Traveler

But how bad can an enforced trip to Italy be?
In response to the OP, I haven't been to Rome, but I can't see how 7 days
would be too many. I am strongly prejudiced towards the attitude of taking
one's time when visiting a city, rather than rushing from site to site, and
place to place. It takes time to get a sense of a city.


Traveler

"Icono Clast" <> wrote in message
news:...
[snip]
    > I had planned to stay in Rome for two weeks. I was talked into making
    > it only five days. It was a mistake. Two weeks would have been too
    > few.
    > I think we were in Italy for 21 days and had a wonderful trip visiting
    > Milan, Venice, Bologna, Florence, Siena, Pisa, and Rome as well as
    > many small towns North of Rome. We are not complaining about the trip
    > but my original plan is what we should have done. Now we have to
    > return.

Dan Stephenson

Keep in mind that the Vatican has an art/archeology museum, too. It's
call The Vatican Museums. It's like the Louvre, but better. To see
the Sistine Chapel, you'll need to go through the Vatican Museums. But
don't rush through to get to the end (Sistine) - there is just a ton of
super-great stuff along the way. And all this in addition to St.
Peters. I recommend climbing the dome - the view is amazing.

You might also visit the Pantheon - once a Roman temple, now a church.
It has a remarkably large dome with an occulus - open hole - at the
top, letting in sunlight.

If you're going to the Palatine and the Colosseum, go to Palatine first
and get the multi-pass there. Then, when you go to the Coloseeum, you
just walk right in an avoid the long lines.

Gregorso

We've spent about 6 days in Rome and I'd like to have another week to
see the things we missed. Of course how long you spend depends on
your stamina for walking and how soon you start missing the sights and
tastes of home.
The Vatican Museum is separate from St. Peter's Square/Basilica and
could take a whole day in itself to appreciate. The Vatican Museum,
by the way, has a cafeteria halfway through, which was the only place
we could find fresh fruits & vegetables in Rome. There are probably
produce markets somewhere in town, but we didn't come across them.

You mentioned the Forum, but you can't miss the Colliseum. If you
liked St.
Peter's Basilica, check out "San Giovanni en Laterano", the smaller
"backup version" of the church. And next door to that is the Santa
Scala (Holy Staircase) which is said to be the stairs Jesus walked up
to trial. Constantine's mom brought them back from the Holy Land and
visitors walk up the steps on their knees to have their prayers
answered. (Painful!)

Their are catacombs on the edge of the city and a cool excavation of
an ancient christian church underneath the church of San
Clemente...and under THAT is another recent excavation of a
pre-christian cult temple!

If you've seen the film "Roman Holiday", you'll want to stick your
hand in the mouth of the "Boca di Verite" (several minutes walk west
of the Capitol, I believe)
http://www.athanasius.com/rome/boca.htm
and visit the square in front of the Pantheon, and of course throw a
coin in the Trevi Fountain (especially when lit up at night!)
http://www.davidnemeth.com/trevi.htm

Then there's the museums....

Having said all that, Rome is an extremely busy city (watch out for
pickpockets) and it is a really nice break if you can take two days to
go to Assisi and experience the peaceful countryside of St. Francis.

Have a great time! And read books & watch videos about Rome as much
as you can before you go! You'll get ten times more out of your trip!

P.S. Get into St. Peter's as early as possible (especially to go to
the top of the dome) or you'll waste LOTS of time standing in line.
Oh yeah...look for guides offering free tours in front of the sites.
They are legit. Some do it hoping you'll sign up to pay for other
tours they offer, but there's no obligation.

Ken Blake

In news:,
Gregorso <> typed:

    > The Vatican Museum,
    > by the way, has a cafeteria halfway through, which was the only
place
    > we could find fresh fruits & vegetables in Rome. There are
probably
    > produce markets somewhere in town, but we didn't come across
them.


There are many such markets, some large, some small. Perhaps the
best-known big one is the wonderful morning market at the Campo
de' Fiori.

Ken Blake

In news:,
Gregorso <> typed:

    > If you've seen the film "Roman Holiday", you'll want to stick
your
    > hand in the mouth of the "Boca di Verite" (several minutes walk
west
    > of the Capitol, I believe)


It's Boca di Veritá, and it's in the church of Santa Maria in
Cosmodin, actually more south of the Capitoline than west.

Jenn

In article <>,
(Gregorso) wrote:

    > We've spent about 6 days in Rome and I'd like to have another week to
    > see the things we missed. Of course how long you spend depends on
    > your stamina for walking and how soon you start missing the sights and
    > tastes of home.
    > The Vatican Museum is separate from St. Peter's Square/Basilica and
    > could take a whole day in itself to appreciate. The Vatican Museum,
    > by the way, has a cafeteria halfway through, which was the only place
    > we could find fresh fruits & vegetables in Rome. There are probably
    > produce markets somewhere in town, but we didn't come across them.
    >
    > You mentioned the Forum, but you can't miss the Colliseum. If you
    > liked St.
    > Peter's Basilica, check out "San Giovanni en Laterano", the smaller
    > "backup version" of the church. And next door to that is the Santa
    > Scala (Holy Staircase) which is said to be the stairs Jesus walked up
    > to trial. Constantine's mom brought them back from the Holy Land and
    > visitors walk up the steps on their knees to have their prayers
    > answered. (Painful!)
    >
    > Their are catacombs on the edge of the city and a cool excavation of
    > an ancient christian church underneath the church of San
    > Clemente...and under THAT is another recent excavation of a
    > pre-christian cult temple!
    >
    > If you've seen the film "Roman Holiday", you'll want to stick your
    > hand in the mouth of the "Boca di Verite" (several minutes walk west
    > of the Capitol, I believe)

and it turns out the movie used a giant reproduction -- the much smaller
real thing is quite securely kept away from tourists behind glass and
bars it is still sort of cool to see

some other must sees for me are Ostia Antica and Villa Adriana -- also
at Tivoli are the gardens of the Villa d'Este with their interesting
fountains -- many of them unfortunately ruined by the Germans during the
war [or so the locals say] There are day tours to these last two sites
or you can piece it together with buses. Ostia Antica is easily reached
by public transport.

just northwest of Rome are a number of Etruscan sites particularly those
at Tarquinia -- worth a day trip -- we rented a car for our family of
four to tour the area but it can also be done by public transport

although we had been to Rome a couple of times before, our family
thoroughly enjoyed a week in Rome not long ago -- there is definitely
more than enough to do in this magnificent city

Testingforechoes

Thank you all for your replies. They are all very helpful and I will
take them all into consideration when finalizing up my plans.

TFE

Jenn

In article <270920030601580122%>,
Dan Stephenson <> wrote:

    > Keep in mind that the Vatican has an art/archeology museum, too. It's
    > call The Vatican Museums. It's like the Louvre, but better.

Having seen both I am a loss to know why anyone would think the Vatican
Museums are better. Why do you?

To see
    > the Sistine Chapel, you'll need to go through the Vatican Museums. But
    > don't rush through to get to the end (Sistine) - there is just a ton of
    > super-great stuff along the way. And all this in addition to St.
    > Peters. I recommend climbing the dome - the view is amazing.
    >
    > You might also visit the Pantheon - once a Roman temple, now a church.
    > It has a remarkably large dome with an occulus - open hole - at the
    > top, letting in sunlight.

this is my favorite place in Rome -- just wonderful building -- we even
eat at the clip joints with patios in the square just for the pleasure
of dining in the shadow of this fabulous building
    >
    > If you're going to the Palatine and the Colosseum, go to Palatine first
    > and get the multi-pass there. Then, when you go to the Coloseeum, you
    > just walk right in an avoid the long lines.

Ken Blake

In news:jenn-,
Jenn <> typed:

    > In article <>,
    > (Gregorso) wrote:

    >> If you've seen the film "Roman Holiday", you'll want to stick
your
    >> hand in the mouth of the "Boca di Verite" (several minutes
walk west
    >> of the Capitol, I believe)
    > and it turns out the movie used a giant reproduction -- the
much
    > smaller real thing is quite securely kept away from tourists
behind
    > glass and bars it is still sort of cool to see


How long has it been under glass? I'm not sure when the last time
I was there was, but I distinctly remember putting my hand in the
mouth.

Billfrogg

Rome has a large non-christian population and many who are just bored
sh####ss with the whole thing; you are sure to find places to eat.

In the smaller cities where there is less diversity you may find
everything shut down. bill

In article <>, Mark Kelly
<moc.dlrowltn.nojunk@"_T*R*A*P*S*I*H*T*E*V*O*M*E*R *_"okram> wrote:

    > On Fri, 26 Sep 2003 17:55:59 GMT, "testingForEchoes"
    > <> wrote:
    > >Thursday December 25 (Christmas)
    > >Open day- Maybe just rest, eat and relax
    >
    > actually a serious partical point for the OP.. Since Italy is a
    > catholic country and Rome is near the Vactian city would there be
    > places open on Xmas day so he can like go and eat? Or should he buy
    > some food before hand to eat on the day? (Just thiinking from what
    > happens here in UK, where places are all close and places that are
    > open if you haven't book like by now you won't get a seat).
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