Ah, Rome, my favorite city on earth! My family still talks fondly of our 4-night stay in Rome in June 2004. It was a perfect stay, partly due to the perfect location of our hotel, the Hotel Nazionale a Montecitorio, on Piazza Montecitorio, near the Pantheon. From there you can walk almost everywhere if you are in excellent shape. However you won't want to walk everywhere because it is too tiring...the public bus is cheap to the Vatican Museums from this hotel. Pantheon and Trevi fountain area are an easy walk. We walked to the Ancient rome area with the colosseum and took a public bus back.

Because of the location of this hotel, our private licensed tour guide, whom we hired for a 3 or 4 hour half-day tour for our first morning in Rome, was willing to meet us in the lobby of the hotel. She doesn't normally do this, but this hotel is so close to the Pantheon that it was convenient for her. She is Francesca Caruso and I have her e-mail somewhere if you are interested. My e-mail is [email protected] but put "Rome" in the subject line or I will delete you, thinking you are junk mail. I have a lot of filters on this e-mail account and I don't open anything that is unsolicited.

Do not confuse this hotel with several other Rome hotels with similar names. This is the only Hotel Nazionale that is ON the Piazza Montecitorio. It is a little pricey, but even my thrifty hubby was very pleased with the location, the good breakfast, and the comfortable classy place. It isn't over-the-top classy...nothing like that...just a nice place to stay.

You need a good map of rome with a street and piazza index. You need a list of recommended restaurants because bad food in Rome costs MORE than good food, and you can't find it spontaneously, as we found out the hard way. Get recommendations from fodorites, from www.slowtrav.com and also Rick Steves has great recommendations in his guidebook to Rome.

Enjoy! happy anniversary!

The author of *Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling* is Ross King.

I'll happily go with the consensus - the Hotel del Senato is incredible, specifically room 603. We chose it for our first trip to Rome in August 2003 and all I can say is "Wow"! The view of the Pantheom from our floor to ceiling window was simply amazing. And the rooftop bar with views of the city at night is quite romantic. As for something special to bring back from Rome - if you go to St Paul Outside the Walls, the gift shop has the most delicious liqueur. It's made by the Benedictine monks and, although not labeled as such, it's nay be even better. Just a sip brings back lovely memories.