Rome, Italy Adventure Notes

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Adventure List

  • Andrea Baldi’s Favorite Experiences
    • Walk through the center of Rome, everywhere.
    • Have lunch at “da Tonino“: no reservations, tiny, crowded, steaming, cheap and authentic Roman cuisine in one of the nicest street of the center.
    • Climb up the stairs to reach Michelangelo’s Piazza del Campidoglio (statue of Marco Aurelio), visit the Museo Capitolino if you have time, then facing the statue, walk for 100 m up the street to your right to Palazzo Caffarelli, enter the building and walk up to the cafè on the second floor and enjoy the view from their terrace.
    • Depending on the weather conditions (warm or cold), have a cold “granita di caffè con panna” at the Caffè Tazza d’Oro or an espresso at the Bar Sant’Eustachio (you have to explicitly ask no sugar in case you hate life and you take your coffee bitter). In both cases you should then sit on the stairs of the Piazza della Rotonda and admire the Pantheon (which you can also visit for free inside). While you look at it, think that M. Agrippa, to whom the building was dedicated by Adrian, is responsible for building the aqueduct that still today brings water to the fountain you are sitting on (and the fountains in Piazza di Spagna and Piazza Navona).
    • Since you are in the area, have a walk in the courtyard of the S.Ivo alla Sapienza, a church that was the original quarter of the first roman university (La Sapienza) in 1303. The Church was rebuilt in the 17th century by one of the greatest architects of the city, Borromini. The masterpiece is probably the spiraling cupole.
    • You must have a walk in Campo de’ Fiori and the adjacent Piazza Farnese. Campo de’ Fiori was called like this as it was a green pasture for sheep and it was used for capital executions in the 16th and 17th century. That’s why there are no churches (something very rare for a roman square in the center). Famously, that’s where they burned heretic Giordano Bruno, whose statue sits in the middle of it. If you go on a weekday morning there is a historic farmers market. You also must have something to eat at the Forno Campo de’ Fiori.
    • Close by you should also eat something at the Antico Forno Roscioli and perhaps continue your walk into the “Ghetto” the jewish quarter. Here there is a plaque that remembers the beginning of the Jewish arrest and deportation, 16 October 1943.
    • Have a walk in the Trastevere neighbourhood: cross Ponte Sisto towards Piazza Trilussa, walk down vicolo del Cinque, turn left towards Piazza di S. Egidio and reach Piazza di Santa Maria in Trastevere. Great (superbusy) pizzerias in this area are “Ivo a Trastevere” and “Popi popi“.
    • Do go to Fontana di Trevi, although they may be renovating it and 1) avoid peak hours as it is full of tourists, 2) beware of your wallet.
    • Avoid via del Corso (noisy, messy + shitty shops), but DO explore every tiny street on both sides of it. Walking those streets, especially the ones between via del Corso and Piazza di Spagna, is like following a seminar on how to dress…
    • Climb up the stairs of Piazza di Spagna, turn left and follow the street until the road bifurcates: take the right up street that enters Villa Borghese and have a look of the view from il Pincio.
  • Carla Cassani’s Favorite Experiences
    • On top on the Aventine hill in Piazza Cavalieri di Malta you can look through the keyhole of the big iron gate to the palazzo and see the optical illusion of St. Peter’s dome floating in the air, looking like it is right at the end of the driveway instead of across Rome.  To the right of that, the second church, Santa Sabina built in 422, is the oldest church in rome and of incredibly simple, unadorned peaceful beauty.  To the right of that is the Parco Degli Aranci, the orange tree park, with a view at the end of it of all of rome from that angle….stunning.
    • Walk to the top balcony of the Victor Emmanuel monument in Piazza Venezia (the tomb of the unknown soldier, or the wedding cake monument, or the typewriter monument…many names) to find a viewpoint over all of ancient rome from all sides, plus a cafe’ you can hang out at even for a coffee, or water, for as long as you want, enjoying the view. If you pay 7 euros you can also take a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-type elevator at the back to the very top of the monument for wide ranging views and a couple of free high power telescopes you can see to everywhere.
    • Don’t forget the youths with turtles fountain in Piazza Mattei in the Jewish Ghetto….the most charming fountain in rome.
    • Pyramid
    • Protestant cemetery Keats
    • Museum of Montemartini
    • Basilica of St. Paul
  • Karen Ferlito’s Favorite Experiences
    • Galleria Borghese to see the Bernina collection and then find every Bernini in Rome. Find out when the English tour is being given and take it, especially when a women name Maria is giving it. She is passionate about Bernini. I never really appreciated sculpture until then. Also you can wander into churches at anytime of the day and discover the most amazing art. Caravaggios etc. amazing.
    • Ecstasy of St. Therese
  • Other Suggestions
    • Museo Centrale Montemartini (Mauro Battocchi)
    • Sant’Ivo alla Spienza by Borromini (Anthony Doerr)
    • San Luigi dei Francesi and the Caravaggios (Rick Zullo)
    • Vatican Scavi tour
    • American Academy in Rome
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