We will be visiting Italy for a about 9 days in late March enroute to Greece. As this is our first visit to Italy we have booked a tour which takes in Florence and Venice and surroundng areas as well as a couple of days in Rome. The Rome component includes a visit to St Peter's, the Colosseum and Forum but we will have about one and a half days in Rome as well as 2 evenings free. I realise this is very little time but of course we hope to return. We are open to suggestions on how to put this time to best use to see as much as we can. Thank you in anticicpation of your suggestions.

If you are art lovers, don't miss the Borghese museum--you need a reservation for it and perhaps your tour guide can do that for you in advance of your arrival in Rome. You should also take in the sights in the center of Rome which are all within easy walking distance of each other (10-20 minutes): the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, the Spanish Steps, Piazza del Popolo, Campo dei Fiore. Then....if you still have any energy left, take a bus over to Trastevere for dinner--it's the "left bank" of Rome--lots of little trattorias with outdoor tables in the area of the Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere. But save it for last, and if you don't have the oomph to get there this time, save it for your next trip to Rome.

There are weeks' worth of things to do in Rome, of course, but for a bit of an adventure that will take up a half-day, you might consider taking the train out to Ostia Antica - the site of a huge Roman port town. Of the many Roman ruins I have seen in Europe (note: I haven't been to the ones in southern Italy yet), this one took my breath away. The baths, apartments, amphitheatre are all there - there ae murals still on the walls, and cartoons still on the mosaics in the baths. Yu can really sense what a Roman town was like - much more so than in the ruins in Rome itself. It's an easy half-hour ride on the subway/train, and there's an excellent restaurant in the (tiny) town. If you choose to stay in Rome, then the obvious choices are the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, the Piazza della Repubblica, San Pietro in Vincoli, a dip into Trastevere, Hadrian's Tomb....just get a good guidebook and hit the major sites.

Frank, <BR>OK, listen up and take notice. Two things you MUST do. One takes an advance reservation, and the other is open to walk ins. Great thing... they are both in the same place, well, almost. <BR>First, go to vatican city. Hang out at st. Peters before entering, get a feel for the place, relax, get into a 'just hanging out' frame of mind. Now go into St. Peters. Just admire everything. Now walk down the staircase off to the left of Bernini's canopy. Check out st. Peter's memorial, and the resting place of many popes. Maybe there will be a mass going on when your inside, and you'll hear the chanting echo through the building. Next, walk outside and take a left. Go around the corner and buy a ticket to the Cupola. Take the lift to the staircases and marvel at the detail that went into the frescoes. Walk up the crooked stairs and get a great veiw of Rome. Now, here's the tricky part, make reservations well in advance by fax or e-mail for this one. Goe back to the front of St. Peters and turn right, go past the intimidating swiss guards by mentioning one word... "Scavi". Go to the excavation office and take the Scavi (necropolis) tour. You will go under st. Peters, under the tomb of the Popes to the city of the dead, the city that Constantine destroyed to build the first St. Peters. You will walk through hermetically sealed glass doors and enter a world of wonder and awe. You will end your guided tour by having a peak at st. peter's resting place, and just dig the fact that the southwest column's foundation of Bernini's Canopy is resting happily on top of an ancient sarcophogis (oops). <BR>Check out vatican website and get excavation office fax or e-mail, request several days in case of overbooking. Make your request at least 2 weeks in advance- more if busy season. When you arrive in Rome, just drop by and check in with them about your date-if they havnt e-mailed you back. Trust me, it's a tour that not everyone knows about, and they try to discourage walk-ins so fax early. <BR>

The first time I went to Rome it was for less than 2 days at the end of a two-week trip. I rushed around trying to see everything I could and came away with less than the best impression of Rome. I returned 2 years ago and spent 6 relatively leisurely days there, and loved it. My advice, if you're only going to be there for a day and a half, is to pick just two or three attractions you want to see and otherwise spend the time just wandering around, eating gelato, drinking wine, and otherwise just soaking up the city. You can always go back to see the sights you missed!