Posted on 05/29/2024 7:50:00 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
I always recommend visiting the Park of the Aqueducts and the Ostia Antica archeological site.
But I think the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, and Mouth of Truth attractions are overcrowded...
I would never say certain attractions have no merit. But after years of interacting with travelers, I understand that people want alternatives.
Luckily, Rome has priceless art and artifacts around every corner.
Here are five popular attractions that are worth visiting......and five you might want to skip..
- The Capitoline Museums
- Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano
- The Park of the Aqueducts
- Basilica of Sant'Agostino
- Ostia Antica
- Vatican Museums are overcrowded
- You can get a good view of the Colosseum without going inside
- Walking the Appian Way might be a letdown (see #3 above)
- Trevi Fountain
- Mouth of Truth
(Excerpt) Read more at aol.com ...
No to the Trevi Fountain?!?
I agree. Good thinking.
There is only one real solution to the “Rome problem” of too many sites and the necessity of tourist triage.
Extend your stay.
And go back.
The top of my must-see list in Rome would be the necropolis level under St. Peter’s. It is an inherently limited access space because it is small and the surviving frescos are vulnerable to moisture, so the number of daily visitors is controlled. Despite that, it does not require any special hoops to visit; just make reservations early to be sure of getting in. And visitors should read up a bit on the archaeology related to St. Peter’s burial site before going. That’s a good thing to do anywhere, but it’s close to essential in the necropolis. The guide will explain it, but the details are sufficiently intricate that a little prep goes a long way.
She didn’t even mention The Spanish Steps.
Thanks, good idea!
We just got back from Rome a few weeks ago. Generally I thought the city was dirty and covered with graffitti. I agree that the Vatican Museum not worth visiting. I felt like a herd of cattle in a stockyard. Couldn’t pause long enough to appreciate it. Plan on finding a you tube to see it. However the crowds at the other sites were manageable and worth seeing. I liked Florence much better.
Yes. A madhouse. There's much to see, and you might want to do it, but be forewarned.
"The Colosseum"
Pay no attention. Go inside. It's well worth it.
"Trevi Fountain"
Pay no attention. Sometimes the crowds are maddening, and you don't get to see much, but so what?
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Capitoline Museum and Pantheon
The highlight of our visit to Rome was the Bernini sculptures in the Borghese Gallery. Apollo and Daphne is breathtaking: http://www.thehistoryblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Apollo-and-Daphne.jpg
The only time to see the Vatican Museum is first thing in the morning as part of a group. Any other time it is unpleasantly jammed fully of people.
How about the Pantheon?
I am going to Florence, Sorrento and Rome the first two weeks of October. Any ideas would be appreciated.
I was there in ‘68. Some of the most memorable places are on the do not bother list, or not mentioned at all. I’m guessing time, urban decay and ignorant tourists are to blame...
Most memorable:
St Peter’s basilica - rubbing St Peter’s bronze foot, worn smooth over the centuries.
The Sistine Chapel is a MUST SEE.
Trevi Fountain - beautiful and amazing.
The Coliseum. Seriously? skip seeing the crazy cool ghizmos that made it work? Miss out on walking along the walkways that Roman citizens trod? Seeing what Caesar saw?
The Appian Way. Remarkable to me because I lived at the end of The Way in Brindisi for 3 years. Walked up the stairs from the harbor and along the stone road for exercise. Marveled at the ruts worn into the stones by carts. wagons, chariots... That is a must see for any history buff.
Yes, those high-end drone video tours of famous cities and countries, watched on a large high-def TV, are like being there!
We really enjoyed the Capitoline Museum. You'd better have a working knowledge of Roman art and/or a good guidebook, because everything is jumbled together and not always well-labeled -- kind of like your grandmother's attic, if your grandmother had a bunch of Roman antiquities!
The Keats-Shelley House at the foot of the Spanish Steps is well worth a visit if you're fond of the English Romantics. It is a rather eccentric British-style small museum with an amazing library, paintings, Keats' death mask, and many other interesting things!
Pompey's Theatre (where Caesar was assassinated) is well below modern street level, in a block where they were supposed to build an office building, but didn't because they found the theatre. It is also a cat sanctuary - we were up on the modern sidewalk and a big ginger tom had us sussed for patsies . . . scaled the wall and spoke to us for awhile. Sadly, we had no treats.
Boca de la Veritas is a great place for a cheesy selfie you couldn’t have made anywhere except in Rome, but it isn’t close to anything else you’d likely want to visit, so it will cost you in time.
I only go to the Vatican Museum to see the Sistine Chapel. No other painting in the world can compare to it for fame and historical significance. If that’s not worth fighting crowds for to you, you probably shouldn’t be visiting Rome in the first place.
St Peter’s Basilica is worth visiting just for the art, esp. Bernini’s Baldachin and Michelangelo’s Pieta (never miss an opportunity to see a Michelangelo, regardless how minor). Also worth a visit for anyone of Scottish extraction, since Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) and his father, James Francis Edward Stuart, uncrowned King of Scots, are entombed there.
The Trevi Fountains are worth visiting if you’re fascinated by the sophistication of Roman engineering. The water filling it comes from the Acqua Vergine Roman aqueduct. Built in 19 BC, it runs from a spring Roman soldiers soldiers were guided to by a young maiden (ergo “water of the virgin”) about 12.7 miles away with a fall of about 13 feet. That’s an inch every 430 feet. At its peak it brought in 25 million gallons of water each day.
He has some stunning omissions on his list.
While you’re at the Colosseum (and you can’t not go there), up the hill to the north lies the Basilica of Saint Peter in Chains (San Pietro in Vincoli). The chains St Peter allegedly wore in the Mamertine prison are in the altar but there’s also one of Michelangelo’s most famous statues (and you know how I get about Michelangelos), Moses (with horns). And it costs you nothing to see because it’s in a church that’s open to the public.
Just after entering the Roman Forum (from the Colosseum end) is the Arch of Titus, built to celebrate the crushing of the uprising of the Jews in Judea, which also marked the second sacking of the Temple of Solomon, and the re-naming of the region to ‘Syria Palestina.’ It also marked the beginning of one of the many Jewish diasporas. The Jews were in rebellion because they refused to worship the Emperor of Rome as god. The war was begun by Titus’ father, the Emperor Vespasian (builder of the Colosseum), who died before finishing the job, so Titus did the clean-up.
Inside the arch is a bas relief depicting the carrying away of menorahs, incense shovels, trumpets and other Jewish religious artifacts as the Romans looted the temple to destroy its religious significance.
The Borgehese Gallery, IMHO, is the finest art gallery in Italy. Includes Bernini’s “Pluto and Persephone” and “Apollo and Daphne,” two of the most exquisite works in marble ever created. And it has more Caravaggios than you can shake an empty proseco bottle at.
There are Caravaggios hanging in Santa Maria Del Popolo, Church of San Luigi dei Francesi, and Basilica of St. Augustine in Campo Marzio. And since they’re in a churches, there’s no admission.
Piazza Navona has some lovely Bernini fountains. It’s also one of numerous locations where Caravaggio was arrested for carrying a sword without a permit.
The Pantheon was the largest unsupported dome in the world when it was built (ca. 125 AD) and remains the broadest unsupported concrete dome in existence. And it has one hilarious construction screw-up to prove even the Romans sometimes goofed. And it still functions as a Catholic church, which means there’s no charge for admission.
Just a block from the Pantheon is the Basilica of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, which is easy to find because of the Bernini statue of an elephant with an obelisk on its back in the parking lot out front. Inside there’s a Michelangelo nude of Jesus at the altar (never skip a Michelangelo), “Christ Risen.” Or at least it was nude when Michelangelo created it. Some well-meaning priest was offended that Michelangelo thought Jesus had a penis, so he emasculated the statue. There now is a strategically-placed drape wound around his thighs to hide the disfigurement.
Sopra Minerva is one of those places you should visit if only because something famous happened there (like going to Deadwood, Ariz, because of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral). Sopra Minerva was where Galileo was tried for heresy by the Inquisition for claiming that the earth orbited the sun. He was found guilty and ORDERED to recant. He was 66 and old and tired, and he knew what pleasures awaited him at the hands of the Inquisition if he failed to comply, so he backed down.
Villa del Priorato di Malta (on the Aventine hill) is the property of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Owing to the service provided to the Holy Roman Church during the Crusades by the Knights of Malta, Italy has granted them extraterritorial status, which means the villa is sovereign Maltese territory.
And it happens that the gate to the villa has a warded key-type keyhole. And through this keyhole you can see the Vatican hill. Which means that through this keyhole you can see three separate and sovereign countries, Malta, Italy and The Vatican.
Where else can you see three different countries through a keyhole?
There’s lots more fun, free stuff to do in Rome, like a mountain of broken wine and olive oil amphorae, but it’s time for my nap.
And they left off the Pantheon. I watched Tosca at the opera in Rome. The forum is a must see. Go outside the city and see Trajan's villa. Or Villa Borghese, or.... There isn't a right and a wrong. Just go and walk and see where your feet take you.
Not a problem...you are allowed!
Also...the inside of the Colosseum is not to be missed...crowded with tourists, lions, Christians or not!
I agree with you. I had forgotten to mention the Sistine Chapel. I am always amazed at how beautiful it is.
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