Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Just back from Rome

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Just back from Rome - trip report available!

Hi, Fodorites! Thank you all for your help in our planning for our vacation to Rome, 5/25-6/2. It was an incredible week. We loved every minute of it. The input on this forum is phenomenal! My wife and I have a lengthy trip report, much too large to post here. For those interested, please email me and I will send it to you as soon as I can. I believe you will get a few laughs out of it plus possibly pick up a few tips from it. To summarize - we saw the major great sites and then some: St. Peter's, Papal Audience, Vatican Museums,Colosseum, Borghese Museum, Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Trevi, Forum, Capitoline/Palatine, Mamertine Prison, Trestevere, and the Scavi tour. We also did a spur of the moment day trip to Pompeii. Found the greatest place in Rome for gelato. It is off of Piazza Navona on Via di Tor Millina/Via di S. Agnese (one leads into the other next to Tre Scalini) -- it is "Da Quinto Gelateria" -- if you are in this area, DO NOT MISS IT! Ask for a banana split (grande style) and you will be in paradise!And it does not cost much either. It's hard to say what our favorite places were. Obviously, St. Peter's, Colosseum ,etc. But I also loved Mamertine Prison near the Forum. This is where both Paul and Peter were held as prisoners. There was just so much, everything was great. The people were awesome! We stayed at Residenza San Pantaleo which is a great place to stay. Perfect location, clean, great price (180,000), great people. Just a 5 minute walk to Navona/Campo. Piazza Navona was such a great place to be. The fountains are phenomenal and the street "performances" are always fun to witness! I could write forever about the trip, which is basically what I did in our vacation report. Just send me an email and I'll get it to you. Meanwhile, if there are any questions I can help someone with, let me know. I'll do my best. Again, thanx for all of the help. Bob (& Carol)

Could you please tell more about Residenza San Pantaleo? This forum can always use more info on places in that price range in good locations. Web site? Best wishes, Rex

DearBob and Carol....leaving for Florence for 18 days this Friday with 3 children (2 in their 20's,,youngest is 14) any ideas for a great dinner in Rome not too too expensive that they would love,,(doing 2 days in Rome)..noted your gelato...will definitely go there....TRISH

Orso 80 -- it is in the Rants and Raves section! For your first course, order the Antipasti misto. The price is 20,000 lira but that is for the whole table. They brought out 14 different platters and bowls of just about anything you'd want to sample as an antipasto. Their pasta was homemade, and secondi courses also incredible. It won't strain your pocketbook at all. It is just North of Piazza Navona.

Bob, yes, please do send me your looongggg trip report. I look forward to reading it. Thanks.

We had the coconut gelato from there...dreamy!

Bob- would love to hear your long report about Rome. we will be going in 4 weeks. Thanks for the input in advance!

Rex - Website for Residenza San Pantaleo is: www.residenzasanpantaleo.com Email: [email protected] Contacts: Carlo or Florin I had picked this B&B for a number of reasons, a number of which were obtained from other Fodorites. It is in a perfect location to get to most of the major sites in the city. And I mean walking. You don't even need a bus to get to see many of the cool things in the city. It is just a couple of minutes to both Piazza Navona and also Campo dei Fiori. Two great spots to be near. Always something happening here although I prefer Navona over Campo. It's on a main drag, Corso Vittorio Emmanuel. It has I believe 5 rooms, all clean, high ceilings, private bath. Florin really keeps up with things. And Carlo is always ready to help with any Q's you have about the city. 2 of the rooms look down on the main drag. We had 1 of these. If it gets noisy, you can shut the windows. Also, there is AC for the rooms although we didn't use it and it was very hot during our week. 3 rooms face an inner courtyard I believe and could be obviously quieter. We paid 180,000/nite (approx $90). Also, there is a great elevator which you obviously use to get to the 4th floor. Breakfasts are modest but they help you get going in the morning. If we go back to Rome, we will most definitely stay here again. I hope this helps. If you need anything else, just email me and I'll be glad to help. Best regards. Bob

Please send me a copy too, as I am headed that way in the fall. Thanks.

Hi, Trish! Regarding restaurants in Rome, they are all over the place. You will not have a problem finding something with modest prices for you and your family. I will send you our trip report separately. I make reference to several restaurants that we ate at near Piazza Navona that were quite inexpensive and good. We did many searches on this forum and came up with a list by area of the city of some recommended restaurants. You may want to do this. But what we typically do is just go up to places we came across when we were hungry, check the menu and prices, and then decide to go in or search some more. We were never disappointed. One restaurant that we did follow up on is near Campo dei Fiori. It's kind of tucked inside a small piazza. It's recommended by Rick Steves and it is patronized by locals. It is Filetti di Baccala. I am not into fish but my wife is and she enjoyed the baccala there. Plus they have a real nutty waiter who once he found out we were American, he promptly began singing the national anthem to us! Quite a character. We loved it. Again, I'll send you our report separately. Hope this helps. Bob

To Amy --- Having problems sending my report to your email. My email to you gets sent back for some reason. Do you have another email or a fax I can send the vacation report to? Just let me know. Bob

Hi Bob, Thanks for emailing me your report! I'm about 1/2 through it now and I am really enjoying reading it! Thanks again, Meagan

Hi Bob. I'd love a copy of your trip report...thanks! Thanks also for your mention of Da Quinto Gelateria (we visited Giolitti's at least once every day we were in Rome), and the Residenza San Pantaleo. We stopped by Filetti di Baccala on two different days when we where there two months ago, but it was closed on both occasions (the entire building it's in seemed to be under renovation at the time.) Glad to hear you loved it.

Hi, Bob--I'd also love to see the report. I'm researching Italy for next year. Thanks.

Bob,please e-mail me your report.We'll be there in Sept.Thanks

Another request for a copy of your trip report. I'll be there in November, hopefully. Thanks!

Hello, Bob - please send me your trip report, and thanks very much for taking the time to share your experiences with others.

Bob, I would love to read your trip report. We are going next March and would love to hear about your experiences. Thanks.

Hi Bob. Thanks for sharing your trip with us - would love to have a copy of your report as I am planning a trip for next spring. Thanks again. Sue

Not being pushy or anything... :-) ,I E-ed you directly. If you did not get it, this is my real address, and I would love to read about your trip! We leave in 9 days, and in rome are staying on Via Della Corda, right by the Palazzo Farnese. thanks for the restaurant tip, Filetti di Baccala. Sounds great, esp. the singing waiter, my childrenwill love it. do you remember his name?