Hi just a few tourist notes for anyone interested. Taxi from airport ciampino 30 to 40 euros, bus 8 euros.We took the taxi to save the hassle. Rome is a very safe place to walk round, all the major sites are walkable if you are reasonably fit, like most european cities the only down side is the pick pockets and the bus and train station seems to be one of their favourite sites, mostly young kids . If you are visiting the colosseum get you tickets from the palitine opposite you can visit that first and your ticket allows you to fast track the cue at the colosseum which was one and a half hours wait so its worth doing.
Dont take the red bus tour it is an absolute joke, the information tape on the bus is hopeless that,s when it,s working also you can't hop on and off because the buses are full all the time. dont know about the others. sistine chapel is only open until 12 30 in the winter the cues are very long I suggest you get there early around 8ish to not waste your day also once inside there is an entrance to the Vatican that the tour guides use, just follow them through as this will save you going round the front of saint peters and joining yet another cue and security check. Th Trevi fountain is really a lovely site and is best seen at night.Most locals tell you to not go in june july or aug as it is too humid and very busy.like most cities you are better off staying in the centre as you can easily walk back to your hotel without getting transport we stayed near the Pantheon which is a good place to base yourself As I said earlier it is very safe to walk even at night lots of people and police around. I hope this helps somebody Fodors has been good to me over the years. cheers

Where exactly did you stay? Thanks for the informative report.

Thanks for the tips, dave

Dave said to buy tickets for the colosseum from the "palitine opposite." What is that? I though the Palitine was an area.

Carroll - He means the entrance to the Foro Romano - which has it's own ticket office.

Hope this helps ...

Steve