mikeinfwtx

Message: Monday March 21 -FCO to ROME
07:45 - 08:35 Arrive FCO - get bags and through immigration
09:30 AM - rental car place on the 4th floor FCO airport. Make a call to the Apartment people and arrange time to meet agent at the apartment.
10:30 Pick up car at FCO --->> "AUTO EUROPA" is the company.
11:00 Drive to Rome and Apartment , we can meet the agent at 12:00 (noon)
12:00 At Apartment, - Largo Anzani, Trastevere.
Go to eat and buy food in Rome, look around

Tuesday March 22 - ROME-->FLORENCE-->ROME
Get up and eat - Drive --->> Florence ((Rome to Florence - 2.5 hours))
1) Academia - ((Tuesday - Sunday, 8:15AM - 6:50PM)) - "David Statue"
2) Santa Maria de Fiore (Duomo) East Side Doors - "Gates to Heaven"
3) Ponte Vecchio Bridge
4) Eat Dinner (Maybe) - Acqua AL 2 (Via della Vigna Vecchia, 7:30PM)
Drive Back -->> Florence to Rome - 2.5 Hours

Wednesday March 23 - VATICAN
Vatican Tour - Sistine Chapel, St Peters,
10:00AM - 11:00AM - Pope will be holding a public audience in St Peters Square (Maybe)
Vatican Tour
Dinner - Trattoria Monti

Thursday March 24 - ROME ->CAPRI -> SANTA PHILOMENA
Get up and eat - Drive ---->> Rome - Sorrento 3.0 Hours
Boat to Capri, boat back to Sorrento then drive to Santa Philomena
We must arrive by 7:00PM at Santa Philomena

Friday March 25 - SANTA PHILOMENA--> ROME
Get up and Drive -->> Drive to Rome. ( 3.0 Hours)
Rome

Sat March 26 - ROME
Rome - Walking, Bus
Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, ..

Sunday March 27 (EASTER) - ROME
Rome- Walking, Bus
Roman Forum, Colosseum, ..CHURCH, POPE??

Monday March 28 - ROME TO FCO
Depart Apartment by 9:00AM
Drive to FCO
10:30AM - return rental car
12:30PM - Depart FCO

Any help with this plan would be greatly appreciated (I am a NEWBIE)!! I have no tickets to see the Pope, can we go on Wednesday?? ..i have the car, because I hear the trains will be very full!!. I need to purchase the Tours next. Thanks!!Mike

mikeinfwtx

Nice tip by Ira!!

Uffizi and Academia Museum Reservations
The easiest and cheapest way is to call Florence 011 (U.S. international access code) 39 (Italy's country code) then 055-294-883 8:30-18:30 M-F and 8:30-12:00 Sat. Florence time. You will get an English speaking operator and in 2-3 minutes YOU CAN RESERVE FOR BOTH. This is through the reservation service at the Uffizi and costs beyond the normal entry fee only about 1.60 euro for the service. This is MUCH cheaper than the commercial booking services.
You will not be charged for the reservations unless you use them.

Il Ritrovo Via de’ Pucci 4/A 055.281688 Best food for the price Has fish. Full dinner w/wine abt 40E pp Closed Monday
From Pzza San Giovani (NW corner of the Pza del Duomo) walk one blk East to Via dei Martelli. Go left to Via dei Pucci. Turn Right. Look very carefully on left. No sign. Door could be locked. Ring bell.

barbmike

Why in the world are you renting a car?I'm sure you'll have this repeated a "few" times. The train is the most cost effective way to go in Italy. I'm leaving this Saturday for Italy as I begin in Venice and end in Rome until Easter Sunday. My average train ticket is less the 20 Euros going from Genoa to Pompei as well as several other routes. Driving makes no sense at all and totally a waste of money. Have a Great Trip111 Mike

Grinisa

Why do you need a car? You are spending most of your time in Rome where a car is a burden. If you want to daytrip to Florence, it would be faster to take the Eurostar, 90 minutes as opposed to 2 and half hours. Why are you wasting so much time at FCO on arrival? If you get your bags at 8:30 and don't pick up the unnecessary car until 2 hours later, what are you doing and why? I don't underestand Thursday at all. Why go to Capri for a couple of hours at most? What is in Santa Philomena and why are you staying just overnight there? If you want to go to Sorrento/Capri, you can take the train there too, but it's not worth doing for a daytrip, especially in March. Don't count on the ferries running to Capri and if the weather turns bad, you could be stuck on the island.

barbmike

Mike, I may have two tickets for the Easter Sunday Mass at the Vatican. If you would like to provide your email address, I can keep in touch with you as I'll be in Rome from March 18-27th. BTW, the trains will not be THAT crowded as you can purchase your tickets now over the trenitalia.com website. Mike

mikeinfwtx

Wow. Thanks for the input.

Barabmike: Thanks for your help! My email is [email protected] There will be three of us total, but if two of us could go, that would be greatly appreciated! We have so far no response from [email protected], and it is looking like there will not be a reply.

Great tip. I will talk to the others in my party about using the trains. I will be with my girlfriend and sister. My sister wants to stay overnight at SANTA PHILOMENA Sancuary because she knows one of the priests there and has stayed there before. http://www.philomena.it/ I am going to drop the Capri trip, changing it to driving along the Amalfi coast or something else.!! (Also, I need to wait in the airport 40 minutes for my sister to arrive on a different air lines.)

Grinisa

Good idea to drop Capri but I still think you don't need the car. If you think you need it to get to the Santa Philomena shrine, just rent it for the day. Since the shrine closes at 7pm, I assume you and your sister would want to get there well before that to spend some time at the shrine since you are going all that way. It will take at least an hour and a half to get there from Sorrento if you don't run into a lot of traffic.
Also, does your apartment have a garage? If not, you had better find out where you are going to park this car. Street parking in Rome is extremely limited and usually only by designated permit.

barbmike

Mike, I sent you an email concerning the tickets. Mike

Grinisa

If you aren't able to get three tickets to Easter Mass, you could still attend by going to the standing room section of the Piazza. No tickets necessary there.

mikeinfwtx

barbmike: Thanks I will be reading your message tonight, when I return to my house.

Grinisa: Yes, I think you are correct to rent the car only two days (Thursday and Friday) to go South. I prefer the train to Florence also, only I was told that the trains are full during Easter week and that tickets could be a problem. I was thinking that with a car no problems and schedules. I need to check on the parking. I was hoping to pay a small amount to park nearby the apartment. If we use the train, do we have to purchase tickets now or can we purchase tickets during Easter week in Italy?? Thanks, Mike

Grinisa

You could purchase them now but I never bother. There are so many trains between Rome and Florence, even Easter week you shouldn't have much problem. But if you want to be sure to get tickets on a particular Eurostar early departure, get them now.

mikeinfwtx

WOW. Thank you! What is the route and point of entrance to the standing room section of the Piazza?? This is in St Peters Square!

ellenem

mike,

Have you read my October 2004 trip report? Two of my restaurants are on your list. For Trattoria Monti, I recommend a reservation for dinner--pretty much required. For lunch you can take a chance and walk right in. Acqua al Due might also require a reservation.

I agree about using the train for your Florence daytrip. You won't need a car in Rome during those other days. And the train station in Florence is very close to your sights. You can purchase your train tickets now if you want since we're within the 60 day ahead limit. There are virtually hourly departures between Rome and Florence.

Have a great trip?

barbmike

The standing room section is BEHIND all the seats in the Square. The entrance to the seating section is on BOTH sides of the Square. Mike

Grinisa

Standing room is just the very back of the Piazza. It will be 3/4 filled with seats, then there will be wooden barricades blocking the seats off, and you can stand anywhere behind the barricades.

mikeinfwtx

ellenem: YES! Thanks, because I am busy marking up my Streetwise maps of Rome, Florence, and Napoli (Amalfi Coast) with suggestions from this site! The first 1/2 of your last trip has been very helpful for me on this my FIRST trip to Italy!

ediegirl

i have to agree with the train to firenze...we did it from rome once and i think we may have had business class or first class tix b/c we had a nice breakfast and all right in our seat. it was a relaxing time, plus since it's your second day, you'll be tired, and the chance to nap there and back will be nice!

also, many things in rome will be closed easter sunday....i remember in particular that the colisseum was closed easter monday, so i certainly can't imagine it's open on easter sunday. that might be a day to get a nice midday meal and walk around a bit, not plan on seeing any sights other than the city.


have fun, i am jealous!!! i love Rome!

guykb

Gee, if you're a bit of a dare-devil hire the car to do the trip around the Amalfi Coast. It would be great in a convertible. BUT, my strong recommendation would be to take the bus around. You'll see much more of the scenery and those bus drivers know just how to take the tight curves. I reckon if you drive you'll end up with jelly legs (and nowhere to park when you get there). And if you want to stay somewhere, defintely Amalfi rather than Positano.

rialtogrl

Personally, I'd scrap it all and stay in Rome for the week. A day trip to Florence the second day?

You had better have a lot of stamina... because this looks totally exhausting. Are you really going to want to drive back to Rome after a great dinner, with wine, in Florence?

You are taking on too much. Stay in Rome, enjoy Rome.

mikeinfwtx

Great! Thanks for the advise. I'm going to rework this plan! Most likely without the car.

Rialtogrl: If you go to bed before 1:55AM you would have more stamina for the day! Cheers