Rome: Favorite Self-Guided Walks
 

I'd like to hear about your favorite walks and also recommendations for books or websites that contain this info.

I've written a Julius Caesar 'Ides of March' walk. It takes you from the night before in the Roman Forum to the assassination site and back to the Forum for the funeral 4 days later.
It covers the events, the people and the actual sites and what transpired during those 4 days.
I'm a terrible writer :) but it's readable and accurate.
It's too long to post (11-12 pages with photo links and descriptions). So if you or anyone wants a copy just email me with ROME in the 'Subject Line' so I don't discard it with all the spam. Regards, Walter

We had the Rick Steves book with us when we went to Italy - they have a great Night Walk recommendation (but we did it during the day). It's long, but covers a lot of sights.

Rome in Detail, a Guide for the Expert Traveler, has a number of self guided walks. The book divide the info by neighborhood and does a great job of listing attractions in each. It's published by Rizzoli in Association with the Int'l herald Tribune.

ChatNoir, I told this to Degas last year, but you can hear it too. The book City Secrets Rome edited by Robert Kahn is a goldmine! It is a very small volume (easily picked up on amazon.com) written by artists, writers, architects and other lovers of Rome. With this book tucked into my bag, my husband and I discovered lesser known treasures of Rome. We walked from one end of the city to the other exploring with this book.

Here's my favorite walk: trundle on by the Mouth of Truth, take a look at Circus Maximus, cross the street and head up the Aventine neighborhood to get a peek through the Maltese Keyhole. Your jaw will drop. Head on down the hill to the working class neighborhood below and spy the Pyramid. The book will flesh out the details for you.

I highly second dln's recommendation of the City Secrets Rome book.

Romewalks is another excellent book, consisting solely of five self-guided walking tours. I took the one through the Ghetto and learned a lot from it.

I second Capo's recommendation on RomeWalks. I bought them on tape and completed all four walks. They are now available in various formats from Audible.com (search on Romewalks). Here is what the blurb says:

"Rome's two and a half millennia of history are reflected not only in her fascinating architecture but also in her intricate, winding streets. Now you can put on your earphones and let Romewalks Audio Guide unveil the immense cultural treasures that lie within the walls of this Mediterranean city. Romewalks will charm you with anecdotes from Roman history and gossip about the people, art, religion, archeology, architecture, and cuisine of Rome.
These four intimate walking tours can take as little as two hours or as long as a morning or afternoon, depending on whether you stop at shops, museums, or cafes which are pointed out along the way. You can also listen to the tapes before you leave to help you plan your day in Rome and they will be an enjoyable reminder for you when you return."

Regards Ger

Thanks so much for the recommendations.
Anybody else want to comment?

I checked out a copy of City Secrets from the library and found it to be a great resource. You guys were so right!

Have recently returned from a couple of weeks in Rome, second time visitor, first time solo.

Would just like to highly recommend Romewalks downloaded from audible.com. I used my ipod and found it be a fantastic experience. There are 4 different walks that are supposed to take about 2 hours each but they invariably take longer as you stop for various detours/shopping/gelati etc. It was so much easier to listen to directions and historical information rather than fumbling with a guide book. Even when the walks took me down familiar streets, I was often directed to observe various architectural intricacies that I know I would otherwise have overlooked or certainly not realized their significance.

I found that using the audio worked really well for a solo traveller because you could do them anytime, night or day that suited.

I will definitely look for similar downloaded walks on subsequent trips. I notice that Rick Steves has some walks to download on his website.

DK Eyewitness Rome has something like 8 or 9 walks outlined along various themes. I really liked this guidebook too - it has great photos and diagrams of the famous structures.

I also just finished reading a book called "The Smiles of Rome" which is a compilation of writings about Rome by various famous authors, edited by Susan Cahill. If you like literature, this is a wonderful little book to take along. You can read a chapter about a certain area, time period, or theme and then read the accompanying editorial notes to design a walk that literally "travels in the writer's footsteps."

Hi,

I have the National Geographic bookguide of Italy and I think it's great.

The self-guided walk through the historic center of Rome is excellent. It starts in Piazza Colonna and it ends in Santa Maria in Trastevere. I have seen other walks of the historic center included in other bookguides, but they're not as great and complete as this one.

The bookguide also includes a self-guided walk of Venice (I did it and it was also excellent) and Florence (I didn't do this one because it didn't seem to be that great)

I also have a book called "Italia: Arte, Natura e Cultura" (Mondadori, 2005). It's not really a bookguide but more like a reference book of Italy. It's very complete and it includes suggested routes when visiting Rome, Florence, Venice and Milan. It's in italian, though.

I just checked out the Romewalks tour from Audible.com. I noted that some of the reviewers(download) noted that they felt lost without a map. Has anyone had sucess using this without the map that would be supplied if I bought the tapes and book as opposed to downloading it?

Hi ChatNoir :) i like the "Blue Guide Rome" book for walks and info ....not the smallest book in the world but it has so much info it's a real MUST for me !
Have a look at this website for audio downloads and maps meant to be very good :)
http://www.italyguides.it/us/roma/rome_italy_travel.htm
XxEm

prhirsch,
you do get fairly rudimentary maps to download with Romewalks from audible.com ( included in the price)to at least tell you in advance where the starting and finishing points are...useful for planning your day! They are prety basic though. I found it necessary to supplement them with the Streetwalks Rome map as it's really detailed and gives an overview of a large area.

Hi Chatnoir:

I have used several of the "walks" series (see my previous post) and downloaded the VeniceWalks from Audible for my trip. Their maps are dreadful anyway, but I found the perfect solution - Everyman Mapguides. They are absolutely perfect. In addition to having maps for each area, they also have a short description of tourist sites, restuarants and bars, shopping in that area.

http://tinyurl.com/ye9qs6

Regards Ger

Bookmarking - thanks for the info!

Great advice.....Thanks

HEY! I'm about to go to Rome meself! All I have with me is Lonely Planet's Guide to Europe. I'm in Russia, where all the books sold are in Russian (My first language is English), It's going to be a big problem for me unless I find an english guide book or something over the internet...

Hi Alec - You can easily get an English guidebook in Rome at one of the English bookshops.

Steve