We are leaving for Rome in a little over a week. I've been reading a lot here about various itineraries and want to best organize our time in Rome. We will be there for seven full days. A little about us - we are two active people in our early 50s . This is our fourth trip to Italy and first to Rome. We have travelled extensively through northern Italy and have also been to Sardinia. We enjoy walking, being outside and generally absorbing the culture of an area. We are not really into seeing a lot of churches and enjoy museums, in moderation. We will be staying near the Spanish steps. Here is my itinerary so far and would appreciates comments, suggestions, etc.:

DAY ONE (ANCIENT ROME)

Column of Trajan and Trajan’s Market
Roman Forum
Arch of Constantine/Colosseum
Circus Maximus
Aventine Hill (with keyhole view in Piazza Cavalieri di Malta)

DAY TWO

Villa Borghese and Piazzo Del Popolo (A.M.)
Castel Sant’Angelo
Piazza Navona
Parthenon

DAY THREE

Vatican Tour (A.M.)
Appian Way and Catacombs (P.M.)

DAY FOUR

Ostica Antica

DAY FIVE

Campo Dei Fiori and Piazza Farnese (A.M.)
Capitoline Museum and Piazza Del Campidoglio (P.M.)

DAY SIX

Santa Maria in Trastevere
Isola Tiberina
Jewish Ghetto
Teatro di Marcello

DAY SEVEN

Hadrian’s Villa/Tivoli

Thanks - please be honest with your suggestions!

While you're in Trastevere also see St. Cecelia's church and San Francesco a Ripa church with the Bernini ecstasy of Ludovica Albertoni, even better than his ecstasy of St. Teresa.

On day 2 it's the Pantheon (the Parthenon is in Greece). I would add Santa Maria Sopra Minerva church, right near the Pantheon and have some gelato at Giolitti.

I would add more churches unless you don't like viewing them. St. Peter in Chains (near the Colosseum) with Michelangelo's sculpture of Moses, Santa Maria Maggiore (near Termini), St. Paul Outside the Walls (on the way to Ostia Antica.

I think 7 days in Rome is great - have a wonderful time!

hi Marie,

I like the way that you have grouped attractions in the same area together, so you might think of adding the capitoline museums to your first day as they are right there by the forum.

your Day 5 therefore looks very thin, but you might like to think about doing the appian way that day - you may be too tired after the Vaitcan, when the msot you wil probably manage is a gentle stroll around the campo dei fiori.

do go and see st. Cecilia's and its crypt - for €3 you get to see the most beautiful mosaics, if you walk right to the back of the excavations under the church itself. in fact, seeing the mosaics is one very good reason for looking in churches if you are not otherwise very interested in them, but try to have a store of 50c pieces to feed into the machines that turn on the lights.

also, you will enjoy the villa d'este. it's really lovely. we went at about the same time of year - look out for the copulating toads in the ponds!

have a great trip,

regards, ann

Day 1: I heartily recommend the Museum of Trajan's Market and Forum: Lets you get right down into the site itself. It was an eye-opener to me -- and I've visited Rome at least a dozen times!

Aventine Hill: I hope you plan to visit historic churches there -- otherwise there is not much to the Aventine (great views though)

You're skipping the Palatine hill though -- notwithstanding your 3-site composite ticket for the Forum + Colosseum includes it?

Places on Days 2 and 3 are quite spread out. You may feel you are racing about -- esp Vatican + Via Appia.

Days 5 and 6: Capitoline Museums are an absolute highlight. The Ghetto is just a place to walk through on your way from C de'Fiori to the Teatro di Marcello + the Capitoline.

I would likely re-jig as follows:

Day 5: C de' Fiori, Piazza Farnese, Isola Tiberina, Trastevere -- S.ta Maria in Trastevere + S.ta Cecilia

Day 6: Campidoglio/ Capitoline Museums + Marcello/ adjacent Portico d'Ottavia/ Ghetto + Return EITHER to Campo de'fiori/ via Giulia area OR to P.zza Navona area (via del Governo Vecchio, via dei Coronari, etc etc)

Remember that the Borghese requires a reservation.

Day 3 may or may not be a bit much. Depending on what you want to do at the Vatican, it can take up to a full day. Granted, you can also do the highlights in about 4 hours. Do you already have your tickets/tour for the museums?

Also, you may be planning on doing the Archeo bus for the Appian way, I wouldn't waste the money. Instead take the 118 city bus, which you can catch across from the Circo Massimo metro stop. The 118 goes almost everywhere the Archeo goes, and a couple of stops the private one doesn't. It costs WAY less.

Be aware that the Vatican Museums are closed on Sundays and many other museums are closed on Monday.

Just a quick comment on the Vatican. We were there two weeks ago, met our guide (who had bought reserved tickets for us) at 10, she was with us til 1, then we stayed until after 5. Neither of us is Catholic but we were blown away by the beauty and magesty of the Vatican. I had no idea we'd spend that much time there, but it was well worth it.
I also very much enjoyed St. Cecelia's. Love the story, the church, the mosaics beneath the church.
Don't skip Palatine Hill.
I don't see Trevi Fountain on your list, but maybe it was lumped in with other things I didn't notice.
Have a great time.

We really enjoyed Ostica Antica. Go earlier in the day. We made a huge mistake by going right after lunch. Then we got caught up in the rush hour on the metro and that was not fun. We were packed in so tight I couldn't move. The next stop when someone tried to get on everyone in the car was yelling in Italian. No one else got on our car. When we got to Termini Station it took forever to "unpack".

Thanks for the replies!

Adrienne - my nephew mentioned San Pietro in Vincoli and the Moses sculpture so we will check that out.

Annhig - our first day in Rome happens to be May 1 (Labor Day) and I think that the Capitoline Museum will be closed. I agree with you that it would make more sense to go there that day but I don't think we can. I really want to see the Colosseum, etc. on the first day, but I may rethink that. Thanks also for the info on St. Cecilia's. That's in Trastevere, right?

Tedgale - thanks for your suggestions on Day 5 and 6. That does make sense!

Daveesl - I had read that you need a rez for the Borghese. Our hotel is going to do that for us. Thanks also for your suggestion about taking the city bus to the Appian way. I had read about that as well.

Also, because we are staying near the Spanish steps (Hotel Modigliano) I had not put the Trevi Fountain on our "to do" list as we will probably walk around that area on the day we arrive (Thursday).

One thing I did not mention - we are tennis fans and are planning on going to the Rome Tennis Masters during our visit so that is a whole other day in addition to the above. Has anyone been to that??

Thanks again, I really appreciate everyone's advice.

MarieF, if your first day is May 1, then isn't Day 3 Sunday May 3, when the Vatican museums are closed? (I know because I too am trying to work out a schedule for that same week-- maybe we'll run into each other somewhere).

Hi Mme.Fifi - We are actually planning to go to the Vatican on Monday and our hotel is going to arrange a Tour for us. We are planning to also try to see the Rome Masters tennis (and are working on getting tickets for either Saturday or Sunday). To keep it simple for comments, I didn't include that in my list. Also, I have to work around the Monday closings of the museums as well. We should have enough days to get to see everything, even if it's not in the exact order of the days I listed above! I was trying to organize things logically to make best use of our time. I do appreciate your pointing that out about the Vatican. I am really looking forward to our vacation - it's our first time in Rome. We did a trip to Paris several years ago for the same length of time and it was great - we went to the French Open on that trip .