rome visit

[Gunthamund Hasding]

So finally the trip is close, in the last days of the month I will be in Rome, will be flying in on Thursday and back on Saturday (mid day both). we will be living close to the Forum.

In your opinion what we should NOT miss while being there in the 2 1/2 days?

I will not tell what is on my list already want to hear rather your thoughts.

[Urselius]

The Forum Romanum, Palatine and Colosseum (including 3 triumphal arches) can be done in one unit, Pantheon, Ara Pacis, and the Capitoline Museums.

[richsc]

If you book in advance the House of Livia and hopefully House of Augustus. And the site of the home of Romulus overlooking the Tiber.

[Nathan Ross]

flying in on Thursday and back on Saturday (mid day both).

Looks like that gives you one full day (Friday), allowing time to get to and from airports...

In which case, as others have said, best restrict yourself to the central area. Colosseum, Forum and Palatine on a combined ticket in the morning, then up to the Capitoline Museums (which are huge - you can spend hours in there). Try and get to the Capitoline late in the afternoon, as there's a viewing gallery in the basement of the Tabularium, access from the underground passage connecting the two museums, and if you get there at the right time you can watch the sun set over the forum, after the site's closed and the crowds have all gone.

If you did have another day, you could get a combined ticket to the Museums of Rome (Palazzo Massimo etc) and roam between them visiting the Pantheon on the way. Any more time and you could take a trip along the Appian Way, visit the Baths of Caracalla, or even go down to Ostia or up to Hadrian's Villa. There are loads of other smaller sites around the place too, but for a first visit you probably want to see the big stuff first.

But don't expect to do too much - Rome's big, and you need to give yourself time to take it in. Also allow time for wandering, eating, ice cream and coffee!

[Alexandr K]

Hi,

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Vatican museums. I think that was the best part when I've been to Rome a few years ago. So definitely Vatican museums. Then Capitoline museums. Of course the Fora (not only Forum Romanum, but Trajan's forum etc. too) with all three arches. And if time permits, Ostia is really great. If you cannot go to Pompei, Ostia is a fine replacement.

Greetings,
Alexandr

[Gunthamund Hasding]

actually is SUNDAY afternoon not sure where my head was.

Thanks all for your answers. As I only have 2 full days probably I will not be able to do the Vatican or Ostia but definitely I will do the Forums Colosseum and Palatine then probably in the same day (Friday will be off to the Capitoline museum) Saturday might be the other museums including some art for my wife (or the Vatican ).

Thanks for sugestions

I will be living practically across the Forums so will be able to move around the center with ease. Probably being a Friday and January will help some.

Ostia is also an interesting idea but will have to cope for next year.

Next year I plan to drive there: I live in Northern Germany will be driving in 1 day to Verona then I can go to Rome (Ostia) and definitely to Pompeii can eventually mix everything with some days on a beach. And maybe in 2018 some Sicily.

[richsc]

Couple more museums to consider:
http://historybuff.com/GpoPDXOYA8jR

[Nathan Ross]

http://historybuff.com/GpoPDXOYA8jR

Basilica San Clemente's a good idea - very close to the Colosseum and easy to get to. Costs a few euros to go down into the basement and see the mithraeum and the remains of a Roman street... Try and avoid going down there with a school party though - it gets crowded and noisy!

[Alanus]

Another little-considered side venture is Trajan's Market. It's a museum of sorts and I don't recall a fee to enter it. Neat for me was a large pool where live fish were sold. But, then again, I'm a fishy-kinda-guy.

[Nathan Ross]

I don't recall a fee to enter it.

It's €11 full price... Which, I'm ashamed to say, was enough to put me off going in the last time I was there, as I only had twenty minutes before I had to head for the airport... Sure it would have been worth it otherwise though.

---

Another neat side trip, and also close to the Colosseum and Palatine, is the Case Romane del Celio, the remains of a fourth century Roman townhouse, converted from the ground floor of an insula apartment block. You get to it though a little door on the left side of the Clivo di Scauro (which is crossed by some photogenic Roman and medieval arches).

It's a warren of underground rooms, many with surviving wall paintings, much of it early Christian but with some interesting details of animals, boats and domestic scenes. One room features quite the most atrocious example of Roman interior decor I've ever seen. I think it's supposed to be marbling, but it looks like an extreme close-up of microbes in a petri dish...



[url=http://www.caseromane.it/index.php/it/][/url]

[Gunthamund Hasding]

Thanks all for your feedback impressive

let see how a mere barbarian born in the shadow of the empire (not very far away in barbaricum from Porolissum in Dacia) will live the great capital of the World, the Urbs.

[Urselius]

I don't know if this is a common thing with Romanophiles, but on my first visit to Rome I felt like I had been there before. I think it was connected to an intimate knowledge of the layout of the ancient city, so I always knew where I was, and what direction to walk in.