exploring some different neighborhoods. Would love some suggestions as well as an apartment recommendation. Thanks as always.

Do you mean day trips out of Rome? If so you likely want easy access to Termini.

That can mean staying near Termini or near a metro station or even one of the regional train stations in the city.

I'm not sure you gain much staying in different areas if you want to see stuff mostly in the city centre. Maybe Monti makes sense?

I heard others mentioning Monti as a good option. Any particular part?

Monti has become my preferred area to stay in Rome. I don't veer too far away from via Cavour running between Termini and Colosseum e.g around via dei Capocci.

Thanks that is helpful. I will look around that area.

We like Vatican, a bit more family like though a fair few people in black walking about ;-)

If you want a different experience from the Pantheon area, I'd look at Trastevere or Monti. Monti is especially convenient for visiting the Domus Aurea and has lots of local restaurants and cafés.

Another vote for Monti.