After our Greece journey, we moved on to southern Italy. Our 16 nights itinerary was as follows:

4 nights in Rome

2 nights in Matera

2 nights in Polignano a mare

4 nights in Lecce- day trips to Apulia, The Heel of Italy

2 nights in Caserta- day trip to Positano

2 nights in Naples- day trip to Procida

The weather in May was perfect in Italy. Rome was not as crowded as we anticipated, only the Sistine Chapel was too crowded to even move through. There were a lot to follow in these 16 day trips.

Day 1

We flew from Chania airport, transit in Athens, flight was delayed for an hour before leaving for Rome. By the time we arrived in Rome was late afternoon. We took the airport train to Rome Termini station, then changed to metro MA to our hotel near Barberini station. After checking in and freshening up, it was already time for our dinner for the day.

We visited Rome 12 years ago, we were a lot younger and much more energetic, we visited a lot of the sites at a very fast pace without really going inside the monuments and museums. We decided to make this trip to Rome to amend what we had left out in our first visit.

Day 2

We woke up fresh and energized after a good night of sleep. After breakfast, we walked to the Spanish Steps, and explored the surrounding area.

View from the top of the Spanish Steps

Renaissance-Gothic Catholic church offers sweeping panoramic views of the city from the piazza at the summit.

Renaissance-Gothic Catholic church

Renaissance-Gothic Catholic church i

The Fontana della Barcaccia (Fountain of the Old Boat) is a Baroque fountain at the foot of the Spanish Steps

The Fontana della Barcaccia (Fountain of the Old Boat)


When we reached the Trevi Fountains area, surprisingly it was not as crowded as we had anticipated.




Spanish steps with the church at the background and the Fontana della Barcaccia at the foreground

“The Trevi Fountain in Rome

Trevi Fountains


“The Trevi Fountain in Rome is a world-famous Baroque masterpiece known for its dramatic sculptures, particularly the central figure of Oceanus, and the tradition of tossing coins into its waters for good luck, ensuring a return to Rome”

After all the walking, we were pretty hungry and wanted Chinese food for lunch. We then decided to take a metro to Victorious Emanuel.

We found a good Chinese restaurant recommended by a Chinese store keeper. After lunch, we took a metro back to our hotel and had a rest. We had reserved a guided tour at 4:30pm for the Vatican Museum.After some rest, we took a metro to the Vatican museum around 3pm. We located the entrance to the museum and were told to wait till 4:00pm before we could enter the museum.

We were assembled at the gift shop area with different tour groups. There were a lot of different tour groups going into the museum around the same time frames. Our group had around 20 people led by a lady. She is an archaeologist and has very good knowledge of the history of the museum exhibits.

We thoroughly enjoyed the Museum guided tour, the guide was excellent in telling the history of the museum and pointing out all the important exhibits in the museum.


Arriving at the Vatican Museum

Our tour group getting ready to enter the museum



















The Vatican Museums' most defining architectural feature is the iconic double-helix ramp designed by Giuseppe Momo resembling the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, which features a structurally similar grand spiral rotunda.



The last stop was the Sistine Chapel which guides are not allowed to give a tour. It was the most crowded area of the whole museum exhibits area. It was so crowded that we felt quite suffocating because of the huge numbers of people inside. We just quickly walked through the chapel since no picture was allowed to be taken inside.

The guided tour lasted around 2 hours. We walked around the outside gardens for another half hour and decided to go back to the hotel area for our dinners.

Did you have to pay to get close to the Trevi Fountain? I don't always go there, but just wondering how that works.

We actually had visited Trevi Fountains 13 years ago, so we had no intention to get to the lower steps for the viewing as we could just walk around peripheral areas freely.

There was a gate for entry, security guards were there to make sure no people jump over the barriers.

“To access the lower steps and get an up-close view of the Trevi Fountain's basin, non-residents of Rome must pay a €2 fee. Viewing the monument from the surrounding piazza above remains completely free.”

Thanks!

What a wonderful trip - Southern Italy, after Crete and Meteora - you're off to a very promising travel year !

You hit the ground running after Greece!

Day 3

We had reserved tickets for visiting the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill. The standard 24-hour entry is €18 and includes access to all three sites. We reserved a timed entry for the Colosseum at 5:30pm. The Forum and Palatine Hill access could be within the 24-48 hours time frame.

We planned to visit all three sites in the afternoon. For the morning, we decided to visit the Castel Sant Angelo. It was Emperor Hadrian's mausoleum and was later transformed into a papal fortress, prison, and now a museum.

It was a cloudy day with occasional blue sky. We had a good time exploring the Castle. It had panoramic views of the area from the top terrace that we really like. We also visited the papal apartments, and the historical dungeons. There’s a cafeteria on the top terrace with beautiful views of the Saint Peter’s Basilica and the River Tiber, and we were lucky to get a table for our coffee and snack after our tour of the castle.





Model of the castle

River Tiber
















View from our table





After the visit to the castle, we took a bus to the Forum and Palatines hill, and the colosseum area. Since we already bought the tickets, going into the Forum was quick and easy with no long lines. We started our Palatines hill tour first, and then continued on to the Forum later.


Passing through part of the Forum




On the path to Palatines Hill






View from Palatines Hill




Grandeur of the Forum

Such beautiful photos...what month were you there?

I never knew about that staircase in the Vatican Museums!!

I love your photos of Rome! We were there in the 1970's so a very long time ago. We've never been to southern Italy; it's on our bucket list; hope we make it there before we are too old to travel.

I have to get back to Rome. I saw the Sistine Chapel before its restoration, and need to see the restored version, and my stay was so brief that we missed a lot of other sites, although we did see the Forum, St. Peter's, and the Colosseum

Hi twk,

For me, the Vatican Museum visit is more than just the Sistine Chapel. A guided tour gave us more insight depth of the history, different styles of the artists, and the lavish lifestyle of the past papal.

We enjoyed the Palatine Hill which gave us the grandeur view of the Forum below the hill. This should not be missed when visiting the Forum.

Thanks for checking out my report. I enjoyed your Northern Italy trip report. It brought back my fond memories of Milan.

We moved on to our Colosseum tour after the Forum and the Palatine Hill visit. It started to drizzle but not bad. We only did the arena floor without a guide. We moved through the Colosseum ground pretty fast as the crowds were not bad at all.

Day 4

We went to visit the Tivoli Gardens(Villa d'Este in Tivoli), a spectacular 16th-century Renaissance estate located 21 miles east of Rome. It is an official UNESCO World Heritage Site well known for its gravity-fed fountains and terraced hillside gardens.

We took the train which departs frequently from Rome's Roma Tiburtina station to Tivoli station. From the Tivoli station, it is about a 15-minute walk to the Villa d'Este.

It was well worth the time to walk through and explore the beautiful fountains and gardens.

15 minutes walk to Tivoli Hardens from train station



Arriving Tivoli Gardens

Inside the gardens





























We took the train back to Rome.


View of the Gardens from the train

I was there early May 2026.

Our tour guide pointed out all the special features inside the Vatican Museum. This is the best guided tour we experienced among all other museums tours we had done.