I'm planning a trip to Rome for 7 nights in late Feb/early March. This will be my first international trip (I'm 21), and I'm worried that I won't be able to see everything Rome has to offer. Any reassurance? This site has been wonderful--especially the posts about Italian movies.

I want to see Rome, Ostia Antica, and Orvieto (DYING to go to a hill town . Is 8 days enough? Can anyone offer advice about Orvieto?

Also--I am planning to stay in the Beehive hostel for the first 5 nights (as a student, I want to get a feel for the backpacker atmosphere), and in a nicer place for the last two nights. I'd really really like to stay in a smaller, family-owned place in order to get a feel for the culture. Any suggestions?

Finally, I am planning to learn as much of the language as possible. With school, I do not have time to take a course--what are the next best/most effective methods?

Thanks so much!

You can see Orvieto easily as a day trip from Rome. It's about an hour on the train and there are lots of trains every day. From the train station, a funicular takes you up the hill to the town.

Visit the cathedral and be sure to see the San Brizio chapel, all the way in the front on the right as you enter.

Lots of great restaurants, but if you are on a budget, I recommend the Golden Ass (Asino D'Oro). Low prices and delicious food. Sorry, I don't have the exact address, but it's fairly well known. It's just off the Corso Cavour between the Via del Duomo and the Piazza della Repubblica.

There are plenty of other things to do there: underground tour, lots of shops, Etruscan tombs outside the city walls, and an Etruscan museum. And of course just roaming around the charming town itself.

Oh yes, don't miss the gelateria in the far corner opposite the cathedral. It's truly some of the best gelato in Italy!

Marilyn's mention of Orvieto's gelateria is important, so here're more specific directions: As you're facing the front of the duomo, the gelateria is across from the left rear corner of the building, on the pedestrian walkway that runs along the left-hand side of the duomo. We stayed at a hotel a few doors down from the gelateria, and I even crept down there in my PJs for a late-night gelato "fix."

Enjoy Orvieto!

When you are in Orvieto...do not miss the Trattoria Etruscan!

From the front steps of the duomo look straight ahead and then proceed up the little street that you see in front of you about 200 yeards. It is on the right side of the street. I recommend the pasta with wild boar!

Awesome!

And the comments regarding the gelaterria are spot on!

>>>>>>I'm worried that I won't be able to see everything Rome has to offer. Any reassurance?<<<<<<

Ek_bella, are you kidding? OF COURSE you won't be able to see everything Rome has to offer! If you had a year to spend there you wouldn't see everything it had to offer.

Don't let that get you down, however. A week in Rome is more than some people have on their first trip. I know of people who've had only one or two days in Rome.

Before you visit a single famous monument, church or museum, you'll be immersed in Rome itself, surrounded by the sound of the musical Italian language, and surrounded by old buildings, which, if you come from a new country like the U.S., is an experience in itself.

The person who is giving you this advice has never been to Italy (although she has been elsewhere in Europe, and she has done a TON of research in preparation for her own first trip to Italy).

My research into Rome has revealed to me that it, perhaps more than any other Italian city, contains evidence of ALL of Italy's historical periods. Compare Rome with Florence, for example. Florence is packed to the gills with fabulous art, and I'm dying to see it. But there is very little visible evidence today that Florence was once part of the Roman Empire.

The fact that Rome offers so much gives the visitor a wealth of opportunities, which is wonderful in one respect, but it also can lead to a feeling of being overwhelmed and not knowing where to start.

EVERYONE tells me that, once I've been to Italy, I WILL return. Therefore I should not approach it from the point of view that this will be my last chance to see it. Given that I'm middle aged and you're 21, I think it's all the more true that you will return after this initial visit. So, this first trip will merely be your introduction to Rome, and indeed to Italy.

Before you do anything else, if you haven't already done so, get a map of Rome and at least one guide book. Books that are targetted towards the budget traveller are those in the Rick Steves, Let's Go and Rough Guides series. If you can spring for them, another delightful series of guide books are the Eyewitness Travel Guides published by Dorling Kindersley. Santa was kind enough to bring me the one on Rome. The Eyewitness Travel Guides are filled with colour photos and illustrations, which are very helpful in visualizing the place in advance of having seen it in person.

Something that has helped me to plan my first trip to Rome is to figure out what my husband and I are interested in. Our "problem" is that we're interested in all of Rome's historical periods! That makes it so hard to choose. I think it would be easier if we were interested only in the Roman Empire or only the Renaissance or whatever. Since we're interested in everything, we're going to try to see a couple of examples that are representative of each period.

In your case, you're already planning excursions to Ostia Antica and Orvieto, which I think are excellent choices. Ostia Antica, of course, will expose you to the periods of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire. Orvieto's cathedral is a representative of the Middle Ages, but Orvieto also has an Etruscan museum. If memory serves me correctly, Orvieto also has an Etruscan necropolis, and one can go on an underground tour of it. But please check up on the details of this, as my recollection of what I've read is a bit fuzzy. Anyway, a day trip to Orvieto will ensure that you can see something Etruscan and something Medieval.

That brings you back to your five days in Rome, and what to do with them. Again, it depends on what you like. For appreciating present-day Italy, the open-air market at Campo de' Fiori comes highly recommended. Campo is just across the Tiber River from Trastevere, another neighbourhood that is reported to be pleasant and that would give a person something of a feel for how Romans live.

When it comes to the Classical Period, the Forum and the Colosseum are the two "no brainers." I believe one day could be devoted to Forum, Colosseum, and Palatine Hill.

For ecclesiastical architecture, art and beauty, the Vatican is another no brainer. Most people, at a minimum, see St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museum, including the Sistine Chapel. (I've read somewhere that binoculars help one to get a more detailed view of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.) I believe that the Vatican too deserves a day in its own right.

If you're fond of Classical history, the National Museum of Rome, in the general direction of the main train station, is reputed to have a splendid collection of statues, etc.

If you're interested in art (paintings and sculptures), THE art gallery in Rome is the Borghese (reservations mandatory). I think (but don't know for sure) that it might be possible to combine a visit to the Borghese with a visit to two beautiful churches on the same day. On the map they don't look that far from the Borghese, but keep in mind I've never walked these distances myself. The churches I have in mind are the big, well known Santa Maria Maggiore and the nearby, smaller San Prassede which, although it's not as well known, apparently contains gorgeous Byzantine mosaics. (Byzantium -- hey, there's yet another Empire's history to take in.)

Another day could be occupied by visiting churches in the vicinity of the Pantheon. First of all is the Pantheon itself, then there's San Luigi dei Francesi with its Caravaggios, Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, Chiesa di St. Iganazio with the clever ceiling frescoes that create an illusion of a three dimensional cupola, and Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza that was designed by the great Borommini. That's five churches, which is a lot to see properly in one day. I don't know their opening times, and other details, so I don't know if it would be feasible to see them all on one day. However, for what it's worth that's my personal wish list for the Pantheon area.

Well, Ek_bella, I hope that's given you some inspiration.

Hi

One of Italy's top-notch restaurants is "I Sette Consoli" in Orvieto.

I've never stayed there (remember, I've never been to Italy), but I've repeatedly heard very complimentary things about B&B La Dolce Vita in the Piazza di Spagna area. The owners are said to be super friendly, super helpful, and multi-lingual.

Ek_bella, you said you wanted to learn Italian, but didn't have much time. The first thing I would recommend you do is buy a phrase book. I happen to have Rick Steves' one, which I find quite good from the point of view that it's pocket sized, and it's arranged into different topics, like ordering a meal, etc. In the back of it are two small dictionaries, one Italian / English, the other English / Italian.

There are other phrase books arranged in the same way, and I think any of them would be useful.

The next thing I'm going to do is look for tapes that I can listen to while I'm commuting to and from work.

Beyond that, unless one has the time, and is willing to devote the effort, I don't think there is too much one can do to learn Italian.

There is nothing like immersion for learning a language. Once one gets to Italy, one will naturally experience a quantum leap in one's vocabulary.

The thing I've heard from other people who've learned Italian, is that it's relatively easy to pick up a few hundred nouns. The tricky part comes in when one tries to master the verbs. The rules governing tenses, etc., are complex, and take concerted effort to learn.

If my experience of other European countries, Latin America and Africa is anything to go by, people really appreciate tourists' attempts to say a few things in the local language, especially the polite expressions like Please, Thank you, Hello, and Goodbye. There's no question that attempting to communicate in their language warms people up. But one does not need to be able to deliver a Ph.D. dissertation in the local language. Especially in cities (and Rome after all is a large city), there are people who understand some English, and some of them have a command of English that is embarrassingly good. If worst comes to worst, sign language goes a long way.

If your other studies preclude serious study of Italian, I wouldn't worry about it if I were you.

Betsy, thanks for the additional directions to the gelateria. In your pajamas, eh? Pretty funny! (By the way, did you get an email I sent you a few days ago?)

ek, you should know that the 2 other restaurants recommended, while fantastic, are among the more expensive places in Orvieto. Perhaps incorrectly, I got the idea you are on a budget (from the hostel stay). The former chef at Trattoria Etrusca has opened his own restaurant at the other end of town (on the Piazza Ranieri). Exact same menu, same cook, lower prices. Just FYI.

The Etruscan necropolis is accessible for a small admission fee without going on a tour, but it is outside the city walls and while you could walk to it, a taxi would probably be better. (Although I believe there are something like 3 taxis in all of Orvieto.) Personally, I'd go for the underground tour.

Hi Marilyn, just checked the AOL account and will answer your question (gladly) privately.