Dottie

Love this city. My husband and I have had the good fortune to visit several times for two and three weeks. Some "small pleasures": the branch of the Museo Naionale Romano across the street from the Baths of Diocletiam in the former Palazzo Massimo. An extraordinary collection of mosaics, plus greek and roman sculptures.
Going to see the five Caravaggio's scattered in different churches. All wonderous (take small coins for the lights).
The Pantheon, any time of day, but especially early on a Sunday morning when you may catch a choir rehersal. What acoustics.
Enjoy.

xxx

Our whole family went-our son, my parents, and the two of us-last summer. Sure, we did all the sightseeing stuff. But my favorite thing was just walking around taking in the sights and scenery around us. Once we went walking and ended our day sitting in Piazza Navona just watching the other tourists and the locals. It was the day that Rome and another town played soccer so all the locals were parading with their flags to support their team.

After we left the piazza we found a gelateria and ate the gelato while we walked back to our hotel across the river.

Jackie_in_Italy

I posted earlier on this same thread about my favorite places (read "Jackie," first entry), and since, because I have been back to rome twice since writing that, i must add that Trastevere is a great place to go for a sunny afternoon, if you want quiet, shopping streets and a part of rome that is a lot less touristy. you hear americans speaking italian there, which is a nice change (big university area).

i also liked aventine hill. forgot about that one on the last post, but yes, that keyhole is great, and you can walk to the garden nearby to get a sweeping view over vatican city and rome. it's definitely worth it.

i also enjoyed campo dei fiori, and very much enjoyed peeking into random churches and finding great works by caravaggio--visit piazza del popolo. that whole walk--spanish steps, trevi fountain, borghese gardens, and piazza del popolo--is charming, a little crowded, but worth it. it is a great taste of rome.

another favorite is walking from the angel bridge to piazza navona by way of side streets. many charming shops and nice side streets.