San Giovanni in Laterano is the oldest papal basilica in Rome.Takashi Images/Shutterstock
San Giovanni in Laterano is the oldest papal basilica in Rome.Takashi Images/Shutterstock
I lived in Rome for 6 years in the 80’s.
Add to the list of Essential Must See: The Church of San Clemente, including the visit to the underground levels. In one place, 20 centuries of Roman history.
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Thanks for posting, I’ll be in Rome later this year.
We stayed in an apartment in the Monti neighborhood, close to the ancient sites. The city was very accessible from there, with a Metro station (Cavour) just blocks away. I'd also recommend spending time at Villa Borghese.
The main reason we were there, though, was to run the Rome Marathon, which gave us an extraordinary tour of the city through the streets, which were blocked for the runners.
We spent a week there, but are planning on returning, and skipping the big attractions. Staying in Monti gave us a fantastic view of the Colosseum many times a day, and it never disappointed. It was an odd sensation of how familiar it became as we went about the city.
I am old, I don’t travel much anymore and I certainly will not be making any trips to Europe any time soon.
In a way I have found a substitute. YouTube.
I can enter the name of a town or city and I will most likely find many videos some as simple as a person with a camera strap to them and walking the city streets, to many attractions with video and commentary on what to see and what to do.
I won’t say it is the same as being there but it is a chance to see thing I would not be able to see otherwise.
No to the Trevi Fountain?!?
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.
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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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.
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.
She must be one crappy tour guide.
Her advice is terrible. Yes, Rome is packed with tourists. No, you shouldn’t skip Vatican Museum, the Trevi Fountain, or the Colosseum.
Vatican Museums are overcrowded?? Insane. How can you say to miss these? It is like don’t go see the Mona Lisa.
