It’s our first visit to Rome/Europe. I am 47, my husband 53 and our son is 13. Is there something I’m missing. I hope to get a reservation for the Scavi tour.

Will it be the end of the earth if I don’t go to the Borghese Gallery?
I’m sure we’re going to be overwhelmed with any art to begin with because we don’t spend time in museums. I think the Vatican will fill that need.

We don’t want to fill every minute. The goal is to “tour” about 3-4 hours a day, relax, and absorb the city/food/wine the rest of the day.

Italy Itinerary June/July 2007


Friday June 29 USAirways Evening Flight From Philadelphia to Rome

SaturdayJune 30 Morning Arrival Rome
5 Nights Albergo Del Senato
Tour Pantheon and Centro
Storico area until check in
Afternoon Nap/Shower
Rick Steves Night Walk

Sunday July 01 Early morning Flea Market
Appian Way Walk
Afternoon Nap
Late mass at St. Peter’s

Monday July 02 Colusseum Forum Palatine etc
until we’re tired…….
Afternoon Nap
Tentative Concert

Tuesday July 03 Vatican/Sistine Chapel
Afternoon Nap
Neighborhood -
Trastevere Jewish Quarter

Wednesday July 04 Open for whatever
we feel like doing
Shopping
Touristy Rick Steves La Dolce Vita

Thursday July 05 Leave for Cinque Terre, Lake Como and Milan

Yes, it will be the end of the earth if you don't visit the Galleria Borghese. They time your visit (I think it's a one hour limit-maybe 2 hours) so it doesn't take up a lot of your day and you will see the most fantastic sculpture you're ever seen. You may skip the paintings if you want, but please look at the sculptures.

I would skip the flee market. It was not worth the taxi ride there.

Go to Borghese Gallery instead.

Have fun, you wise in not planning every minute.
Del

I think your itinerary looks great. I've been to Rome twice and not been to the Borghese Gallery. It would have been nice to have seen it, but I wouldn't have missed any of the other things I saw. There's always another time to see the things you miss this time!

Hi GranthamMommy,

I would skip a lot of other things, just for 1 hour in the Borghese. Skip the paintings if you want and spend an hour with Bernini's sculptures.

I would trade the Vatican museum and everything else I saw on my 4 hour tour(not the Sistine or the Raphael rooms though) in exchange for the Borghese.

Okay, you have all convinced me to add the Galleria Borghese. Any more tips appreciated. Especially places fun to poke around and shop. Not looking for expensive fashionista items.

I have posted before to those traveling with children-teens to also include some time in the gardens surrounding the Borghesi Gallery. The gardens themselves are a welcome respite (If you go mid-way through your week) from the noisy streets of the city- mostly just wide paths through lovely trees with gelato stands conventiently sprinkled- but, you can rent these very cool jalopy type four-wheeled pedal bike things that your son would love. It's not far from the gallery. Some of the paths are downhill and you can pick up quite a bit of speed; steering is with a steering wheel for wannabe drivers. There are also great fountains for wading in if it is hot, and a pond where you can rent a row boat. It's just a nice couple hour break when the afternoon is hot, and if you do this prior to or after your museum visit it will be perfect! The museum and the park would be about four hours...I would do it in the afternoon and then you'd have one of your evening plans after. The museum is very small, and because the times and numbers are limited it is a very intimate experience with the sculptures- you can get very close and take time to read/listen to the information. Have a wonderful trip!

Umm, sorry Grantham, I'm going to have to disagree that a visit to Galleria Borghese is a must-see for a first time trip to Rome. I've spent years going in and out of Rome and didn't go to the Galleria until a couple of years ago, and believe me, I didn't see anything there that you won't see out and about in Rome-meaning, Bernini, Michaelangelo, Caravaggio, Raffaello, all of these Renaissance artistic masters and their works are out in the piazzas or the churches of Rome, and it is far more fun to explore Rome and see them up close and personal in this manner, than to go make the hike up there to the Borghese and back just to see the same master works in a museum.

You have a nice relaxed itinerary, it looks good, and you've built time into the schedule to sit around on a cobblestoned piazza, eat drink and marvel at the wonders of Rome (make sure and head out to Trastevere in the evening for a meal, and hang out in the piazza with everyone else and half the youth of Rome as well).

If there is anything that I believe you must see on your first trip to Rome it IS the Scavi Tour-the necropolis of the Vatican is unique; I'm a pretty jaded world traveler, but this tour truly made a deep impression on me when I went for the first time this past September -the Etruscan frescoes, the holy crypts, and the crypt that holds what the church believes to be the bones of St. Peter's-fascinating, and priceless!

THIS is what you want, not the Galleria-trust your instincts on this-you'll see every master that is in the Galleria out and about on your Rome discoveries, but you will not see anything like the Scavi-even if you don't get reservations ahead of time, call when you get in to try and make a reservation anyway -you won't regret it, one of the most fascinating tours in the world that most visitors to Rome will never see or don't know about.

I think your schedule looks quite reasonable.
There is another recent thread about when to go the Vatican museums to avoid lines. Most people seem to find the lines are better mid-day than when the museum first opens. aare

Going to the Appian Way Sunday makes sense because the upper part of the street which is narrow and nerve-wracking when there is traffic, is closed then.
WE (couple with 16 year old son) took the Archeobus in early March. This is an off/on bus that starts in the central city and takes you out the Appian Way stopping at the catacombs and many other stops much farther along, including Casal Rotondo, ruins of villa dei quintili, then eventually to spectacular aqueducts on viale appio Claudio leading into the city. If you take the bus there is a reduced rate for catacomb visits and bike rentals. I think it is going to be pretty hot in early July so going fairly early would make sense. We all found the catacombs interesting

My son did not want to go to many art museums. Although my husband and I wanted to go to the Borghese in addition to the VAtican museums and Villa Farnesia and the Capitoline museums, we humored our son. Our trip was wonderful even w/o the Borghese. It was just a matter of family compromise. We did stop at different churches along our walks for shorter times than the adults would have ideally enjoyed. As Girlspytravel says, you can see great paintings and sculpture in many of the churches.

Our son really enjoyed the Pantheon area and Piazza Navona with its portrait artists and street theater, and I think you are wise to be building in time for that kind of wandering and enjoying the city.

On the day you go to the major ancient Roman sights, I would recommend starting on the Palatine (Via di san Gregorio entrance) where you can buy a combined ticket for the Palatine and the Colosseum. This saves standing in line for tickets to the Colosseum later. Then go through the Palatine and stop for views of the Forum from the Farnese Gardens and walk down into the Forum and from there eventually to the Colosseum.

You should also be sure to walk up Michaelangelo's Cordonata to the Campidoglio and next to the Senate building for another spectacular view of the Forum another time during your walking/exploring.

You will want more than a jet-lagged pre-hotel period on Saturday morning for touring the centro storico, but you are staying in a great location.

Hi again GranthamMommy,

I will beg to differ with Gypsyspygirl's advice to skip the Borghese. Yes, there are lots of Bernini and other sculptures all round Rome both in and out of churches and I've seen lots of them. BUT - I was never as impressed with any as those particular works that are in the Borghese. Being able to get up close to see the detail and translucence of the marble is amazing. Apollo and Daphene had the same impact as Michelangelo's David, and that's saying a lot.

Remember, you need to make reservations in advance. You don't pay if you don't use them.

Actually, you don't need to make reservations in advance. In August 2006, on a Sunday, I went to the Borghese with no reservation, and they put me in their next slot- so all I had to do was wait around for around a half hour-If you want to wait and play it by ear, by all means, do so, everyone who showed up with me was doing the same thing.