The four miles of displays in this immense museum—from ancient statues to Christian frescoes to modern paintings—culminate in the Raphael Rooms and Michelangelo’s glorious Sistine Chapel. This is one of Europe’s top three or four houses of art. It can be exhausting, so plan your visit carefully, focusing on a few themes. Allow two hours for a quick visit, three or four hours for enough time to enjoy it.
Cost and Hours: €16, €4 online reservation fee, Mon-Sat 9:00-18:00, last entry at 16:00 (though the official closing time is 18:00, the staff starts ushering you out at 17:30), closed on religious holidays and Sun except last Sun of the month (when it’s free, more crowded, and open 9:00-14:00, last entry at 12:30); open Fri nights May-July and Sept-Oct 19:00-23:00 (last entry at 21:30) by online reservation only. Hours are subject to constant change and frequent holidays; check mv.vatican.va for current times.
The museum is closed on many holidays (mainly religious ones), including, for 2015: Jan 1 (New Year’s), Jan 6 (Epiphany), Feb 11 (Vatican City established), March 19 (St. Joseph’s Day), April 6 (Easter Monday), May 1 (Labor Day), June 29 (Sts. Peter and Paul), Aug 15 plus either Aug 14 or 16—it varies year to year (Assumption of the Virgin), Nov 1 (All Saints’ Day), Dec 8 (Immaculate Conception), and Dec 25 and 26 (Christmas).
Reservations: Bypass the long ticket lines by reserving an entry time online at mv.vatican.va. It costs €20 (€16 ticket plus €4 booking fee, pay with credit card). It’s easy. You choose your day and time, they email you a confirmation immediately, and you print out the voucher. At the Vatican Museum, bypass the ticket-buying line and queue up at the “Entrance with Reservations” line (to the right). Show your voucher to the guard and go in. Once inside the museum, present your voucher (and ID) at a ticket window (cassa), either in the lobby or upstairs, and they’ll issue your ticket.
When to Go: The museum is generally hot and crowded, with shoulder-to-shoulder sightseeing through much of it. There can be waits of up to two hours to buy tickets (figure about a 10-minute wait for every 100 yards in line). The best (or least-worst) time to visit is a weekday late-afternoon. The worst days are Saturdays, the last Sunday of the month (when it’s free), Mondays, rainy days, and any day before or after a holiday closure. Mornings are most crowded.
More Line-Beating Tips: If you’ve booked a guided tour (see “Tours,” on here), you can show the guard your voucher and go right in. You can often buy same-day, skip-the-line tickets (for the same €20 online price) through the TI in St. Peter’s Square (to the left, as you face the basilica). Also, the “Roma Cristiana” tour company sells same-day tickets from their kiosk at St. Peter’s Square (for a pricey €26.50, entrances almost hourly, tel. 06-6980-6380, operaromanapellegrinaggi.org). If their kiosk is closed, try the nearby storefront labeled Opera Romana Pellegrini, just in front of the square, which also sometimes sells these tickets.
If you don’t have a reservation, try arriving after 14:00, when crowds subside somewhat. Another good time is during the papal audience, on Wednesday at 10:30, when many tourists are at St. Peter’s Basilica.
Make sure you get in the right line. Generally, individuals without tickets line up against the Vatican City wall (to the left of the entrance as you face it), and reservation holders (both individuals and groups) enter on the right.
Dress Code: Modest dress is required (no shorts, above-knee skirts, or bare shoulders).
Getting There: The Ottaviano Metro stop is a 10-minute walk from the entrance. Bus #49 from Piazza Cavour/Castel Sant’Angelo stops at the Ottaviano Metro stop and continues right to the entrance. Bus #23 from Trastevere hugs the west bank of the Tiber and stops on Via Leone IV, just downhill from the entrance. Bus #492 heads from the city center past Piazza Risorgimento and the Vatican walls, and also stops on Via Leone IV. Bus #64 stops on the other side of St. Peter’s Square, a 15- to 20-minute walk (facing the church from the obelisk, take a right through the colonnade and follow the Vatican Wall). Taxis are reasonable (hop in and say, “moo-ZAY-ee vah-tee-KAH-nee”).
Tours: A €7 audioguide is available at the top of the spiral ramp/escalator (ID required). If you rent an audioguide, you lose the option of taking the shortcut from the Sistine Chapel to St. Peter’s (described later, under “Museum Strategies”), since audioguides must be returned to the museum entrance/exit. You can download a free Rick Steves audio tour of the Sistine Chapel to your mobile device; see here.
The Vatican offers English tours that are easy to book online (€32, includes admission, mv.vatican.va). As with individual ticket reservations, present your confirmation voucher to a guard to the right of the entrance; then, once inside, go to the Guided Tours desk (in the lobby, up a few stairs). For a list of private tour companies and guides, see here.
Length of This Tour: Until you expire, the museum closes, or 2.5 hours, whichever comes first. If you’re short on time, see the octagonal courtyard (Laocoön), then follow the crowd flow directly to the Sistine Chapel, sightseeing along the way; skip the Etruscan Wing and the Pinacoteca. From the Sistine Chapel, head straight to St. Peter’s via the shortcut, if open (see “Museum Strategies,” below).
Security and Baggage Check: To enter the museum, you pass through a metal detector (no pocket knives allowed). The baggage check (to the right after security) takes only bigger bags, not day bags.
Museum Strategies: The museum has two exits, and you’ll want to decide which you’ll take before you enter. The main exit is right near the entrance. Use this one if you want to rent an audioguide (which you must return at the entrance) or if you plan on following this self-guided tour exactly as laid out, visiting the Pinacoteca at the end (the Vatican’s small but fine collection of paintings, with Raphael’s Transfiguration, Leonardo’s unfinished St. Jerome, and Caravaggio’s Deposition).
The other exit is a handy (but sometimes closed) shortcut that leads from the Sistine Chapel directly to St. Peter’s Basilica (spilling out alongside the church; see map on here). This route saves you a 30-minute walk (15 minutes back to the Vatican Museum entry/exit, then 15 minutes to St. Peter’s) and lets you avoid the often-long security line at the basilica’s main entrance. If you take this route, you’ll have to forgo an audioguide and skip the Pinacoteca (or tour it earlier). Officially, this exit is for Vatican guides and their groups only. However, it’s often open to anyone (depending on how crowded the chapel is and how the guards feel). It’s worth a shot (try blending in with a group that’s leaving), but be prepared for the possibility that you won’t get through.
Photography: No photos allowed in the Sistine Chapel, but photos without flash are permitted elsewhere.
(See “Vatican Museum Overview” map, here.)
Self-Guided Tour: Start, as civilization did, in Egypt and Mesopotamia. Decorating the museum’s courtyard are some of the best Greek and Roman statues in captivity, including the Laocoön group (first century B.C., Hellenistic) and the Apollo Belvedere (a second-century Roman copy of a Greek original). The centerpiece of the next hall is the Belvedere Torso (just a 2,000-year-old torso, but one that had a great impact on the art of Michelangelo). Finishing off the classical statuary are two fine fourth-century porphyry sarcophagi. These royal purple tombs were made (though not used) for the Roman emperor Constantine’s mother and daughter. They were Christians—and therefore outlaws—until Constantine made Christianity legal in A.D. 312, and they became saints. Both sarcophagi were quarried and worked in Egypt. The technique for working this extremely hard stone (a special tempering of metal was required) was lost after this, and porphyry marble was not chiseled again until Renaissance times in Florence.
After long halls of tapestries, old maps, broken penises, and fig leaves, you’ll come to what most people are looking for: the Raphael Rooms and Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel.
The highlight of the Raphael Rooms, frescoed by Raphael and his assistants, is the restored School of Athens. It is remarkable for its blatant pre-Christian classical orientation, especially considering it originally wallpapered the apartments of Pope Julius II. Raphael honors the great pre-Christian thinkers—Aristotle, Plato, and company—who are portrayed as the leading artists of Raphael’s day. There’s Leonardo da Vinci, whom Raphael worshipped, in the role of Plato. Michelangelo broods in the foreground, added later. When Raphael snuck a peek at the Sistine Chapel, he decided that his arch-competitor was so good that he had to put their personal differences aside and include him in this tribute to the artists of his generation. Today’s St. Peter’s was under construction as Raphael was working. In the School of Athens, he gives us a sneak preview of the unfinished church.
Next is the brilliantly restored Sistine Chapel. This is the pope’s personal chapel and also the place where, upon the death (or resignation) of the ruling pope, a new pope is elected.
The Sistine Chapel is famous for Michelangelo’s pictorial culmination of the Renaissance, showing the story of creation, with a powerful God weaving in and out of each scene through that busy first week. This is an optimistic and positive expression of the High Renaissance and a stirring example of the artistic and theological maturity of the 33-year-old Michelangelo, who spent four years on this work.
The ceiling shows the history of the world before the birth of Jesus. We see God creating the world, creating man and woman, destroying the earth by flood, and so on. God himself, in his purple robe, actually appears in the first five scenes. Along the sides (where the ceiling starts to curve) are the Old Testament prophets and pagan Greek prophetesses who foretold the coming of Christ. Dividing these scenes and figures are fake niches (a painted 3-D illusion) decorated with nude statue-like figures with symbolic meaning.
When the ceiling was finished and revealed to the public, it simply blew ’em away. It both caps the Renaissance and turns it in a new direction. In perfect Renaissance spirit, it mixes Old Testament prophets with classical figures. But the style is more dramatic, shocking, and emotional than the balanced Renaissance works before it. This is a very personal work—the Gospel according to Michelangelo—but its themes and subject matter are universal. Many art scholars contend that the Sistine ceiling is the single greatest work of art by any one human being.
Later, after the Reformation wars had begun and after the Catholic army of Spain had sacked the Vatican, the reeling Church began to fight back. As part of its Counter-Reformation, a much older Michelangelo was commissioned to paint the Last Judgment (behind the altar).
It’s Judgment Day, and Christ—the powerful figure in the center, raising his arm to spank the wicked—has come to find out who’s naughty and who’s nice. Beneath him, a band of angels blows its trumpets Dizzy Gillespie-style, giving a wake-up call to the sleeping dead. The dead at lower left leave their graves and prepare to be judged. The righteous, on Christ’s right hand (the left side of the picture), are carried up to the glories of heaven. The wicked on the other side are hurled down to hell, where demons wait to torture them. Charon, from the underworld of Greek mythology, waits below to ferry the souls of the damned to hell.
When The Last Judgment was unveiled to the public in 1541, it caused a sensation. The pope is said to have dropped to his knees and cried, “Lord, charge me not with my sins when thou shalt come on the Day of Judgment.”
And it changed the course of art. The complex composition, with more than 300 figures swirling around the figure of Christ, went far beyond traditional Renaissance balance. The twisted figures shown from every imaginable angle challenged other painters to try and top this master of 3-D illusion. And the sheer terror and drama of the scene was a striking contrast to the placid optimism of, say, Raphael’s School of Athens. Michelangelo had Baroque-en all the rules of the Renaissance, signaling a new era of art.
For a shortcut directly to St. Peter’s Basilica (see “Museum Strategies,” earlier), exit at the far-right corner of the Sistine Chapel (with your back to the altar). If you exit here, you’re done with the museum—you can’t get back to the main entrance/exit (where audioguides are returned) or the Pinacoteca.
If you skip the shortcut and take the long march back, you’ll find, along with the Pinacoteca, a cafeteria (long lines, uninspired food), the underrated early-Christian art section, and the exit via the souvenir shop.
Built as a tomb for the emperor, used through the Middle Ages as a castle, prison, and place of last refuge for popes under attack, and today a museum, this giant pile of ancient bricks is packed with history.
Cost and Hours: €10.50, Tue-Sun 9:00-19:30, closed Mon, last entry one hour before closing, near Vatican City, Metro: Lepanto or bus #40 or #64, tel. 06-681-9111, castelsantangelo.beniculturali.it.
Background: Ancient Rome allowed no tombs—not even the emperor’s—within its walls. So Emperor Hadrian grabbed the most commanding position just outside the walls and across the river and built a towering tomb (c. A.D. 139) well within view of the city. His mausoleum was a huge cylinder (210 by 70 feet) topped by a cypress grove and crowned by a huge statue of Hadrian himself riding a chariot. For nearly a hundred years, Roman emperors (from Hadrian to Caracalla, in A.D. 217) were buried here.
In the year 590, the archangel Michael appeared above the mausoleum to Pope Gregory the Great. Sheathing his sword, the angel signaled the end of a plague. The fortress that was Hadrian’s mausoleum eventually became a fortified palace, renamed for the “holy angel.”
Castel Sant’Angelo spent centuries of the Dark Ages as a fortress and prison, but was eventually connected to the Vatican via an elevated corridor at the pope’s request (1277). Since Rome was repeatedly plundered by invaders, Castel Sant’Angelo was a handy place of last refuge for threatened popes. In anticipation of long sieges, rooms were decorated with papal splendor (you’ll see paintings by Carlo Crivelli, Luca Signorelli, and Andrea Mantegna). In 1527, during a sack of Rome by troops of Charles V of Spain, the pope lived inside the castle for months with his entourage of hundreds (an unimaginable ordeal, considering the food service at the top-floor bar).
Visiting the Castle: Touring the place is a stair-stepping workout. After you walk around the entire base of the castle, take the small staircase down to the original Roman floor (following the route of Hadrian’s funeral procession). In the atrium, study the model of the mausoleum as it was in Roman times. Imagine being surrounded by a veneer of marble, and the niche in the wall filled with a towering “welcome to my tomb” statue of Hadrian. From here, a ramp leads to the right, spiraling 400 feet. While some of the fine original brickwork and bits of mosaic survive, the marble veneer is long gone (notice the holes in the wall from the pins that held it in place).
At the end of the ramp, a bridge crosses over the room where the ashes of the emperors were kept. From here, the stairs continue out of the ancient section and into the medieval structure (built atop the mausoleum) that housed the papal apartments. Don’t miss the Sala del Tesoro (Treasury), where the wealth of the Vatican was locked up in a huge chest. (Do miss the 58 rooms of the military museum.) From the pope’s piggy bank, a narrow flight of stairs leads to the rooftop and perhaps the finest view of Rome anywhere (pick out landmarks as you stroll around). From the safety of this dramatic vantage point, the pope surveyed the city in times of siege. Look down at the bend of the Tiber, which for 2,700 years has cradled the Eternal City.
The bridge leading to Castel Sant’Angelo was built by Hadrian for quick and regal access from downtown to his tomb. The three middle arches are actually Roman originals and a fine example of the empire’s engineering expertise. The statues of angels (each bearing a symbol of the passion of Christ—nail, sponge, shroud, and so on) are Bernini-designed and textbook Baroque. In the Middle Ages, this was the only bridge in the area that connected St. Peter’s and the Vatican with downtown Rome. Nearly all pilgrims passed this bridge to and from the church. Its shoulder-high banisters recall a tragedy: During a Jubilee Year festival in 1450, the crowd got so huge that the mob pushed out the original banisters, causing nearly 200 to fall to their deaths.
Rome’s semi-scruffy three-square-mile “Central Park” is great for its shade and for people-watching plenty of modern-day Romeos and Juliets. The best entrance is at the head of Via Veneto (Metro: Barberini, then 10-minute walk up Via Veneto and through the old Roman wall at Porta Pinciana, or catch a cab to Via Veneto—Porta Pinciana). There you’ll find a cluster of buildings with a café, a kiddie arcade, and bike rental (€4/hour). Rent a bike or, for romantics, a pedaled rickshaw (riscio). Bikes come with locks to allow you to make sightseeing stops. Follow signs to discover the park’s cafés, fountains, statues, lake, great viewpoint over Piazza del Popolo, and prime picnic spots. Some sights require paid admission, including Rome’s zoo, the National Gallery of Modern Art (which holds 19th-century art; not to be confused with MAXXI, described later), and the Etruscan Museum described later.
More than just a great museum, the Borghese Gallery is a beautiful villa set in the greenery of surrounding gardens. You get to see art commissioned by the luxury-loving Borghese family displayed in the very rooms for which it was created. Frescoes, marble, stucco, and interior design enhance the masterpieces. This is a place where—regardless of whether you learn a darn thing—you can sit back and enjoy the sheer beauty of the palace and its world-class Baroque sculpture as well as paintings by Caravaggio, Raphael, Titian, and Rubens. The museum’s mandatory reservation system keeps crowds to a manageable size.
Cost and Hours: €13, drops to €9 when there’s no temporary exhibit, both prices include €2 reservation fee (see “Reservations,” next), Tue-Sun 9:00-19:00, closed Mon, ticket office closes one hour before museum.
Reservations: Reservations are mandatory and simple to get. It’s easiest to book online (galleriaborghese.it). You can also reserve by telephone (tel. 06-32810, press 2 for English, pay for tickets on arrival). Entry times are 9:00, 11:00, 13:00, 15:00, and 17:00. Reserve a minimum of several days in advance for a weekday visit, and at least a week ahead for weekends. For off-season weekdays, your chances of getting a same-day reservation are fairly high (but you must go in person—you can’t call to reserve same-day tickets). Be at the Borghese Gallery 30 minutes before your appointed time to pick up your ticket in the lobby on the lower level. Arriving late can mean forfeiting your reservation.
You can use a Roma Pass for entry, but you’re still required to make a reservation (by phone only—not online; specify that you have the Roma Pass). If you don’t have a reservation, try arriving near the top of the hour, when the museum sells unclaimed tickets to those standing by.
Getting There: The museum is set idyllically but inconveniently in the vast Villa Borghese Gardens. Bus #910 goes from Termini train station (and Piazza Repubblica) to the Via Pinciana stop, 100 yards from the museum. By Metro, from the Barberini Metro stop, walk 10 minutes up Via Veneto, enter the park, and turn right, following signs another 10 minutes to the Borghese Gallery.
Tours: Guided English tours are offered at 9:10 and 11:10 (€6.50; may also be offered on busy weekends at 13:10 and 15:10). You can’t book a tour when you make your museum reservation—sign up as soon as you arrive. Or consider the excellent 1.5-hour audioguide tour (€5).
Visiting the Museum: It’s hard to believe that a family of cardinals and popes would display so many works with secular and sensual—even erotic—themes. But the Borgheses felt that all forms of human expression, including pagan myths and physical passion, glorified God.
The essence of the collection is the connection of the Renaissance with the classical world. As you enter, notice the second-century Roman reliefs with Michelangelo-designed panels above either end of the portico. The villa was built in the early 17th century by the great art collector Cardinal Scipione Borghese, who wanted to prove that the glories of ancient Rome were matched by the Renaissance.
In the main entry hall, high up on the wall, is a thrilling first-century Greek sculpture of a horse falling. The Renaissance-era rider was added by Pietro Bernini, father of the famous Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
Each room seems to feature a Baroque masterpiece. The best one of all is in Room III: Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne. It’s the perfect Baroque subject—capturing a thrilling, action-filled moment. In the mythological story, Apollo—made stupid by Cupid’s arrow of love—chases after Daphne, who has been turned off by the “arrow of disgust.” Just as he’s about to catch her, she calls to her father to save her. Magically, her fingers begin to sprout leaves, her toes become roots, her skin turns to bark, and she transforms into a tree. Frustrated Apollo will end up with a handful of leaves. Walk slowly around the statue. It’s more air than stone.
The fascinating Etruscan civilization thrived in Italy around 600 B.C., when Rome was an Etruscan town. The Villa Giulia (a fine Renaissance palace in the Villa Borghese Gardens) hosts a museum that tells the story. The displays are clean and bright, with good English information. The star of the museum is the famous “husband and wife sarcophagus”—a dead couple seeming to enjoy an everlasting banquet from atop their tomb (sixth century B.C. from Cerveteri). Historians also dig the gold sheets from Pyrgi, with inscriptions in two languages—the “Etruscan Rosetta Stone” that has helped scholars decipher their odd language, and the Apollo of Veio, which stood atop Apollo’s temple.
Cost and Hours: €8, Tue-Sun 8:30-19:30, closed Mon, last entry one hour before closing, good English information, 20-minute walk from Borghese Gallery or from most of the Villa Borghese Garden’s entrances, Metro: Flaminio, then tram #2 to Viale delle Belli Arti and a 5-minute walk (east) to the museum, Piazzale di Villa Giulia 9, tel. 06-322-6571, villagiulia.beniculturali.it.
If you want to see artistically arranged bones, this is the place. The crypt is below the Church of Santa Maria della Immacolata Concezione on the tree-lined Via Veneto, just up from Piazza Barberini. Before getting to the crypt, you’ll breeze through the new six-room museum that covers the history of the Capuchins, a branch of the Franciscans. The exhibits, featuring clothing, books, and other religious artifacts used by members of the order, are explained in English, but the only real artistic highlight is a painting of St. Francis in Meditation, once attributed to Caravaggio (but now thought to be a contemporary copy). For most travelers, however, the main attraction remains the morbid crypt. The bones of more than 4,000 friars who died between 1528 and 1870 are in the basement, all lined up in a series of six crypts for the delight—or disgust—of the always-wide-eyed visitor.
Cost and Hours: €6, daily 9:00-19:00, last entry 30 minutes before closing, modest dress required, no photos, Via Veneto 27, Metro: Barberini, tel. 06-4201-4995.
This vast oval square marks the traditional north entrance to Rome. From ancient times until the advent of trains and airplanes, this was just about any visitor’s first look at Rome. Today the square, known for its symmetrical design and its art-filled churches, is the starting point for the city’s evening passeggiata (see my “Dolce Vita Stroll” on here).
From the Flaminio Metro stop, pass through the third-century Aurelian Wall via the Porta del Popolo, and look south. The 10-story obelisk in the center of the square once graced the temple of Ramses II in Egypt and the Roman Circus Maximus racetrack. The obelisk was brought here in 1589 as one of the square’s beautification projects. (The oval shape dates from the early 19th century.) At the south side of the square, twin domed churches mark the spot where three main boulevards exit the square and form a trident. The central boulevard (running between the churches) is Via del Corso, which since ancient times has been the main north-south drag through town, running to Capitoline Hill (the governing center) and the Forum. Along the north side of the square (flanking the Porta del Popolo) are two 19th-century buildings that give the square its pleasant symmetry: the Carabinieri station and the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo.
Two large fountains grace the sides of the square—Neptune to the west and Roma to the east (marking the base of Pincio Hill; steps lead up to the overlook with fine views to St. Peter’s and the rest of the city). Though the name “Piazza del Popolo” means “Square of the People” (and it is a popular hangout), the word was probably derived from the Latin populus, after the poplar trees that once stood here.
One of Rome’s most overlooked churches, this features two chapels with top-notch art by Caravaggio and Bernini, and a facade built of travertine scavenged from the Colosseum. The church is brought to you by the Rovere family, which produced two popes, and you’ll see their symbol—the oak tree and acorns—throughout.
Cost and Hours: Free but bring coins to illuminate the art, Mon-Sat 7:00-12:30 & 16:00-19:00, Sun 8:00-13:30 & 16:30-19:30, often partially closed to accommodate its busy schedule of Masses, on north side of Piazza del Popolo—as you face the gate in the old wall from the square, the church entrance is to your right.
Visiting the Church: Go inside. The Chigi Chapel (second on the left) was designed by Raphael and inspired (as Raphael was) by the Pantheon. Notice the Pantheon-like dome, pilasters, and capitals. Above, in the oculus, God looks in, aided by angels who power the eight known planets. Raphael built the chapel for his wealthy banker friend Agostino Chigi, buried in the pyramid-shaped tomb in the wall to the right of the altar. Later, Chigi’s great-grandson hired Bernini to make two of the four statues, and Bernini delivered a theatrical episode. In one corner, Daniel straddles a lion and raises his praying hands to God for help. Kitty-corner across the chapel, an angel grabs the prophet Habakkuk’s hair and tells him to go take some food to poor Daniel in the lion’s den.
In the Cerasi Chapel (left of altar), Caravaggio’s Conversion of St. Paul shows the future saint sprawled on his back beside his horse while his servant looks on. The startled Paul is blinded by the harsh light as Jesus’ voice asks him, “Why do you persecute me?” In the style of the Counter-Reformation, Paul receives his new faith with open arms.
In the same chapel, Caravaggio’s Crucifixion of St. Peter is shown as a banal chore; the workers toil like faceless animals. The light and dark are in high contrast. Caravaggio liked to say, “Where light falls, I will paint it.”
While most tourists and nearly all tour groups go out to the ancient Appian Way to see the famous catacombs of San Sebastiano and San Callisto, the Catacombs of Priscilla (on the other side of town) are less commercialized and less crowded—they just feel more intimate, as catacombs should.
You enter from a convent and explore the result of 250 years of tunneling that occurred from the second to the fifth century. Visits are by 30-minute guided tour only (English-language tours go whenever a small group gathers—generally every 20 minutes or so). You’ll see a few thousand of the 40,000 niches carved here, along with some beautiful frescoes, including what is considered the first depiction of Mary nursing the baby Jesus.
Cost and Hours: €8, Tue-Sun 8:30-12:00 & 14:30-17:00, closed Mon, last entry 30 minutes before closing, closed one random month a year—check website or call first, tel. 06-8620-6272, catacombepriscilla.com.
Getting There: The catacombs are northeast of Termini train station (at Via Salaria 430), far from the center (a €15 taxi ride) but well-served by buses (20-30 minutes). From Termini, take bus #92 or #310 from Piazza Cinquecento. From Piazza Venezia, along Via del Corso or Via Barberini, take bus #63. Tell the driver “Piazza Crati” and “kah-tah-KOHM-bay” and he’ll let you off near Piazza Crati (at the Nemorense/Crati stop). From there, walk through the little market in Piazza Crati, then down Via di Priscilla (about 5 minutes). The entrance is in the orange building on the left at the top of the hill.
Rome’s “National Museum of Art of the 21st Century” is the big news on the museum scene here—as you can imagine it would be, after the 10 years and €150 million it took to make it happen. Like many contemporary art museums, it’s notable more for the building than the art inside. To me, it comes off as a second-rate Pompidou Center. While not to my taste, it’s one of the few places in the city where fans of contemporary architecture can see the latest trends.
Cost and Hours: €11, Tue-Sun 11:00-19:00, Sat until 22:00, closed Mon, last entry one hour before closing; no permanent collection, several rotating exhibits throughout the year—preview on their website; tram #2 (direction: Mancini) from Piazza del Popolo to the Apollodoro stop, then walk west 5 minutes to Via Guido Reni 4a; to return (direction: Flaminio), the tram stop is 50 yards closer to MAXXI, tel. 06-322-5178, fondazionemaxxi.it.
The wide, curving staircase, culminating with an obelisk between two Baroque church towers, makes for one of Rome’s iconic sights. Beyond that, it’s a people-gathering place. By day, the area hosts shoppers looking for high-end fashions; on warm evenings, it attracts young people in love with the city. For more, see my “Heart of Rome Walk” on here.
On January 30, 9 B.C., soon-to-be-emperor Augustus led a procession of priests up the steps and into this newly built “Altar of Peace.” They sacrificed an animal on the altar and poured an offering of wine, thanking the gods for helping Augustus pacify barbarians abroad and rivals at home. This marked the dawn of the Pax Romana (c. A.D. 1-200), a Golden Age of good living, stability, dominance, and peace (pax). The Ara Pacis (AH-rah PAH-chees) hosted annual sacrifices by the emperor until the area was flooded by the Tiber River. Buried under silt, it was abandoned and forgotten until the 16th century, when various parts were discovered and excavated. Mussolini gathered the altar’s scattered parts and reconstructed them in a building here in 1938. Today, the Altar of Peace stands in a pavilion designed by American architect Richard Meier (opened 2006). If this modern building seems striking, perhaps that’s because it’s about the only entirely new structure permitted in the old center of Rome since Mussolini’s day.
Cost and Hours: €8.50 (more with special exhibits), tightwads can look in through huge windows for free; Tue-Sun 9:00-19:00, closed Mon, last entry one hour before closing; good €4 audioguide; good WC downstairs, tel. 06-0608, arapacis.it.
Getting There: The Ara Pacis is a long block west of Via del Corso on Via di Ara Pacis, on the east bank of the Tiber near Ponte Cavour, Metro: Spagna; a 10-minute walk down Via dei Condotti.
Visiting the Museum: Start with the model in the museum’s lobby. The Altar of Peace was originally located east of here, along today’s Via del Corso. The model shows where it stood in relation to the Mausoleum of Augustus (now next door) and the Pantheon. Approach the Ara Pacis and look through the doorway to see the raised altar. This simple structure has just the basics of a Roman temple: an altar for sacrifices surrounded by cubicle-like walls that enclose a consecrated space.
Climb the 10 steps and go inside. From here, the priest would ascend the eight altar steps to make sacrifices. The walls of the enclosure are decorated with the kinds of things offered to the gods: animals (see the cow skulls), garlands of fruit, and ceremonial platters to present the offerings. The reliefs on the north and south sides probably depict the parade of dignitaries who consecrated the altar, while the reliefs on the west side (near the altar’s back door) celebrate the two things Augustus brought to Rome: peace (goddess Roma as a conquering Amazon, right side) and prosperity (fertility goddess surrounded by children, plants, and animals).
Most of these sights are within a 10-minute walk of the train station. By Metro, use the Termini stop for the National Museum and the Repubblica stop for the rest.
The National Museum’s main branch, at Palazzo Massimo, houses the greatest collection of ancient Roman art anywhere. It’s a historic yearbook of Roman marble statues with some rare Greek originals. On the ground floor alone, you can look eye-to-eye with Julius and Augustus Caesar, Alexander the Great, and Socrates.
Cost and Hours: €10 combo-ticket covers three other branches—all skippable, Tue-Sun 9:00-19:45, closed Mon, last entry one hour before closing, audioguide-€5, about 100 yards from train station, Metro: Repubblica or Termini, tel. 06-3996-7700, archeoroma.beniculturali.it/en.
Getting There: The museum is in Palazzo Massimo, situated between Piazza della Repubblica (Metro: Repubblica) and Termini Station (Metro: Termini). It’s a few minutes’ walk from either Metro stop. As you leave Termini, it’s the sandstone-brick building on your left. Enter at the far end, at Largo di Villa Peretti.
Visiting the Museum: On the first floor, along with statues and busts showing such emperors as Trajan and Hadrian, you’ll see the best-preserved Roman copy of the Greek Discus Thrower. Statues of athletes like this commonly stood in the baths, where Romans cultivated healthy bodies, minds, and social skills, hoping to lead well-rounded lives. Other statues on this floor originally stood in the pleasure gardens of the Roman rich—surrounded by greenery with the splashing sound of fountains, all painted in bright, lifelike colors. Though created by Romans, the themes are mostly Greek, with godlike humans and human-looking gods.
The second floor contains frescoes and mosaics that once decorated the walls and floors of Roman villas. They’re remarkably realistic and unstuffy, featuring everyday people, animals, flowery patterns, and geometrical designs. The Villa Farnesina frescoes—in black, red, yellow, and blue—are mostly architectural designs, with fake columns, friezes, and garlands. The Villa di Livia frescoes, owned by the wily wife of Augustus, immerse you in a leafy green garden full of birds and fruit trees, symbolizing the gods.
Finally, descend into the basement to see fine gold jewelry, dice, an abacus, and vault doors leading into the best coin collection in Europe, with fancy magnifying glasses maneuvering you through cases of coins from ancient Rome to modern times.
Of all the marvelous structures built by the Romans, their public baths were arguably the grandest, and the Baths of Diocletian were the granddaddy of them all. Built by Emperor Diocletian around A.D. 300 and sprawling over 30 acres—roughly five times the size of the Colosseum—these baths could cleanse 3,000 Romans at once. They functioned until A.D. 537, when barbarians attacked and the city’s aqueducts fell into disuse, plunging Rome into a thousand years of poverty, darkness, and B.O. Today, tourists can visit one grand section of the baths, its former main hall. This impressive remnant of the ancient complex was later transformed (with help from Michelangelo) into the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli.
Cost and Hours: Free, Mon-Sat 7:00-18:30, Sun 7:00-19:30. The entrance is on Piazza della Repubblica (Metro: Repubblica or buses #40 and #64).
Visiting the Baths: Start outside the church. The curved brick facade of today’s church was once part of the caldarium, or steam room, of the ancient baths. Romans loved to sweat out last night’s indulgences. After entering the main lobby (located where Piazza della Repubblica is today), they’d strip in the locker rooms, then enter the steam room. The caldarium had wood furnaces under the raised floors. Stoked by slaves, these furnaces were used to heat the floors and hot tubs. The low ceiling helped keep the room steamy.
Step into the vast and cool church. This round-domed room with an oculus (open skylight, now with modern stained glass) was once the tepidarium—the cooling-off room of the baths, where medium, “tepid” temperatures were maintained. This is where masseuses would rub you down and scrape you off with a stick (Romans didn’t use soap).
Enter the biggest part of the church and stand under the towering vault on the inlaid marble cross. In ancient times, from the tepidarium, Romans would have continued on to this space, the central hall of the baths. While the decor around you dates from the 18th century, the structure dates from the fourth century. This hall retains the grandeur of the ancient baths. It’s the size of a football field and seven stories high—once even higher, because the original ancient floor was about 15 feet below its present level. The ceiling’s crisscross arches were an architectural feat unmatched for a thousand years. The eight red granite columns are original, from ancient Rome—stand next to one and feel its five-foot girth.
The church we see today was (at least partly) designed by Michelangelo (1561), who used the baths’ main hall as the nave. Later, when Piazza della Repubblica became an important Roman intersection, another architect renovated the church. To allow people to enter from the grand new piazza, he spun it 90 degrees, turning Michelangelo’s nave into a long transept.
This church houses Bernini’s best-known statue, the swooning St. Teresa in Ecstasy. Inside the church, you’ll find St. Teresa to the left of the altar. Teresa has just been stabbed with God’s arrow of fire. Now, the angel pulls it out and watches her reaction. Teresa swoons, her eyes roll up, her hand goes limp, she parts her lips...and moans. The smiling, cherubic angel understands just how she feels. Teresa, a 16th-century Spanish nun, later talked of the “sweetness” of “this intense pain,” describing her oneness with God in ecstatic, even erotic, terms.
Bernini, the master of multimedia, pulls out all the stops to make this mystical vision real. Actual sunlight pours through the alabaster windows, and bronze sunbeams shine on a marble angel holding a golden arrow. Teresa leans back on a cloud, and her robe ripples from within, charged with her spiritual arousal. Bernini has created a little stage-setting of heaven. And watching from the “theater boxes” on either side are members of the family who commissioned the work.
The church, originally a poor Carmelite church, was slathered with Baroque richness in the 17th century. (It later became popular for its part in Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons book, something that serious historians scoff at.) At the altar, in the center of the starburst, is an icon of the Virgin Mary, considered miraculous for the military victories attributed to it during the Thirty Years’ War (early 1600s). And, as the 17th century was a time when the Roman Catholic Church was threatened by Protestants, the ceiling shows Mary defeating (Protestant) snakes who grasp scriptures translated from the pope’s Latin into the evil vernacular.
Cost and Hours: Free, pay €0.50 for light, Mon-Sat 8:30-12:00 & 15:30-18:00, Sun 15:30-18:00, about 5 blocks northwest of Termini train station at Via XX Settembre 17, Metro: Repubblica.
The facade of this church is considered the first in the Baroque style—see the date: MDCIII (1603). The architect (Carlo Maderno) added a new Baroque element—curves—seen in the scrollwork “shoulders.” The home of the American Catholic Church in Rome, Santa Susanna holds Mass in English daily at 18:00 and on Sunday at 9:00 and 10:30. They arrange papal audience tickets (see here), and their excellent website contains tips for travelers and a list of convents that rent out rooms.
Cost and Hours: Free, Mon-Sat 9:00-12:00 & 16:00-18:00, open Sun only for Mass, may close for renovation in 2015, Via XX Settembre 15, near recommended Via Firenze hotels, Metro: Repubblica, tel. 06-4201-4554, santasusanna.org.
East of the Colosseum (and south of Termini train station) are several venerable churches that Catholic pilgrims make a point of visiting. Near one of the churches is a small WWII museum.
Built by Constantine, the first Christian emperor, this was Rome’s most important church through medieval times. A building alongside the church houses the Holy Stairs (Scala Santa) said to have been walked up by Jesus, which today are ascended by pilgrims on their knees.
Cost and Hours: Church—free, cloister-€5, audioguide available, daily 7:00-18:30; Holy Stairs—April-Sept Mon-Sat 6:00-12:00 & 15:30-18:45, Sun 7:00-12:30 & 15:30-19:00, Oct-March closes 30 minutes earlier, Piazza di San Giovanni in Laterano, Metro: San Giovanni, or bus #85 or #87; tel. 06-6988-6409, scalasanta.org.
This small memorial museum, near the Church of San Giovanni in Laterano, is housed in the prison wing of the former Nazi police headquarters of occupied Rome. Other than a single pamphlet, there’s little in English. Still, for those interested in resistance movements and the Nazi occupation, it’s a stirring visit. You’ll see a few artifacts, many photos of heroes, and a couple of cells preserved as they were found on June 4, 1944, when the city was liberated.
Cost and Hours: Free, Tue-Sun 9:30-12:30, Tue and Thu-Fri also 15:30-19:30, closed Mon and Aug, just behind the Holy Stairs, look for the flags at Via Tasso 145; tel. 06-700-3866.
Some of Rome’s best-surviving mosaics line the nave of this church built as Rome was falling. The nearby Church of Santa Prassede has still more early mosaics.
Cost and Hours: Free, daily 7:00-19:00, Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore, Metro: Termini or Vittorio Emanuele, tel. 06-6988-6802.
Besides visiting the church itself, with frescoes by Masolino, you can also descend into the ruins of an earlier church. Descend yet one more level and enter the eerie remains of a pagan temple to Mithras.
Cost and Hours: Upper church—free, lower church-€5, both open Mon-Sat 9:00-12:30 & 15:00-18:00, Sun 12:00-18:00, last entry to lower church 20 minutes before closing; Via di San Giovanni in Laterano, Metro: Colosseo, or bus #85 or #87; tel. 06-774-0021, basilicasanclemente.com.
The area south of the center contains some interesting but widely scattered areas, from Trastevere to the Jewish Quarter to the Ancient Appian Way.
Trastevere is the colorful neighborhood across (tras) the Tiber (Tevere) River. Trastevere (trahs-TAY-veh-ray) offers the best look at medieval-village Rome. The action unwinds to the chime of the church bells. Go there and wander. Wonder. Be a poet. This is Rome’s Left Bank. (You can download a free Rick Steves audio tour of this neighborhood; see here.)
This proud neighborhood was long a working-class area. Now that it’s becoming trendy, high rents are driving out the source of so much color. Still, it’s a great people scene, especially at night. Stroll the back streets (for restaurant recommendations, see here).
To reach Trastevere by foot from Capitoline Hill, cross the Tiber on Ponte Fabricio to Isola Tiberina; from there, Ponte Cestio takes you to Trastevere. You can also take tram #8 from Piazza Venezia or Largo Argentina, or bus #H from Termini or Piazza della Repubblica (get off at Sonnino/Piazza Belli). From the Vatican (Piazza Risorgimento), it’s bus #23 or #271.
Linking Trastevere with the “Heart of Rome Walk”: You can walk from Trastevere to Campo de’ Fiori to link up with the beginning of my “Heart of Rome Walk” (see here). From Trastevere’s church square (Piazza di Santa Maria), take Via del Moro to the river and cross at Ponte Sisto, a pedestrian bridge that has a good view of St. Peter’s dome. Continue straight ahead for one block. Take the first left, which leads down Via di Capo di Ferro through the scary and narrow darkness to Piazza Farnese, with the imposing Palazzo Farnese. Michelangelo contributed to the facade of this palace, now the French Embassy. The fountains on the square feature huge one-piece granite hot tubs from the ancient Roman Baths of Caracalla. One block from there (opposite the palace) is the atmospheric square, Campo de’ Fiori.
One of Rome’s oldest church sites, a basilica was erected here in the fourth century, when Christianity was legalized. It is said to have been the first church in Rome dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The structure you see today dates mainly from the 12th century. Its portico (covered area just outside the door) is decorated with fascinating fragments of stone—many of them lids from catacomb burial niches—and filled with early Christian symbolism. The incredibly expensive 13th-century floor is a fine example of Cosmati mosaic work—a style of mosaic featuring intricate geometric shapes (in this case, made with marble scavenged from Roman ruins).
Cost and Hours: Free, daily 7:30-21:00, on Piazza di Santa Maria.
Here’s a unique opportunity to see a sumptuous Renaissance villa in Rome decorated with Raphael paintings. It was built in the early 1500s for the richest man in Renaissance Europe, Sienese banker Agostino Chigi. Architect Baldassare Peruzzi’s design—a U-shaped building with wings enfolding what used to be a vast garden—successfully blended architecture and nature in a way that both ancient and Renaissance Romans loved. Orchards and flower beds flowed down in terraces from the palace to the riverbanks. Later construction of modern embankments and avenues robbed the garden of its grandeur, leaving it with a more melancholy charm. Inside, cavorting gods and goddesses cover the walls and ceilings, most famously Raphael’s depiction of the sea nymph Galatea.
Cost and Hours: €6; Mon-Sat 9:00-14:00, closed Sun except open 9:00-17:00 on second Sun of month, last entry 30 minutes before closing; across the river from Campo de’ Fiori, a short walk from Ponte Sisto and a block behind the river at 230 Via della Lungara; tel. 06-6802-7268, villafarnesina.it.
From this park atop a hill, the city views are superb, and the walk to the top holds a treat for architecture buffs. Start at Trastevere’s Piazza di San Cosimato, and follow Via Luciano Manara to Via Garibaldi, at the base of the hill. Via Garibaldi winds its way up the side of the hill to the Church of San Pietro in Montorio. To the right of the church, in a small courtyard, is the Tempietto by Donato Bramante. This tiny church, built to commemorate the martyrdom of St. Peter, is considered a jewel of Italian Renaissance architecture.
Continuing up the hill, Via Garibaldi connects to Passeggiata del Gianicolo. From here, you’ll find a pleasant park with panoramic city views. Ponder the many Victorian-era statues, including that of baby-carrying, gun-wielding, horse-riding Anita Garibaldi. She was the Brazilian wife of the revolutionary General Giuseppe Garibaldi, who helped forge a united Italy in the late 19th century.
From the 16th through the 19th centuries, Rome’s Jewish population was forced to live in a cramped ghetto at an often-flooded bend of the Tiber River. While the medieval Jewish ghetto is long gone, this area—just across the river and toward Capitoline Hill from Trastevere—is still home to Rome’s synagogue and fragments of its Jewish heritage. You can download a free Rick Steves audio tour of this neighborhood; see here.
Rome’s modern synagogue stands proudly on the spot where the medieval Jewish community was sequestered for more than 300 years. The site of a historic visit by Pope John Paul II, this synagogue features a fine interior and a museum filled with artifacts of Rome’s Jewish community. Modest dress is required. The only way to visit the synagogue—unless you’re here for daily prayer service—is with a tour.
Cost and Hours: €10 ticket includes museum and guided hourly tour of synagogue; mid-June-mid-Sept Sun-Thu 10:00-19:00, Fri 10:00-16:00, closed Sat; mid-Sept-mid-June Sun-Thu 10:00-17:00, Fri 9:00-14:00, closed Sat; last entry 45 minutes before closing, English tours usually at :15 past the hour, 30 minutes, check schedule at ticket counter; on Lungotevere dei Cenci, tel. 06-6840-0661, museoebraico.roma.it. Walking tours of the Jewish Ghetto are conducted at least once a day except Saturday.
Southeast of the city center lie several ancient sights that make the trek here worthwhile.
Inaugurated by Emperor Caracalla in A.D. 216, this massive bath complex could accommodate 1,600 visitors at a time. Today it’s just a shell—a huge shell—with all of its sculptures and most of its mosaics moved to museums. You’ll see a two-story roofless brick building surrounded by a garden, bordered by ruined walls. The two large rooms at either end of the building were used for exercise. In between the exercise rooms was a pool flanked by two small mosaic-floored dressing rooms. Niches in the walls once held statues. The baths’ statues are displayed elsewhere: For example, the immense Toro Farnese (a marble sculpture of a bull surrounded by people) snorts in Naples’ Archaeological Museum.
In its day, this was a remarkable place to hang out. For ancient Romans, bathing was a social experience. The Baths of Caracalla functioned until Goths severed the aqueducts in the sixth century. In modern times, grand operas are performed here during the summer (operaroma.it).
Cost and Hours: €7, includes the Tomb of Cecilia Metella and the Villa dei Quintili on the Appian Way, Mon 9:00-14:00, Tue-Sun 9:00 until one hour before sunset (roughly April-Sept 19:00, Oct 18:30, Nov-mid-Feb 16:30, mid-Feb-March 17:00), last entry one hour before closing, audioguide-€5, good €8 guidebook; Metro: Circo Maximus, then a 5-minute walk south along Via delle Terme di Caracalla; bus #714 from Termini train station or bus #118 from the Appian Way—see “Getting There” on here; tel. 06-3996-7700.
For a taste of the countryside around Rome and more wonders of Roman engineering, take the four-mile trip from the Colosseum out past the wall to a stretch of the ancient Appian Way, where the original pavement stones are lined by several interesting sights. Ancient Rome’s first and greatest highway, the Appian Way once ran from Rome to the Adriatic port of Brindisi, the gateway to Greece. Today you can walk (or bike) some stretches of the road, rattling over original paving stones, past crumbling monuments that once edged the sides.
The wonder of its day, Appian Way was the largest, widest, fastest road ever, called the “Queen of Roads.” Begun in 312 B.C. and named after Appius Claudius Caecus (a Roman official), it connected Rome with Capua (near Naples), running in a straight line for much of the way, ignoring the natural contour of the land. Eventually, this most important of Roman roads stretched 430 miles to the port of Brindisi—the gateway to the East—where boats sailed for Greece and Egypt. Twenty-nine such roads fanned out from Rome. Just as Hitler built the Autobahn system in anticipation of empire maintenance, the expansion-minded Roman government realized the military and political value of a good road system.
Today the road and the landscape around it are preserved as a cultural park. For the tourist, the ancient Appian Way offers three attractions: the road itself, with its ruined monuments; the two major Christian catacombs open to visitors; and the peaceful atmosphere, which provides a respite from the city. Be aware, however, that the road today is busy with traffic—and actually quite treacherous in spots.
The road starts at the massive San Sebastiano Gate and Museum of the Walls, about two miles south of the Colosseum. The stretch that’s of most interest to tourists starts another two miles south of the gate. I like to begin near the Tomb of Cecilia Metella, at the far (southern) end of the key sights, and work northward (mostly downhill) toward central Rome.
Cost and Hours: San Sebastiano Gate and Museum of the Walls—€5, Tue-Sun 9:00-14:00, closed Mon, last entry 30 minutes before closing, tel. 06-7047-5284.
When to Go: Visit in the morning or late afternoon, since many of the sights—including the Catacombs of San Callisto—shut down from 12:00 to 14:00. All the recommended sights are open on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. On Monday, several sights are closed, including Tomb of Cecilia Metella, Circus and Villa of Maxentius, and San Sebastiano Gate and Museum of the Walls. On Wednesday, Catacombs of San Callisto and the pedestrian path through the park are closed. On Sunday, the Catacombs of San Sebastiano are closed; however, Appian Way is closed to most car traffic, making it a great day for walking or biking (although the old stones can be bumpy).
Getting There: Bus #660 drops you off at the Tomb of Cecilia Metella. In Rome, take Metro line A to the Colli Albani stop, where you catch bus #660 (2/hour) and ride 15 minutes to the last stop—Cecilia Metella/Via Appia Antica (at the intersection of Via Cecilia Metella and Via Appia Antica). The TI is about the only place to buy a bus ticket on Appian Way—have one in hand for your return trip.
A taxi will get you from Rome to the Tomb of Cecilia Metella for about €20. However, to return by taxi, you’ll have to phone for one; there are no taxi stands on Appian Way (or just take handy bus #118 back to Rome).
Bus #118 gets you to the sights on the northern part of Appian Way. In Rome, catch #118 from either the Piramide or Circo Massimo Metro stops; going away from the city center, it stops at the Baths of Caracalla, San Sebastiano Gate, Domine Quo Vadis Church, Catacombs of San Callisto, and Catacombs of San Sebastiano. Although bus #118 does not stop at Tomb of Cecilia Metella, the tomb is only 500 yards away from the San Sebastiano bus stop. Going back to Rome, bus #118 takes a somewhat different route (skipping Catacombs of San Sebastiano); catch this northbound bus just up the road at Catacombs of San Callisto or near Domine Quo Vadis.
Bus #218 goes from San Giovanni in Laterano to Domine Quo Vadis Church and the west entrance of Catacombs of San Callisto, but isn’t that useful for other Appian Way sights.
The handy, but much more expensive, Archeobus runs from Termini train station to the major Appian Way sights (see here). It stops at all the key attractions—you can hop off, tour the sights, and pick up a later bus (officially runs twice hourly Fri-Sun during summer, but service can be spotty).
Getting Back: No matter how you arrive at Appian Way, bus #118 is the easiest and cheapest way to return to Rome (get off at the end of the line, the Piramide Metro stop).
Information: The Via Appia Antica TI near Domine Quo Vadis Church gives out maps and information on the entire park, which stretches east and south of the visit outlined here (daily April-Oct 9:30-17:30, Nov-March 9:30-16:30, rents bikes, good €1 map, Via Appia Antica 58/60, tel. 06-513-5316, parcoappiaantica.it, general info at archeoroma.beniculturali.it/en). Capo di Bove has a small info center with a good €4 map/guide, active excavations, and a relaxing garden (Mon-Sat 10:00-16:00, Sun 10:00-18:00, closes earlier in winter, good place for discreet picnic, clean WCs, Via Appia Antica 222, tel. 06-3996-7700); it’s 100 yards uphill from Appia Antica Caffè, which also sells maps.
Services: Free WCs are at the San Sebastiano and San Callisto catacombs and at Capo di Bove, and WCs for paying customers are at the Tomb of Cecilia Metella and the Appia Antica Caffè. There are several water fountains along the way to refill water bottles.
A guide leads you underground through the tunnels where early Christians were buried. You’ll see faded frescoes and graffiti by early-Christian tag artists. Besides the catacombs themselves, there’s a historic fourth-century basilica with holy relics.
Cost and Hours: €8, includes 35-minute tour, 2/hour, Mon-Sat 10:00-17:00, closed Sun and late-Nov-late-Dec, last entry 30 minutes before closing, Via Appia Antica 136, tel. 06-785-0350, catacombe.org.
The larger of the two sets of catacombs, San Callisto also is the more prestigious, having been the burial site for several early popes.
Cost and Hours: €8, includes 30-minute tour, at least 2/hour, Thu-Tue 9:00-12:00 & 14:00-17:00, closed Wed and Feb, Via Appia Antica 110, tel. 06-5130-1580 or 06-513-0151, catacombe.roma.it.
For an exciting day trip, pop down to the Roman port of Ostia, which is similar to Pompeii but a lot closer and, in some ways, more interesting. Because Ostia was a working port town, it shows a more complete and gritty look at Roman life than wealthier Pompeii. Wandering around today, you’ll see warehouses, apartment flats, mansions, shopping arcades, and baths that served a once-thriving port of 60,000 people. Later, Ostia became a ghost town, and it’s now excavated. Buy a map, then explore the town, including the 2,000-year-old theater. Finish with its fine little museum.
Cost and Hours: €8 for the site and museum, €10 with special exhibits, April-Sept Tue-Sun 8:30-19:00, Oct Tue-Sun 8:30-18:30, Nov-mid-Feb Tue-Sun 8:30-16:30, mid-Feb-March Tue-Sun 8:30-17:00, closed Mon year-round, last entry one hour before closing. The museum sometimes closes from 13:30 to 14:30 for lunch.
Information: Tel. 06-5635-0215. Helpful websites include ostiaantica.beniculturali.it and ostia-antica.org. A map of the site with suggested itineraries is available for €2 from the ticket office.
Audio Tour: Although you’ll see little audioguide markers throughout the site, there may not be audioguides for rent. But you can download a free Rick Steves audio tour of Ostia Antica; see here.
Getting There: Getting to Ostia Antica from downtown Rome is a snap—it’s a 45-minute combination Metro/train ride. (Since the train is part of the Metro system, it only costs one Metro ticket each way—€3 total round-trip.)
From Rome, take Metro line B to the Piramide stop, which is attached to the Roma Porta San Paolo train station. The train tracks are just a few steps from the Metro tracks: Follow signs to Lido—go up the escalator, turn left, and go down the steps into the Roma-Lido station. All trains depart in the direction of Lido, leave every 15 minutes, and stop at Ostia Antica along the way. The lighted schedule reads something like, “Prossima partenza alle ore 13.25, bin 3,” meaning, “Next departure at 13:25 from track 3.” Look for the next train, hop on, ride for about 30 minutes (no need to stamp your Metro ticket again, but keep it handy in case they decide to check), and get off at the Ostia Antica stop.
Leaving the train station in Ostia Antica, cross the road via the blue skybridge and walk straight down Via della Stazione di Ostia Antica, continuing straight until you reach the parking lot. The entrance is to your left. (If you don’t have a ticket to get back, purchase one at the ticket window at the station, or from the nearby snack bar.)
Haggle if you arrive late in the day during off-season (roughly mid-July through August and November through mid-March). It’s common for hotels in Rome to lower their prices 10-50 percent in the off-season, although prices at hostels and the cheaper hotels won’t fluctuate much. Room rates are lowest in sweltering August.
Traffic in Rome roars. Thanks to double-paned windows and air-conditioning, night noise is not the problem it once was. Even so, light sleepers who ask for a tranquillo room will likely get a room in the back...and sleep better. Once you actually see your room, consider the potential problem of night noise. If necessary, don’t hesitate to ask for a quieter room.
Almost no hotels have parking, but nearly all have a line on spots in a nearby garage (about €24/day).
Convents: Although I list just a few, Rome has many convents that rent out rooms. See the Church of Santa Susanna’s website for a list (santasusanna.org, select “Coming to Rome”). At convents, the beds are twins and English is often in short supply, but the price is right.
Consider these nun-run places, all listed in this chapter: the expensive but divine Casa di Santa Brigida (near Campo de’ Fiori), Suore di Santa Elisabetta (near Santa Maria Maggiore), Casa Santa Sofia (near the Colosseum), Casa Il Rosario (near Piazza Venezia), and Casa per Ferie Santa Maria alle Fornaci (near the Vatican).
Hostels: If you’re going the hostel route, consider the ones I list in this chapter (within a 10-minute walk of Termini train station), or check backpackers.it for more listings.
While not as atmospheric as other areas of Rome, the hotels near Termini train station are less expensive, and public-transportation options link these places easily with the entire city. The city’s two Metro lines intersect at the station, and most buses leave from here. Piazza Venezia is a 20-minute walk down Via Nazionale.
Most of these hotels are on or near Via Firenze, a safe, handy, central, and relatively quiet street that’s a 10-minute walk from Termini train station and the airport train, and two blocks beyond Piazza della Repubblica. The Defense Ministry is nearby, so you’ve got heavily armed guards watching over you all night.
The neighborhood is well-connected by public transportation (with the Repubblica Metro stop nearby). Virtually all the city buses that rumble down Via Nazionale (#60, #64, #70, and the #40 express) take you to Piazza Venezia (Forum). From Piazza Venezia, bus #64 (jammed with people and thieves) and the #40 express bus continue to Largo Argentina (Pantheon, Campo de’ Fiori) and the Vatican area. Or, at Piazza Venezia, you can transfer to tram #8 to Trastevere (get off at first stop after crossing the river). Bus #H also makes the journey to Trastevere, leaving from Piazza della Repubblica (on the northeast side of the square, near the entrance to Baths of Diocletian). If you are staying near the Santa Susanna and Santa Maria della Vittoria churches, buses from nearby Largo Santa Susanna (#62, #85, #116, #175, and #492) wind through the city center (leaving from the Bissolati stop; returning, the stop name is Largo S. Susanna).
To stock your closet pantry, pop over to Despar Supermarket (daily 8:00-21:00, Via Nazionale 213, at the corner of Via Venezia). A 24-hour pharmacy near the recommended hotels is Farmacia Piram (Via Nazionale 228, tel. 06-488-4437).
$$$ Residenza Cellini feels like the guest wing of a gorgeous Neoclassical palace. It offers 11 rooms, “ortho/anti-allergy beds,” four-star comforts and service, and a breezy breakfast terrace (Db-€190, larger Db-€210, extra bed-€25, show this book and ask for best Rick Steves price if paying with cash, air-con, elevator, guest computer, Wi-Fi, Via Modena 5, reception on third floor, use intercom after hours, tel. 06-4782-5204, residenzacellini.it, residenzacellini@tin.it, Barbara, Gaetano, and Donato).
$$$ Hotel Modigliani, a delightful 23-room place, is energetically run in a clean, bright, minimalist yet in-love-with-life style that its artist namesake would appreciate. It has a vast and plush lounge, a garden, and a newsletter introducing you to each of the staff (Db-€202, check website for deals and ask about additional Rick Steves discount when you book direct, air-con, elevator, Wi-Fi; northwest of Via Firenze—from Tritone Fountain on Piazza Barberini, go 2 blocks up Via della Purificazione to #42; tel. 06-4281-5226, hotelmodigliani.com, info@hotelmodigliani.com, Giulia and Marco).
$$$ IQ Hotel, facing the Opera House, opened in 2010 and feels almost Scandinavian in its efficiency, without a hint of the Old World. Its 88 rooms are fresh and spacious, the roof garden comes with a swing set, and vending machines dispense bottles of wine (Db-€100-230 depending on room size and season—likely €200 in peak season, €40 extra for 3rd and 4th person, ask about discount off best Web price for Rick Steves readers—must book direct and request at time of booking, breakfast-€10, air-con, elevator, guest computer, Wi-Fi, cheap self-service laundry, gym, Via Firenze 8, tel. 06-488-0465, iqhotelroma.it, info@iqhotelroma.it, manager Diego).
$$ Hotel Oceania is a peaceful slice of air-conditioned heaven. This 24-room manor house-type hotel is spacious and quiet, with tastefully decorated rooms. Stefano runs a fine staff, serves wonderful coffee, provides lots of thoughtful extra touches, and works hard to maintain a caring family atmosphere (Sb-€135, Db-€168, Tb-€198, Qb-€220, show this book and ask for best Rick Steves price if paying with cash, deep discounts summer and winter, family suite, elevator, guest computer, Wi-Fi, videos in the TV lounge, Via Firenze 38, third floor, tel. 06-482-4696, hoteloceania.it, info@hoteloceania.it; Anna and Radu round out the staff).
$$ Hotel Aberdeen, which perfectly combines quality and friendliness, is warmly run by Annamaria, with support from sister Laura and cousin Cinzia, and staff members Mariano and Costel. The 37 comfy, modern rooms are a fine value (Sb-€102, Db-€170, Tb-€180, Qb-€200, for these rates—or better—book direct via email or use the “Rick Steves reader reservations” link on their website, air-con, guest computer, Wi-Fi, Via Firenze 48, tel. 06-482-3920, hotelaberdeen.it, info@hotelaberdeen.it).
$$ Hotel Opera Roma, with contemporary furnishings and marble accents, boasts 15 spacious, modern, and thoughtfully appointed rooms. It’s quiet and just a stone’s throw from the Opera House (Db-€150, Tb-€165, ask for best Rick Steves price when you book direct, additional cash discount, air-con, elevator, guest computer, Wi-Fi, Via Firenze 11, tel. 06-487-1787, hoteloperaroma.com, info@hoteloperaroma.com, Rezza, Litu, and Federica).
$$ Hotel Sonya offers 34 well-equipped if small rooms, a hearty breakfast, and decent prices (Sb-€90, Db-€150, Tb-€165, Qb-€185, Quint/b-€200, show this book and ask for best Rick Steves price if paying cash, air-con, elevator, guest computer, Wi-Fi, faces the Opera House at Via Viminale 58, Metro: Repubblica or Termini, tel. 06-481-9911, hotelsonya.it, info@hotelsonya.it, Francesca and Ivan).
$$ Hotel Selene Roma spreads its 40 rooms out on a few floors of a big palazzo. With elegant furnishings and room to breathe, it’s a fine value (Db-€150, Tb-€165, email direct for discount, additional cash discount, air-con, elevator, free Wi-Fi, Via del Viminale 8, tel. 06-474-4781, hotelseleneroma.it, reception@hotelseleneroma.it).
$$ Bellesuite Rome offers six bright, modern rooms with all the comforts in a quiet building (Db-€150, Tb-€190, Qb-€215, ask about discount if you show this book and pay cash, air-con, elevator, free Wi-Fi, Via Modena 5, tel. 06-9521-3049, bellesuiterome.com, mail@bellesuiterome.com).
$$ Target Inn is a sleek, practical six-room place next to Residenza Cellini (listed earlier). It’s owned by the same people who run the recommended Target Restaurant nearby (Db-€150, air-con, elevator, free Wi-Fi, Via Modena 5, tel. 06-474-5399, targetinn.com, info@targetinn.com).
$ Hotel Adler features a small garden patio and eight basic rooms on a wide and elegant hall (Db-€125, Tb-€165, Qb-€190, Quint/b-€210, discount with this book, additional discount if you pay cash, air-con, elevator, guest computer, Wi-Fi, Via Modena 5, second floor, tel. 06-484-466, hoteladler-roma.com, info@hoteladler-roma.com).
$ Hotel Nardizzi Americana, with a small rooftop terrace and 40 standard rooms spread throughout the building, is another decent value (Sb-€95, Db-€125, Tb-€155, Qb-€175; to get the best rates, check their “Rick Steves readers reservations” link along with the rest of their website; additional cash discount, air-con, elevator, guest computer, Wi-Fi, Via Firenze 38, reception on fourth floor, tel. 06-488-0035, hotelnardizzi.it, info@hotelnardizzi.it; friendly Stefano, Fabrizio, Mario, and Giancarlo).
$ Hotel Italia Roma, in a busy and handy locale, is located safely on a quiet street next to the Ministry of the Interior. Thoughtfully run by Andrea, Sabrina, Abdul, and Gabriel, it has 35 modest but comfortable rooms (Sb-€80, Db-€120, Tb-€150, Qb-€180, book direct via email for these rates, air-con-€10 extra/day, elevator, guest computer, Wi-Fi, Via Venezia 18, just off Via Nazionale, tel. 06-482-8355, hotelitaliaroma.it, info@hotelitaliaroma.it). The four “residenza” rooms upstairs on the third floor are newer and a bit more expensive. They also have eight similar annex rooms across the street.
$ Hotel Margaret offers few frills and 12 simple rooms at a fair price (Db-€110, Tb-€140, Qb-€155, mention this book and pay cash for best rates, air-con, elevator, free Wi-Fi, north of Piazza Repubblica at Via Antonio Salandra 6, fourth floor, tel. 06-482-4285, hotelmargaret.net, info@hotelmargaret.net, Emanuela).
These good-value places cluster around the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, on the edge of Rome’s international district.
$ Hotel Montreal is a basic three-star place with 27 small rooms on a big street a block southeast of Santa Maria Maggiore (Sb-€90, Db-€110, Tb-€135, email direct and ask for a Rick Steves discount, air-con, elevator, guest computer, Wi-Fi, small garden terrace, good security, Via Carlo Alberto 4, 1 block from Metro: Vittorio Emanuele, 3 blocks from Termini train station, tel. 06-445-7797, hotelmontrealroma.it, info@hotelmontrealroma.it, Pasquale).
$ Suore di Santa Elisabetta is a heavenly Polish-run convent with a serene garden and 70 beds in tidy twin-bedded (only) rooms. Often booked long in advance, with such tranquility it’s a super value (S-€40, Sb-€48, D-€66, Db-€85, Tb-€106, Qb-€128, Quint/b-€142, fans but no air-con, elevator serves top floors only, fine view roof terrace and breakfast hall, 23:00 curfew, a block southwest of Santa Maria Maggiore at Via dell’Olmata 9, Metro: Termini or Vittorio Emanuele, tel. 06-488-8271, csse-roma.eu, ist.it.s.elisabetta@libero.it).
$ Gulliver’s Lodge has four colorful rooms on the ground floor of a large, secure building. While on a busy street, the rooms are quiet. Although the public spaces are few, in-room extras like DVD players (and DVDs, including my Italy shows) make it a fine home base (Db-€120, Tb-€145, includes small breakfast at nearby bar, ask about best Rick Steves price with this book, cash only, air-con, guest computer, Wi-Fi, a 15-minute walk southwest of Termini train station at Via Cavour 101, Metro: Cavour, tel. 06-9727-3787, gulliverslodge.com, info@gulliverslodge.com, Sara and Mary).
The cheapest beds in town are northeast of Termini train station (Metro: Termini). Some travelers feel this area is weird and spooky after dark, but these hotels feel plenty safe. With your back to the train tracks, turn right and walk two blocks out of the station. Splashnet launderette/Internet café is handy (€8 full-serve wash and dry, guest computer-€1.50/hour, €2 luggage storage per day—or free if you wash and go online, daily 8:30-23:00, just off Via Milazzo at Via Varese 33, tel. 06-4470-3523).
$ The Beehive gives vagabonds—old and young—a cheap, clean, and comfy home in Rome, thoughtfully and creatively run by Steve and Linda, a friendly American couple, and their hardworking staff. They offer six great-value artsy-mod double rooms (D-€80, T-€105) and an eight-bed dorm (€30 bunks). Their nearby annex, The Sweets, has similar style and several rooms with private baths (Sb-€60, Db-€100, air-con-€10, breakfast extra, guest computer, Wi-Fi, private garden terrace, 2 blocks from Termini train station at Via Marghera 8, tel. 06-4470-4553, the-beehive.com, info@the-beehive.com). They’re also a good resource for apartments across the city (cross-pollinate.com).
$ Hotel Select Garden, a modern and comfortable 21-room hotel run by the cheery Picca family, boasts lively modern art adorning the walls and a beautiful lemon-tree garden. It’s a safe, tranquil, and welcoming refuge just a couple blocks from the train station (Sb-€80, Db-€110, Tb-€130, ask for best Rick Steves price when you book direct, air-con, free Wi-Fi, Via V. Bachelet 6, tel. 06-445-6383, hotelselectgarden.com, info@hotelselectgarden.com, Cristina and Maurizia).
$ Hotel Sileo, with shiny chandeliers in dim rooms, is a homely little place renting 10 basic rooms (Db-€75, Tb-€90, air-con, elevator, free Wi-Fi, Via Magenta 39, fourth floor, tel. 06-445-0246, hotelsileo.com, info@hotelsileo.com). Friendly Alessandro and Maria Savioli don’t speak English, but daughter Anna does.
$ Hotel Robinson is just a few steps from the station, but tucked away from the commotion. Set on an interior courtyard, it has 20 small and simple rooms that are a decent value (Sb-€65, Db-€85, Tb-€120, mention this book for these rates and a small breakfast, air-con-€10, Wi-Fi, Via Milazzo 3, tel. 06-491-423, hotelrobinsonrome.com, info@hotelrobinsonrome.com).
$ Yellow Hostel rents 240 beds in 4-, 6-, and 10-bed dorms to 18- through 39-year-olds only (they also have 11 private rooms that are open to all ages). Hip yet sane, it’s well-run with fine facilities, including lockers and a café/late-night bar (€18-35/bed depending on plumbing, size, and season, Db-€140; reserve online—no telephone reservations accepted, free Wi-Fi, iPad rental available, no curfew, 6 blocks from station, just past Via Vicenza at Via Palestro 40/44, tel. 06-493-82682, yellowhostel.com).
$ Funny Palace Hostel, adjacent to Splashnet and run by the same entrepreneurial owner, Mabri, rents dorm beds in quiet four-person rooms and 18 stark-but-clean private rooms (dorm beds-€30, Db-€100, cash only, free Wi-Fi, reception in the launderette—described earlier, Via Varese 33/31, tel. 06-4470-3523, hostelfunny.com).
Stretching from the Colosseum to Piazza Venezia, this area is central. Sightseers are a short walk from the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Trajan’s Column. While buses are your best bet here, I list a Metro stop if it’s convenient.
$$$ Hotel Lancelot is a comfortable yet elegant refuge—a 60-room hotel with the ambience of a B&B. It’s quiet and safe, with a shady courtyard, restaurant, bar, and tiny communal sixth-floor terrace. It’s well-run by Faris and Lubna Khan, who serve a good €25 dinner—a chance to connect with your hotel neighbors and the friendly staff. No wonder it’s popular with returning guests (Sb-€128, Db-€196, Tb-€226, Qb-€266, €20 extra for sixth-floor terrace room with a Colosseum view, discount if you book direct and mention Rick Steves, air-con, elevator, wheelchair-accessible, free Wi-Fi, parking-€10/day, 10-minute walk behind Colosseum near San Clemente Church at Via Capo d’Africa 47, tel. 06-7045-0615, lancelothotel.com, info@lancelothotel.com). Faris and Lubna speak the Queen’s English.
$$$ Hotel Nerva is a recently renovated, modern slice of tranquility with 19 small, overpriced (but often discounted) rooms on a surprisingly quiet back street just steps away from the Roman Forum (Sb-€160, Db-€230, extra bed-€40, book direct and use promo code “RICKSTEVES” for an additional discount, air-con, elevator, free Wi-Fi, Via Tor de’ Conti 3, tel. 06-678-1835, hotelnerva.com, info@hotelnerva.com, Antonio and Paolo).
$$ Hotel Paba has seven fresh rooms, chocolate-box-tidy and lovingly cared for by Alberta Castelli. It’s just two blocks from the Forum. Although it overlooks busy Via Cavour, it’s quiet enough (Db-€135, extra bed-€40, ask about discount if you pay cash, big beds, breakfast served in room, air-con, elevator, free Wi-Fi, Via Cavour 266, Metro: Cavour, tel. 06-4782-4902, hotelpaba.com, info@hotelpaba.com).
$$ Nicolas Inn Bed & Breakfast, a delightful little four-room place with thoughtful touches, is spacious and bright. It’s run by François and American expat Melissa, who make you feel like you have caring friends in Rome (Db-€150-170, ask about Rick Steves discount with this book, cash only, included breakfast served at neighboring bar, air-con, free Wi-Fi, Via Cavour 295, tel. 06-9761-8483, nicolasinn.com, info@nicolasinn.com).
$ Hotel Pensione Rosetta, homey and family-run, rents 15 simple rooms. It’s pretty minimal, with no lounge and no breakfast, but has a good location and prices (Sb-€70, Db-€95, Tb-€110, air-con, free Wi-Fi, Via Cavour 295, tel. 06-4782-3069, rosettahotel.com, info@rosettahotel.com, Antonietta and Francesca).
$ Casa Il Rosario is a peaceful, well-run Dominican convent renting 40 rooms with monastic simplicity to both pilgrims and tourists in a good neighborhood (reserve several months in advance, S-€42, Sb-€56, Db-€94, Tb-€120, single beds only, fans, elevator, picnics welcome in small garden or on rooftop terrace, 23:00 curfew, midway between Quirinale and Colosseum near bottom of Via Nazionale at Via Sant’Agata dei Goti 10, bus #40 or #170 from Termini, tel. 06-679-2346, irodopre@tin.it).
$ Casa Santa Sofia, while stern and sterile, is still a welcoming and cozy convent that rents 54 rooms to travelers. Built for Ukrainian and Brazilian pilgrims, it’s well-run and situated on a characteristic square near a Metro stop and the Roman Forum (Sb-€69, Db-€99, fans but no air-con, elevator, free Wi-Fi, Piazza della Madonna dei Monti 3, Metro: Cavour, tel. 06-485-778, casasantasofia.it).
Winding, narrow lanes filled with foot traffic and lined with boutique shops and tiny trattorias...this is village Rome at its best. And like a real village, buses are the only practical way to connect with other destinations. The atmosphere isn’t cheap, but this is where you want to be—especially at night, when Romans and tourists gather in the floodlit piazzas for the evening stroll, the passeggiata.
You’ll pay a premium (and endure a little extra night noise) to stay in the old center. But each of these places is romantically set deep in the tangled back streets near the idyllic Campo de’ Fiori and, for many, worth the extra money.
$$$ Casa di Santa Brigida overlooks the elegant Piazza Farnese. With soft-spoken sisters gliding down polished hallways and pearly gates instead of doors, this lavish 20-room convent makes exhaust-stained Roman tourists feel like they’ve died and gone to heaven. If you don’t need a double bed or a TV in your room, it’s worth the splurge—especially if you luxuriate in its ample public spaces or on its lovely roof terrace (Sb-€120, twin Db-€200, book well in advance, air-con, elevator, guest computer, Wi-Fi, tasty €25 dinners, roof garden, plush library, Monserrato 54, tel. 06-6889-2596, brigidine.org, piazzafarnese@brigidine.org, many of the sisters are from India and speak English—pray you get to work with wonderful sister Gertrude).
$$$ Relais Teatro Argentina, a six-room gem, is steeped in tasteful old-Rome elegance, but has all the modern comforts. It’s cozy and quiet like a B&B and couldn’t be more centrally located (Db-€210, Tb-€255, discounts if you pay cash and stay 3 nights or more, air-con, no elevator, 3 flights of stairs, guest computer, Wi-Fi, Via del Sudario 35, tel. 06-9893-1617, relaisteatroargentina.com, info@relaisteatroargentina.com, Carlotta).
$$ Hotel Smeraldo, with 50 rooms, is strictly run by an impersonal staff, but it’s clean and a reasonable deal (Sb-€110, Db-€150, Tb-€180, show this book for free buffet breakfast, air-con, elevator, guest computer, Wi-Fi, flowery roof terrace, midway between Campo de’ Fiori and Largo Argentina at Vicolo dei Chiodaroli 9, tel. 06-687-5929, smeraldoroma.com, info@smeraldoroma.com, Massimo and Walter). Their Dipendenza Smeraldo, 10 yards around the corner at Via dei Chiavari 32, has 16 similar rooms (same price and free breakfast, same reception and contact info).
$$ Hotel Arenula, with 50 decent rooms, is the only hotel in Rome’s old Jewish ghetto. Though it has the ambience of a gym and attracts lots of students, it is in the thick of old Rome (Sb-€100, Db-€140, ask about discount with this book, extra bed-€21, air-con, no elevator, Wi-Fi, opposite the fountain in the park on Via Arenula at Via Santa Maria de’ Calderari 47, tel. 06-687-9454, hotelarenula.com, info@hotelarenula.com).
These places are buried in the pedestrian-friendly heart of ancient Rome, each within about a five-minute walk of the Pantheon. You’ll pay more here—but you’ll save time and money by being exactly where you want to be for your early and late wandering.
$$$ Hotel Nazionale, a four-star landmark, is a 16th-century palace that shares a well-policed square with the Parliament building. Its 100 rooms are accentuated by lush public spaces, fancy bars, a uniformed staff, and a marble-floored restaurant. It’s a big, stuffy hotel, but it’s a worthy splurge if you want security, comfort, and the heart of Rome at your doorstep (Sb-€220, Db-€350, giant deluxe Db-€480, extra person-€70, check online for summer and weekend discounts—you’ll typically save 30 percent off their sky-high rack rates, air-con, elevator, free Wi-Fi, Piazza Montecitorio 131, tel. 06-695-001, hotelnazionale.it, info@hotelnazionale.it).
$$$ Albergo Santa Chiara, in the old center, is big, solid, and hotelesque. Flavia, Silvio, and their fine staff offer marbled elegance (but basic furniture) and all the hotel services. Its ample public lounges are dressy and professional, and its 99 rooms are quiet and spacious (Sb-€138, Db-€215, Tb-€260, check website for discounts, book online direct and request special Rick Steves rates, elevator, air-con, free Wi-Fi, behind Pantheon at Via di Santa Chiara 21, tel. 06-687-2979, albergosantachiara.com, info@albergosantachiara.com).
$$$ Hotel Portoghesi is a classic hotel with 27 rooms in the medieval heart of Rome. It’s peaceful, quiet, and calmly run, and comes with a delightful roof terrace—though you pay for the location (Sb-€160, Db-€200, Tb-€260, Qb suite-€300, breakfast on roof, air-con, elevator, free Wi-Fi, Via dei Portoghesi 1, tel. 06-686-4231, hotelportoghesiroma.it, info@hotelportoghesiroma.it).
$$$ Hotel Due Torri, hiding out on a tiny quiet street, is beautifully located. It feels professional yet homey, with an accommodating staff, generous public spaces, and 26 small rooms. While the location and lounge are great, the rooms are overpriced (Sb-€125, Db-€200, family apartment-€240 for 3 and €265 for 4, check website for frequent discounts, air-con, elevator, free Wi-Fi, a block off Via della Scrofa at Vicolo del Leonetto 23, tel. 06-6880-6956, hotelduetorriroma.com, info@hotelduetorriroma.com, Cinzia).
Colorful and genuine in a gritty sort of way, Trastevere is a treat for travelers looking for a less touristy and more bohemian atmosphere. Choices are few here, and public transit is limited to a few buses and trams. But by trekking across the Tiber, you can have the experience of being comfortably immersed in old Rome. To locate the following places, see the map on here.
$$$ Residenza Arco dei Tolomei is your most poetic Trastevere experience imaginable, with six small, unique, antique-filled rooms boasting fragrant balconies. With its quiet and elegant setting, you can pretend you’re visiting aristocratic relatives (Db-€205, discounts if you pay cash and stay 3 nights or more, reserve well in advance, guest computer, Wi-Fi, from Piazza Piscinula a block up Via dell’Arco de’ Tolomei at #27, tel. 06-5832-0819, bbarcodeitolomei.com, info@bbarcodeitolomei.com; Marco and Gianna Paola).
$$ Hotel Santa Maria sits like a lazy hacienda in the midst of Trastevere. Surrounded by a medieval skyline, you’ll feel as if you’re on some romantic stage set. Its 20 small but well-equipped, air-conditioned rooms—former cells in a cloister—are all on the ground floor, as are a few suites for up to six people. The rooms circle a gravelly courtyard of orange trees and stay-awhile patio furniture (Db-€170, Tb-€210; ask about best Rick Steves price with this book, cash, and minimum stay of three nights; family rooms, free loaner bikes, guest computer, Wi-Fi, face church on Piazza Maria Trastevere and go right down Via della Fonte d’Olio 50 yards to Vicolo del Piede 2, tel. 06-589-4626, hotelsantamaria.info, info@hotelsantamaria.info). Some rooms come with family-friendly fold-down bunks for €30 extra per person. Their freshly renovated six-room Residenza Santa Maria is a couple of blocks away (same prices, residenzasantamaria.com).
$$ Casa San Giuseppe is down a characteristic laundry-strewn lane with a sunny roof terrace and views of Aurelian Walls. While convent-owned, it’s a secular place renting 29 plain but peaceful, spacious, and spotless rooms (Sb-€115, Db-€155, Tb-€190, Qb-€220, garden-facing rooms are quiet, air-con, elevator, guest computer, Wi-Fi, parking-€15/day, just north of Piazza Trilussa at Vicolo Moroni 22, tel. 06-5833-3490, casasangiuseppe.it, info@casasangiuseppe.it, Matteo).
$$ Arco del Lauro B&B rents six white, minimalist rooms in a good location. Facing a courtyard (no views but little noise), the friendly welcome and good value make up for the lack of public spaces (Db-€135, Qb-€185, prices good if booked direct, cash only, 3-4 night minimum stay over weekends in high season, includes breakfast served in a café, air-con, guest computer, Wi-Fi, from Piazza Piscinula a block up Via dell’Arco de’ Tolomei at #29, tel. 06-9784-0350, mobile 346-244-3212, arcodellauro.it, info@arcodellauro.it, Lorenza and Daniela).
$$ Hotel San Francesco, big and blocky yet welcoming, stands like a practical and efficient oasis at the edge of all the Trastevere action. Renting 24 trim rooms in this authentic district, it comes with an inviting roof terrace and a helpful staff. Handy trams to Piazza Venezia are just a couple of blocks away (Db-€90-180, prices vary wildly, email direct and mention this book for best rates, air-con, elevator, free Wi-Fi, Via Jacopa de’ Settesoli 7, tel. 06-5830-0051, hotelsanfrancesco.net, info@hotelsanfrancesco.net).
Sleeping near the Vatican is expensive, but some enjoy calling this more relaxed, residential neighborhood home. Even though it’s handy to the Vatican (when the rapture hits, you’re right there), everything else is a long way away. Fortunately, it’s well-served by public transit—use the Metro (line A) and bus (ask your hotel for the most convenient routes) to easily connect with the center.
$$$ Hotel Alimandi Vaticano, facing the Vatican Museum, is beautifully designed. Run by the Alimandi family (Enrico, Irene, and Germano), it features four stars, 24 spacious rooms, and all the modern comforts you can imagine (Sb-€170, standard Db-€200, big Db with 2 double beds-€260, Tb-€260, cash discount, air-con, elevator, guest computer, Wi-Fi, Viale Vaticano 99, Metro: Ottaviano, tel. 06-3974-5562, alimandi.com, alimandivaticano@alimandi.com).
$$$ Hotel Gerber, set in a quiet residential area, is family-run with 27 well-polished, businesslike rooms (Sb-€140, Db-€180, Tb-€200, Qb-€220, ask about discount with this book when you book direct, air-con, elevator, free Wi-Fi, small leafy terrace; from Lepanto Metro station, go one block down Via M. Colonna and turn right to Via degli Scipioni 241; tel. 06-321-6485, hotelgerber.it, info@hotelgerber.it; Peter, Simonetta, and friendly dog Kira).
$$ Hotel Alimandi Tunisi is a good value, run by other members of the friendly and entrepreneurial Alimandi family—Paolo, Luigi, Marta, and Barbara. They have 27 modest but comfortable rooms and vast public spaces, including a piano lounge, pool table, and rooftop terrace where the grand buffet breakfast is served (Sb-€90, Db-€175, cash discount, elevator, air-con, guest computer, Wi-Fi, down the stairs directly in front of Vatican Museum, Via Tunisi 8, Metro: Ottaviano, tel. 06-3972-3941, alimandi.it, alimandi@tin.it).
$$ Casa Valdese is an efficient, well-managed, church-run hotel that’s popular with Germans. Its 33 big, quiet rooms are located just over the Tiber River and near the Vatican. It feels safe if a bit institutional, with the bonus of two breezy, communal roof terraces with incredible views (two external Sb-€61, Db-€131, Tb-€181, Qb-€211, discounts for 3-night stays, air-con, elevator, guest computer, Wi-Fi; from Lepanto Metro station, go one block down Via M. Colonna, turn left on Via degli Scipioni, then continue for a block to the intersection with Via Alessandro Farnese 18; tel. 06-321-5362, casavaldeseroma.it, reception@casavaldeseroma.it, Matteo).
$ Casa per Ferie Santa Maria alle Fornaci is simple and efficient, housing pilgrims and secular tourists just a short walk south of the Vatican in 54 identical, stark, utilitarian, mostly twin-bedded rooms. Reserve at least three months in advance (Sb-€70, Db-€100, Tb-€135, air-con, elevator, free Wi-Fi; take bus #64 from Termini train station to San Pietro train station, then walk 100 yards north along Via della Stazione di San Pietro to Piazza Santa Maria alle Fornaci 27; tel. 06-3936-7632, trinitaridematha.it, cffornaci@tin.it, Carmine).
If my listings are full, here are some others to consider. Rates vary with the season and demand.
Near Termini, family-friendly $$ Hotel Rex is between the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore and the Opera (Db-€120-230, at Via Torino 149, tel. 06-482-4828, hotelrex.net, rex@hotelrex.net).
Near the Vatican, consider the family-run $$$ Hotel dei Consoli with 26 rooms (Db-€200-250, Via Varrone 2D, tel. 06-6889-2972, hoteldeiconsoli.com, info@hoteldeiconsoli.com), the modern-style $$$ Hearth Hotel with 20 rooms (Db-€140-235, Via Santamaura 2, tel. 06-3903-8383, hearthhotel.com, info@hearthhotel.com), or the clean and handy $$ Excel Rome St. Peter with 24 rooms (Db-€78-310, Via Catone 34, tel. 06-3973-5082, excelstpeter.it, booking@excelstpeter.it).
Near the Spanish Steps, $$$ Hotel Homs’ 53 pricey rooms are perfectly comfortable (Db-€150-250, Via della Vite 71, tel. 06-679-2976, hotelhoms.it, info@hotelhoms.it), while $$ Hotel San Carlo’s 50 rooms are a tranquil haven (Db-€117-216, Via delle Carrozze 92, tel. 06-678-4548, hotelsancarloroma.com, info@hotelsancarloroma.com).
I’ve listed a number of restaurants I enjoy. While most are in quaint and therefore pricey and touristy areas (Piazza Navona, the Pantheon neighborhood, Campo de’ Fiori, and Trastevere), many are tucked away just off the tourist crush.
I’m impressed by how small the price difference can be between a mediocre Roman restaurant and a fine one. You can pay about 20 percent more for double the quality. If I had $100 for three meals in Rome, I’d spend $50 for one and $25 each for the other two, rather than $33 on all three. For splurge meals, I’d consider Gabriello, Fortunato, and Taverna Trilussa (in that order).
Rome’s fabled nightspots (most notably Piazza Navona, near the Pantheon, and Campo de’ Fiori) are lined with the outdoor tables of touristy restaurants with enticing menus and formal-vested waiters. The atmosphere is super-romantic: I, too, like the idea of dining under floodlit monuments, amid a constantly flowing parade of people. But you’ll likely be surrounded by tourists, and noisy English-speakers can kill the ambience of the spot...leaving you with just a forgettable and overpriced meal. Restaurants in these areas are notorious for surprise charges, forgettable food, microwaved ravioli, and bad service.
I enjoy the view by savoring just a drink or dessert on a famous square, but I dine with locals on nearby low-rent streets, where the proprietor needs to serve a good-value meal and nurture a local following to stay in business. If you’re set on eating—or just drinking and snacking—on a famous piazza, you don’t need a guidebook listing to choose a spot; enjoy the ritual of slowly circling the square, observing both the food and the people eating it, and sit where the view and menu appeal to you. (And pizza is probably your best value and least risky bet.)
Colorful Trastevere is now pretty touristy. Still, Romans join the tourists to eat on the rustic side of the Tiber River. Start at the central square, Piazza di Santa Maria. This is where the tourists dine, while others wander the back streets in search of mom-and-pop places with barely a menu. My recommendations are within a few minutes’ walk of each other (between Piazza di Santa Maria in Trastevere and Ponte Sisto; see map on here).
Taverna Trilussa is your best bet for dining well in Trastevere. Brothers Massimo and Maurizio offer quality and value without pretense. With a proud 100-year-old tradition, this place has the right mix of style and informality. The service is fun-loving (they’re happy to let you split plates into smaller portions to enjoy a family-style meal), yet professional. The menu celebrates local classics and seasonal specials, and comes with a big wine selection. The spacious dining hall is strewn with eclectic Roman souvenirs. For those who’d rather eat outdoors, Trilussa has an actual terrace rather than just tables jumbled together on the sidewalk (€15 pastas, €20 secondi, Mon-Sat from 19:30 for dinner, closed Sun, reservations very smart, Via del Politeama 23, tel. 06-581-8918, tavernatrilussa.it).
Trattoria da Lucia lets you enjoy simple, traditional food at a good price. It’s your basic old-school, Trastevere dining experience, and has been family-run since World War II. You’ll meet four generations of the family, including Giuliano and Renato, their uncle Ennio, and Ennio’s mom—pictured on the menu in the 1950s. The family specialty is spaghetti alla Gricia, with pancetta (€9 pastas, €11 secondi, Tue-Sun 12:30-15:00 & 19:30-23:00, closed Mon and several weeks in Aug, cash only, evocative outdoor or comfy indoor seating—but avoid back room, just off Via del Mattonato at Vicolo del Mattonato 2, tel. 06-580-3601).
Trattoria da Olindo takes homey to extremes. You really feel like you dropped in on a family that cooks for the neighborhood to supplement their income—just don’t expect any smiles (€8 pastas, €10 secondi, Mon-Sat dinner served 20:00-22:30, closed Sun, cash only, indoor and funky outdoor seating, on the corner of Vicolo della Scala and Via del Mattonato at #8, tel. 06-581-8835).
Osteria Ponte Sisto, small and Mediterranean, specializes in traditional Roman cuisine, but has frequent Neapolitan specials as well. Just outside the tourist zone, it caters mostly to Romans and offers beautiful desserts and a fine value (€9 pastas, €12-16 secondi, March-Oct Thu-Tue 12:30-23:30, closes between lunch and dinner off-season, closed Wed, Via Ponte Sisto 80, tel. 06-588-3411, reservations smart for dinner, Oliviero). If you’re coming from the city center, cross Ponte Sisto (pedestrian bridge) and continue across the little square (Piazza Trilussa). It’s on the right.
Ristorante Checco er Carettiere is a big, family-run place that’s been a Trastevere fixture for four generations—as the photos on the wall attest. With white tablecloths, well-presented food, and dressy local diners, this is a popular place for a special meal in Trastevere. While it’s overpriced, you’ll eat well amid lots of fun commotion (€18 pastas, €22 secondi, daily 12:30-15:00 & 19:30-23:15, Via Benedetta 10, tel. 06-580-0985, checcoercarettiere.it). Their osteria next door (at #13) shares the same kitchen and offers less ambience, lower prices, and a more basic menu (€11 pastas, €15 secondi). Many Romans consider their gelateria (next door at #7) to be among the best on this side of the river.
Pizzeria “Ai Marmi” is a bright and noisy festival of pizza, where the oven and pizza-assembly line are surrounded by marble-slab tables (hence the nickname “the Morgue”). It’s a classic Roman scene, whether you enjoy the chaos inside or sit at a sidewalk table, with famously good €8 Roman-style pizza (thin and crispy) and very tight seating. Expect a long line between 20:00 and 22:00 (Thu-Tue 18:30-24:00, closed Wed, cash only, tram #8 from Piazza Venezia to first stop over bridge, just beyond Piazza Sonnino at Viale di Trastevere 53, tel. 06-580-0919).
Pizzeria Dar Poeta, tucked in a back alley and a hit with local students, cranks out less traditional, thick-crust, wood-fired pizza—some of the best I’ve had in Rome. It’s run by three friends—Marco, Paolo, and another Marco—who welcome you into the informal restaurant beneath exposed brick arches. If you’re in a spicy mood, order lingua di fuoco (tongue of fire). If you’re extra hungry, pay an extra euro for pizza alto (even thicker crust). Choose between their classic, cramped interior and lively tables outside on the cobblestones. Their chocolate dessert calzone is a favorite (€6-9 pizza and salads, daily 12:00-24:00, Vicolo del Bologna 45, tel. 06-588-0516).
Cantina Paradiso Wine and Cocktail Bar, a block over Viale di Trastevere from the touristy action, has a funky romantic charm. During happy hour (18:00-21:00), the €8 drinks come with a well-made little buffet that can turn into a cheap, light dinner (€8 pastas, daily 18:00-24:00, Via San Francesco a Ripa 73, tel. 06-589-9799, Weronika).
And for Dessert: Gelateria alla Checco er Carettiere, run by and next door to the famous, recommended restaurant of the same name, is many locals’ favorite spot for gelato in Trastevere (daily 12:00-24:00, Via Benedetta 7).
The Jewish Ghetto sits just across the river from Trastevere (see map on here).
Sora Margherita, hiding on a cluttered square, has been a rustic neighborhood favorite since 1927. Amid a picturesque commotion, families chow down on old-time Roman and Jewish dishes. It’s technically not a real restaurant (it avoids red tape by officially registering itself an associazione culturale)—you can even sign a card to join the “cultural association” (don’t worry; membership has no obligations except that you enjoy your meal). The menu’s crude term for the fettuccini gives you some idea of the mood of this place: nazzica culo (“shaky ass”—what happens while it’s made). Reservations are almost always necessary (€10-12 pastas, €12-14 secondi; Sept-May Mon-Sat 12:30-15:00, dinner seatings on Mon, Wed, Fri, and Sat at 20:00 and 21:30, closed Sun; June-July same hours except also closed Sat, closed in Aug, just south of Via del Portico d’Ottavia at Piazza delle Cinque Scole 30—look for the red curtain, tel. 06-687-4216).
(See “Restaurants in the Pantheon Neighborhood” map, here.)
For the restaurants in this central area, I’ve listed them based on which landmark they’re closest to: Campo de’ Fiori, Piazza Navona, the Trevi Fountain, or the Pantheon itself.
(See “Restaurants in the Pantheon Neighborhood” map, here.)
By day, Campo de’ Fiori hosts one of the few markets in downtown Rome, selling fruit and veggies (and an increasing number of tourist knickknacks; Mon-Sat closes around 13:30, closed Sun). Combined with a sandwich and sweet from the Forno (bakery) in the west corner of the square (behind the fountain), you can assemble a nice picnic.
By night, while it is touristy, Campo de’ Fiori offers a sublimely romantic setting. And, since it’s so close to the heart of the Roman people, it remains popular with locals, even though its restaurants offer greater atmosphere than food value. The square is lined with popular and interesting bars, pizzerias, and small restaurants—all great for people-watching over a glass of wine. Later at night it’s taken over by a younger clubbing crowd.
Ristorante ar Galletto is nearby, on the more elegant and peaceful Piazza Farnese. Angelo entertains an upscale Roman clientele and has magical outdoor seating. Regrettably, service can be brusque, you need to double-check the bill, and single diners aren’t treated very well. Still, if you’re in no hurry and ready to savor my favorite al fresco setting in Rome (while humoring the waiters), this can be a good bet (€10-12 pastas, €16-22 secondi, daily 12:15-15:00 & 19:30-23:00, reservations smart for outdoor seating, Piazza Farnese 104, tel. 06-686-1714, ristoranteargallettoroma.com).
Vineria Salumeria Roscioli is an elegant enoteca that’s a hit with local foodies, so reservations are a must. While it’s just a salami toss away from touristy Campo de’ Fiori, you’ll dine with classy locals and feel like you’re sitting in a romantic (and expensive) deli after hours. They have a good selection of fine cheeses, meats, local dishes, and top-end wines by the glass (€15-25 plates, Mon-Sat 12:30-16:00 & 19:00-24:00, closed Sun, 3 blocks east of Campo de’ Fiori at Via dei Giubbonari 21, tel. 06-687-5287, salumeriaroscioli.com). Their nearby Forno Roscioli is a favorite for a quick slice of pizza or pastry to go (Mon-Sat 6:00-20:00, closed Sun, Via dei Chiavari 34, tel. 06-686-4045).
Trattoria der Pallaro, an eccentric and well-worn eatery that has no menu, has a slogan: “Here, you’ll eat what we want to feed you.” Paola Fazi—with a towel wrapped around her head turban-style—and her gang dish up a five-course meal of homey Roman food. You have three menu choices: €25 for the works; €20 for appetizers, secondi, and dessert; or €15 for appetizers and pasta. Any option is filling, includes wine and coffee, and is capped with a thimble of mandarin juice. While the service can be odd and the food is rustic, the experience is fun (daily 12:00-16:00 & 19:00-24:00, reserve if dining after 20:00, cash only, indoor/outdoor seating on quiet square, a block south of Corso Vittorio Emanuele, down Largo del Chiavari to Largo del Pallaro 15, tel. 06-6880-1488).
Filetti di Baccalà is a cheap and basic Roman classic, where nostalgic regulars cram into wooden tables and savor their old-school favorites—fried cod finger-food fillets (€5 each) and raw, slightly bitter puntarelle greens (slathered with anchovy sauce, available in spring and winter). Study what others are eating, and order from your grease-stained server by pointing at what you want. Sit in the fluorescent-lit interior or try to grab a seat out on the little square, a quiet haven a block east of Campo de’ Fiori (Mon-Sat 17:30-23:00, closed Sun, cash only, Largo dei Librari 88, tel. 06-686-4018). If you’re not into greasy spoons, avoid this place.
Pizzeria da Baffetto 2 makes pizza Roman-style: thin crust, crispy, and wood-fired. Eat in the cramped informal interior, or outside on the busy square (€7-10 pizzas, daily 18:30-24:00, Sat-Sun also open for lunch 12:30-15:30, a block north of Campo de’ Fiori at Piazza del Teatro di Pompeo 18, tel. 06-6821-0807).
Open Baladin is a modern pub featuring a few dozen Italian craft beers on tap and menu of burgers, salads, and freshly cooked potato chips. As this is a relatively new concept in Italy, prices are somewhat high—and the food can be hit or miss—but it’s a nice break if you’re parched and ready for pub grub (€9-15 plates, daily 12:00-24:00, Via degli Specchi 5, tel. 06-683-8989, openbaladinroma.it).
(See “Restaurants in the Pantheon Neighborhood” map, here.)
Piazza Navona is the quintessential setting for dining on a Roman square. Whether you eat here or not, you’ll want to stroll the piazza before or after your evening meal. This is where many people fall in love with Rome. The tangled streets just to the west are lined with popular eateries of many stripes.
Ciccia Bomba is a simple, traditional trattoria where Gianpaolo, Gianluca, and their crew serve up tasty homemade pasta, wood-fired pizza, and other Roman specialties (consider their daily-special sheet)—all at a good price. You can sit downstairs at a table on ancient pavement next to your own column, but I prefer the ambience on the main level. Reserve at least a week in advance for their 45-minute pizza-making “lesson” that costs €25 (€8 pastas, €10-16 secondi, Thu-Tue 12:30-15:00 & 19:00-24:00, closed Wed, Via del Governo Vecchio 76, a block west of Piazza Navona, just north from Piazza Pasquino, tel. 06-6880-2108).
Cul de Sac, a corridor-wide trattoria lined with wine bottles, is packed with an enthusiastic crowd enjoying a wide-ranging menu, from pasta to homemade pâté. They have fun tasting-plates of salumi and cheese, more than a thousand different wines, and fine outdoor seating. It’s small, and they don’t take reservations—come early to avoid a wait (€7-15 plates, daily 12:00-24:00, a block off Piazza Navona on Piazza Pasquino, tel. 06-6880-1094).
Ristorante Pizzeria “da Francesco,” bustling and authentic, has a 50-year-old tradition, a hardworking young waitstaff, great indoor seating, and classic outdoor seating on a cluttered little square that makes you want to break out a sketchpad. Their blackboard explains the daily specials (€9 pizzas and pastas, €15-20 secondi, daily 12:00-15:30 & 19:00-24:00, 3 blocks west of Piazza Navona at Piazza del Fico 29, tel. 06-686-4009).
Pizzeria da Baffetto, buried deep in the old quarter behind Piazza Navona, is a Roman favorite, offering tasty pizza and surly service. Its tables are tightly arranged amid the mishmash of photos and sketches littering the walls. The pizza-assembly kitchen keeps things energetic, and the pizza oven keeps the main room warm (you can opt for a table on the cobbled street). Come early or late, or be prepared to wait (€7 pizzas, daily from 18:30, cash only; order “P,” “M,” or “D”—small, medium, or large; west of Piazza Navona on the corner of Via Sora at Via del Governo Vecchio 114, tel. 06-686-1617).
L’Insalata Ricca is a popular local chain that specializes in healthy, filling €8 salads and less-healthy pastas and main courses (daily March-Oct 12:00-24:00, closes between lunch and dinner in off-season). They have a handy branch on Piazza Pasquino (next to the recommended Cul de Sac, tel. 06-6830-7881) and a more spacious and enjoyable location a few blocks away, on a bigger square next to busy Corso Vittorio Emanuele (near Campo de’ Fiori at Largo dei Chiavari 85, tel. 06-6880-3656).
(See “Restaurants in the Pantheon Neighborhood” map, here.)
The streets surrounding the Trevi Fountain are littered with mediocre restaurants catering exclusively to tourists—try one of these instead.
L’Antica Birreria Peroni is Rome’s answer to a German beer hall. Serving hearty mugs of the local Peroni beer and lots of just plain fun beer-hall food and Italian classics, the place is a hit with Romans for a cheap night out (€7 pastas, €4-12 secondi, Mon-Sat 12:00-24:00, closed Sun, midway between Trevi Fountain and Capitoline Hill, a block off Via del Corso at Via di San Marcello 19, tel. 06-679-5310).
Ristorante Pizzeria Sacro e Profano fills an old church with spicy southern Italian (Calabrian) cuisine and satisfied tourists. Run with enthusiasm by Emiliano and friends, this is just far enough away from the Trevi mobs. Their pizza oven is wood-fired, and their hearty €15 antipasti plate is a filling montage of Calabrian taste treats (€10-12 pastas, €16-20 secondi, Tue-Sun 12:00-15:00 & 18:00-23:00, closed Mon, a block off Via del Tritone and Via della Panetteria at Via dei Maroniti 29, tel. 06-679-1836).
(See “Restaurants in the Pantheon Neighborhood” map, here.)
Eating on the square facing the Pantheon is a temptation, and I’d consider it just to relax and enjoy the Roman scene. But if you walk a block or two away, you’ll get less view and better value. Here are some suggestions.
Ristorante da Fortunato is an Italian classic, with fresh flowers on the tables and white-coated, black-tie career waiters politely serving good meat and fish to politicians, foreign dignitaries, and tourists with good taste. Don’t leave without perusing the photos of their famous visitors—everyone from former Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz to Bill Clinton seems to have eaten here. All are pictured with the boss, Fortunato, who, since 1975, has been a master of simple edible elegance. (His son Jason is now on the team.) The outdoor seating is fine for watching the river of Roman street life flow by, but the real atmosphere is inside. For a dressy night out, this is a reliable and surprisingly reasonable choice—but be sure to reserve ahead (plan to spend €45 per person, daily 12:30-15:30 & 19:30-23:30, a block in front of the Pantheon at Via del Pantheon 55, tel. 06-679-2788, ristorantefortunato.it).
Enoteca Corsi is a wine shop that grew into a thriving lunch-only restaurant. The Paiella family serves straightforward, traditional cuisine to an appreciative crowd of office workers. Check the board for daily specials (gnocchi on Thursday, fish on Friday, and so on). Friendly Giuliana, Claudia, Sara, and Manuela welcome eaters to step into their wine shop and pick out a bottle. For the cheap take-away price, plus €4-8 (depending on the wine), they’ll uncork it at your table. With €9 pastas, €13 main dishes, and fine wine at a third of the price you’d pay in normal restaurants, this can be a good value. And guests with this book can finish their meal with a free glass of homemade limoncello (Mon-Sat 12:00-15:30, closed Sun, no reservations possible, a block toward the Pantheon from the Gesù Church at Via del Gesù 87, tel. 06-679-0821).
Trattoria dal Cavalier Gino, tucked away on a tiny street behind the Parliament, has been a favorite since 1963. Photos on the wall recall the days when it was the haunt of big-time politicians. Grandpa Gino shuffles around grating the parmesan cheese while his English-speaking children Carla and Fabrizio serve up traditional Roman favorites and make sure things run smoothly. Reserve ahead, even for lunch, as you’ll be packed in with savvy locals (€8 pastas, €11 secondi, cash only, Mon-Sat 13:00-14:45 & 20:00-22:30, closed Sun, behind Piazza del Parlamento and just off Via di Campo Marzio at Vicolo Rosini 4, tel. 06-687-3434).
Miscellanea is run by much-loved Mikki, who’s on a mission to keep foreign students well-fed. Welcoming travelers as well as locals, he offers hearty €4 sandwiches and a long list of €7 salads, along with pasta and other staples. This is a great value for a cheap and hearty dinner featuring typical rustic Roman cuisine. Mikki (and his son Romeo) often tosses in a fun little extra, including—if you have this book on the table—a free glass of Mikki’s “sexy wine” (from fragoline—strawberry-flavored grapes). While basic, it’s convenient (€7 pastas, €10 secondi, daily 11:00-24:00, indoor/outdoor seating, facing the rear of the Pantheon at Via della Palombella 34, tel. 06-6813-5318).
Osteria da Mario, a homey little mom-and-pop joint with a no-stress menu, serves traditional favorites in a fun dining room or on tables spilling out onto a picturesque old Roman square (€9 pastas, €12-15 secondi, Mon-Sat 12:30-15:30 & 19:00-23:00, closed Sun; from the Pantheon walk 2 blocks up Via del Pantheon, go left on Via delle Coppelle, and take first right to Piazza delle Coppelle 51; tel. 06-6880-6349, Marco).
Taverna le Coppelle is simple, basic, family-friendly, and inexpensive—especially for pizza—with a checkered-tablecloth ambience (€9 pizzas, daily 12:30-15:00 & 19:30-23:30, Via delle Coppelle 39, tel. 06-6880-6557, Alfonso).
Ristorante la Campana is a plain and honest little place—an authentic slice of Rome with a local following and no pretense. It serves classic dishes and daily specials, plus it has a good self-service antipasti buffet (€10 pastas, €15 secondi, Tue-Sun 12:30-15:00 & 19:30-23:00, closed Mon, inside seating only, reserve for dinner, just off Via della Scrofa and Piazza Nicosia at Vicolo della Campana 18, tel. 06-687-5273, ristorantelacampana.com).
It’s fun to munch a picnic with a view of the Pantheon. (Remember to be discreet.) Here are some options.
Antica Salumeria is an old-time alimentari (grocery store) on the Pantheon square. While they hustle most tourists into pre-made €5 sandwiches, you can make your own picnic. Find your way to the back to buy artichokes, mixed olives, bread, cheese, and meat (daily 8:00-21:00, mobile 334-340-9014).
Supermarkets near the Pantheon: Food is relatively cheap at Italian supermarkets. Super Market Carrefour Express is a convenient place for groceries a block from the Gesù Church (Mon-Sat 8:00-20:30, Sun 9:00-19:30, 50 yards off Via del Plebiscito at Via del Gesù 59). Another place, Supermercato Despar, is half a block from the Pantheon toward Piazza Navona (daily 8:30-22:00, Via Giustiniani 18).
Several fine gelaterie are within a five-minute walk of the Pantheon.
Giolitti is Rome’s most famous and venerable ice-cream joint (although few would say it has the best gelato). Take-away prices are reasonable, and it has elegant Old World seating (daily 7:00-24:00, just off Piazza Colonna and Piazza Monte Citorio at Via Uffici del Vicario 40, tel. 06-699-1243).
Crèmeria Monteforte is known for its traditional gelato and super-creamy sorbets (cremolati). The fruit flavors are especially refreshing—think gourmet slushies (Tue-Sun 10:00-24:00, off-season closes earlier, closed Mon and Dec-Jan, faces the west side of the Pantheon at Via della Rotonda 22, tel. 06-686-7720).
Gelateria San Crispino serves small portions of particularly tasty gourmet gelato. Because of their commitment to natural ingredients, the colors are muted; gelato purists consider bright colors a sign of unnatural chemicals used to attract children (daily 12:00-24:00, a block in front of the Pantheon on Piazza della Maddalena, tel. 06-6889-1310).
Gelateria Vice is a relative newcomer but might be the best of all. Using top-quality ingredients in innovative ways, the flavors change with the seasons (daily 11:00-24:00, around the northwest corner of Largo Argentina at Corso Vittorio Emanuele II 96, tel. 06-8117-3023).
The following are convenient choices for take-away; each offers just a few places to sit.
Frullati Pascucci is a hole-in-the-wall that’s been making refreshing fruit frullati and frappés (like smoothies and shakes) for more than 75 years. Add a sandwich or fruit salad to make a healthy light meal (Mon-Sat 6:00-23:00, closed Sun, north of Largo Argentina at Via di Torre Argentina 20, tel. 06-686-4816).
Pizzeria Florida, on the south side of Largo Argentina, offers tasty, cheap pizza slices (Mon-Sat 10:00-22:00, closed Sun, Via Florida 25, tel. 06-6880-3236).
Pane Più, next door to Pizzeria Florida, is a good bet for gourmet panini and salads (€5 sandwiches, daily 11:30-16:00, Tue-Sat also 19:00-22:00, Via Florida 21, tel. 06-4542-7800).
To locate these restaurants, see the “Dolce Vita Stroll” map on here.
Ristorante il Gabriello is inviting and small—modern under medieval arches—and provides a peaceful and local-feeling respite from all the top-end fashion shops in the area. Claudio serves with charisma, while his brother Gabriello cooks creative Roman cuisine using fresh, organic products from his wife’s farm. Italians normally just trust their waiter and say, “Bring it on.” Tourists are understandably more cautious, but you can be trusting here. Simply close your eyes and point to anything on the menu. Or invest €45 in “Claudio’s Extravaganza” (not including wine). Specify whether you’d prefer fish, meat, or both. (Romans think raw shellfish is the ultimate in fine dining. If you differ, make that clear.) When finished, I stand up, hold my belly, and say, “Ahhh, la vita è bella.” While you’re likely to dine surrounded by my readers here (especially if eating before 21:00), the atmosphere is fun and convivial (€11-14 pastas, €14-20 secondi, dinner only, Mon-Sat 19:00-23:00, closed Sun, reservations smart, air-con, dress respectfully—no shorts, 3 blocks from Spanish Steps at Via Vittoria 51, tel. 06-6994-0810, ilgabriello.it).
Antica Enoteca, an upbeat, atmospheric 200-plus-year-old enoteca, has around 60 Italian-only wines by the glass (€4-10, listed on a big blackboard) and a full menu of eating options, from €8 salads to a €14 antipasti plate of veggies, salumi, and cheese. Very crowded on summer evenings, it comes with wonderful ambience both inside and out; its outside tables are set on a quiet cobbled street (daily 11:00-24:00, best to reserve for outdoor seating, Via della Croce 76b, tel. 06-679-0896, anticaenotecaroma.com).
Palatium Enoteca Regionale is a crisp, modern restaurant funded by the region of Lazio (home to Rome) to show off its finest agricultural fare. Surrounded by locals, you’ll enjoy generous, shareable plates of cheeses and salumi, a limited menu of pasta and meat, and a huge selection of local wine (€12-16 plates, Mon-Sat 12:30-15:30 & 19:30-22:30, closed Sun and Aug, 5 blocks in front of the Spanish Steps at Via Frattina 94, tel. 06-6920-2132).
Gusto Wine Bar is a convenient choice for a glass of wine or a light meal. Popular with trendy locals, it gives a glimpse of today’s Roman scene, though some of the decor has a 1930s ambience. While much of the food at their other nearby venues is pricey (and mediocre), the weekday €11 lunch buffet (12:30-15:30) is a good value. During happy hour (18:00-21:00) you get a light, self-service meal with your drink for €10-12 (daily 11:00-2:00 in the morning, kitchen closes at 24:00; just behind the Ara Pacis at Via della Frezza 23, tel. 06-322-6273).
Caffè Ciampini is delightfully set on one of my favorite traffic-free squares in the center of town. The food will win no awards—and you pay for the location—so I’d only stop here to sit outside and people-watch. This is a good place to make the scene with trendy and professional Romans. The cocktails come with a little tray of finger sandwiches and nuts; for some it’s a light and inexpensive meal (€7-15 pizzas, salads, pastas, sandwiches; Piazza San Lorenzo in Lucina 29, tel. 06-687-6606, ciampini.com).
Eating Light on the Via della Croce: Two blocks north of the Spanish Steps, the Via della Croce offers a few simple options for a light meal or snack. Pastificio (#8) is a pasta shop that serves up two types of fresh pasta each day at 13:00. There are only a few stools, so you might be eating in the street (off a plastic plate), but for €4 you also get water and a “drop of wine for the most deserving”—be nice and say “per favore” (daily 13:00-16:00 or when the pasta is gone). Pompi (#82), the self-proclaimed “kingdom of tiramisu,” features several flavors (classic, strawberry, pistachio) in €4 portions. Farther along, Venchi (#25-26) has chocolate in every form—good for their rich gelato and edible souvenirs. For more formal, sit-down options, Antica Enoteca (see earlier) is also on this street. Tucked away in a quiet, vine-covered courtyard, Trattoria Otello alla Concordia (#81) is a decent choice for traditional food served in a slightly faded old-time atmosphere (€10-12 pastas, €12-15 secondi, Mon-Sat 12:30-15:00 & 19:30-23:00, closed Sun, tel. 06-679-1178).
Within a block of the Colosseum and Forum, you’ll find convenient eateries catering to weary sightseers, offering neither memorable food nor good value. To get your money’s worth, stick with one of these good choices or head farther away. The characteristic Monti neighborhood, with a number of casual options, is several blocks north of the Forum (head up Via Cavour and then left on Via dei Serpenti; the action centers on Piazza della Madonna dei Monti and unfolds along Via dei Serpenti, Via del Boschetto, and Via Leonina/Urbana). For locations, see the map on here.
Enoteca Cavour 313 is a wine bar with a mission: to offer good wine and food with an old-fashioned commitment to value and friendly service. Its slightly unconventional menu, ranging from couscous and salads to high-quality affettati (cold cuts) and cheese, makes a nice alternative to the usual pasta/pizza choices. With a mellow ambience under lofts of wine bottles, it’s a favorite at any time, but especially for a convenient lunch (€7-14 basic plates, daily 12:30-14:45 & 19:00-24:00, 100 yards off Via dei Fori Imperiali at Via Cavour 313, tel. 06-678-5496, Angelo, Massimo, and Pulika).
Taverna Romana, run by the same folks as Cavour 313, is small and simple, serving traditional classics made with quality ingredients. Reserve for the earliest seating, or join the locals and add your name to the waitlist for the later seating (€8 pastas, €12 secondi, Mon-Sat 12:30-14:45 & 19:00-23:00, closed Sun, cash only, Via Madonna dei Monti 79, tel. 06-474-5325).
Hostaria da Nerone is a traditional place serving hearty classics, including tasty homemade pasta dishes. Their antipasti plate—with a variety of veggies, fish, and meat—is a good value for a quick lunch. While the antipasti menu indicates specifics, you can have a plate of whatever’s out—just direct the waiter to assemble the €10 antipasti plate of your lunchtime dreams (€11 pastas, €13-15 secondi, Mon-Sat 12:00-15:00 & 19:00-23:00, closed Sun, indoor/outdoor seating, Via delle Terme di Tito 96, tel. 06-481-7952, Teo and Eugenio).
Caffè dello Studente, next door to Hostaria da Nerone, is popular with engineering students attending the nearby University of Rome. The owners—Pina, Mauro, their perky daughter Simona, and their son-in-law Emiliano (the last two speak English)—give my readers a friendly welcome. They serve average, microwaved bar gastronomia fare—toasted sandwiches, salads, and mixed bruschetta. If it’s not busy, show this book when you order at the bar and sit at a table without paying extra (Mon-Sat 7:30-21:00, April-Oct Sun 9:00-20:00, Nov-March closed Sun, Via delle Terme di Tito, tel. 06-488-3240).
Trattoria Luzzi is a well-worn, no-frills eatery serving simple food in a high-energy environment (as they’ve done since 1945). With good prices, big portions, and proximity to the Colosseum, it draws a crowd—reserve or expect a short wait at lunch and after 19:30 (€5-7 pastas, €7 pizzas, €7-12 secondi, Thu-Tue 12:00-24:00, closed Wed, Via San Giovanni in Laterano 88, tel. 06-709-6332). If Luzzi is jam-packed, as it often is, Ristorante Pizzeria Naumachia (next door at Via Celimontana 7, tel. 06-700-2764) is a bit more upscale and serves good-quality pizza and pastas at good prices.
La Taverna dei Quaranta, a casual neighborhood favorite, has a humble, red-checkered tablecloth ambience. In the evening, they fire up the wood oven for pizza, to go along with a basic menu of Roman classics and seasonal specialties. As the place caters mostly to locals, service can be a bit slow and straightforward—but it’s a good bet in this touristy area (€8 pastas, €8-13 secondi, daily 12:00-15:30 & 19:00-23:30, Via Claudia 24, tel. 06-700-0550).
Enoteca Nel Cuore di Roma sits overlooking Trajan’s Column. It’s a modern little place with a cool, peaceful, and well-lit dining room and a few outside tables. It celebrates Roman cuisine with fresh local produce and daily €13 specials, including wine (daily 11:00-23:30, Foro Traiano 82, tel. 06-6994-0273).
(See “Restaurants near Termini Station” map, here.)
These restaurants are near my recommended hotels on Via Firenze. Several are clustered on Via Flavia, others are nearby (Target, etc.), and a few, such as Bar Tavola Calda, are good options for quick meals.
(See “Restaurants near Termini Station” map, here.)
To easily check out a fun and varied selection of eateries within a block of each other, walk to Via Flavia (a block behind the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria of St. Teresa in Ecstasy fame) and survey these choices—an old-time restaurant, a good pizzeria, a small romantic place, and a friendly wine bar.
Ristorante da Giovanni, well-worn and old-fashioned, makes no concessions to tourism or the modern world—just hardworking cooks and waiters serving standard dishes at great prices to a committed clientele. It’s simply fun to eat in the middle of this high-energy, Roman time warp (€6-12 pastas and secondi, daily specials, Mon-Sat 12:00-15:00 & 19:00-22:00, closed Sun and Aug, corner of Via XX Settembre at Via Antonio Salandra 1, tel. 06-485-950).
Ristorante la Pentolaccia, pricier and more romantic than the nearby Da Giovanni, is a dressy, tourist-friendly place with tight seating and traditional Roman cooking—consider their daily specials. This is a local hangout, and reservations are smart (€8-12 pastas, €10-18 secondi, daily 12:00-15:00 & 17:30-23:00, a block off Via XX Settembre at Via Flavia 38, tel. 06-483-477, lapentolaccia.eu). To start things off with a free bruschetta, keep this book on the table.
Pizzeria Annicinquanta, big and classic, serves the neighborhood’s favorite pizzas in a calm ambience with outdoor seating (€8 Neapolitan-style pizzas, €10-18 pastas and secondi, daily 12:15-15:30 & 19:30-24:00 except no lunch on Sat, Via Flavia 3, tel. 06-4201-0460).
I Colori del Vino Enoteca is a modern wine bar that feels like a laboratory of wine appreciation. It has woody walls of bottles, a creative menu of affettati (cold cuts) and cheeses with different regional themes, and a great list of fine wines by the glass. Helpful, English-speaking Marco carries on a long family tradition of celebrating the fundamentals of good nutrition: fine wine, cheese, meat, and bread (Mon-Fri 12:00-15:00 & 17:30-23:00, closed Sat-Sun because Marco doesn’t cater to noisy weekend drinkers, corner of Via Flavia and Via Aureliana, tel. 06-474-1745). Remember Shakespeare’s sage warning about drinking: “It provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance.”
(See “Restaurants near Termini Station” map, here.)
Target Restaurant seems to be the favorite recommendation of every hotel receptionist and tour guide for this neighborhood. It has a sleek look, capable service, and reliably good food (€8-12 salads, pastas, and pizzas; €17-20 secondi, daily 12:00-15:00 & 19:00-24:00 except no lunch on Sun, reserve to specify seating outside or inside—avoid getting seated in basement, Via Torino 33, tel. 06-474-0066, targetrestaurant.it).
Hostaria Romana is a busy bistro with a hustling and fun-loving gang of waiters, and noisy walls graffitied by happy eaters. As its menu specializes in traditional Roman dishes, it’s a good place to try saltimbocca alla romana or bucatini all’amatriciana. Their €10 antipasti plate, with a variety of vegetables and cheeses, makes a hearty start to your meal (€9 pastas, €14 secondi, Mon-Sat 12:30-15:00 & 19:15-23:00, closed Sun and Aug, reservations smart, a block up the lane just past the entrance to the big tunnel near the Trevi Fountain, corner of Via Rasella and Via del Boccaccio, tel. 06-474-5284, hostariaromana.it).
Pizzeria Ricci Est Est Est, a venerable family-run pizzeria, has plenty of historical ambience, good €8 pizzas, and dangerously tasty fritti, such as fried baccalà (cod) and zucchini flowers (Tue-Sun 19:00-24:00, closed Mon and Aug, Via Genova 32, tel. 06-488-1107).
(See “Restaurants near Termini Station” map, here.)
Bar Tavola Calda is a workers’ favorite for a quick, cheap lunch. They have good, fresh, hot dishes ready to go for a fine price. Head back past the bar to peruse their enticing display, point at what you want, then grab a seat and the young waitstaff will serve you (Mon-Fri 6:00-18:00, closed Sat-Sun, Via Torino 40, tel. 06-474-2767).
Snack Bar puts out a lunchtime display of inexpensive pastas, colorful sandwiches, fresh fruit, and salad. Their loyal customers appreciate the fruit salad with yogurt (daily 6:00-24:00, Via Firenze 33, tel. 06-9784-3866, Enrica).
Forno Firenze makes simple sandwiches, has a selection of well-priced wine, and stocks a few other goodies for a picnic to go (sandwiches priced by weight, Mon-Fri 7:00-19:00, Sat 8:00-14:00, closed Sun, Via Firenze 51-52, tel. 06-488-5035, Giovanni).
Bufala e Pachino Pizza is a convenient place for pizza by the slice (al taglio) and priced by weight—just point and tell them how much you’d like. Their supplí (fried rice balls filled with mozzarella), at just €1 each, make for cheap, filling snacks (daily 8:00-23:00, Via Firenze 54).
Flann O’Brien Irish Pub is an entertaining place for a light meal of pasta...or something other than pasta, such as grilled meats and giant salads, served early and late, when other places are closed. They have Irish beer, live sporting events on TV, and perhaps the most Italian crowd of all. Walk way back before choosing a table. Live bands often play on Thursday or Friday evenings (daily 7:00-24:00, Via Nazionale 17, at intersection with Via Napoli, tel. 06-488-0418).
As in the Colosseum area, eateries near the Vatican cater to exhausted tourists. Avoid the restaurant-pushers handing out fliers: They’re usually hawking places with bad food and expensive menu tricks. Instead, tide yourself over with a slice of pizza or at any of these eateries (see map on here), and save your splurges for elsewhere.
(See “Hotels & Restaurants near Vatican City” map, here.)
These are a stone’s throw from the Vatican wall, located halfway between St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museum. They’re all fast and cheap, with a good gelateria next door.
Hostaria dei Bastioni, run by Antonio while Emilio cooks, has noisy street-side seating and a quiet interior (€8 pastas, €8-12 secondi, Mon-Sat 12:00-15:30 & 18:30-23:00, closed Sun, at corner of Vatican wall at Via Leone IV 29, tel. 06-3972-3034).
L’Insalata Ricca is another branch of the popular chain that serves hearty salads and pastas (daily April-Oct 12:30-23:30, closes between lunch and dinner in off-season, across from Vatican walls at Piazza Risorgimento 5, tel. 06-3973-0387).
Duecento Gradi is a good bet for fresh and creative €5 sandwiches. Munch your lunch on a stool or take it away (daily 11:00-24:00, Piazza Risorgimento 3, tel. 06-3975-4239).
Gelato: Gelateria Old Bridge scoops up hearty portions of fresh gelato for tourists and nuns alike—join the line (daily 10:00-23:00, just off Piazza Risorgimento across from Vatican walls at Via Bastioni 3).
(See “Hotels & Restaurants near Vatican City” map, here.)
The first three listings—the restaurant, the streets with pizza shops, and the covered market—are near the Vatican Museum. The Borgo Pio eateries are near St. Peter’s Basilica.
Ristorante La Rustichella serves tasty wood-fired pizza and the usual pasta in addition to their antipasti buffet (€8 for a single plate) in a no-frills, neighborhood setting. Do like the Romans do—take a moderate amount of antipasti and make one trip only (Tue-Sun 12:30-15:00 & 19:00-24:00, closed Mon, near Metro: Cipro, opposite church at end of Via Candia, Via Angelo Emo 1, tel. 06-3972-0649). Consider the fun and fruity Gelateria Millennium next door.
Viale Giulio Cesare and Via Candia: These streets are lined with cheap pizza rustica shops, self-serve places, and basic eateries. Forno Feliziani (Via Candia 61, tel. 06-3973-7362) is a good bet for pizza by the slice and simple cafeteria-style dishes.
Covered Market: As you collect picnic supplies, turn your nose loose in the wonderful Mercato Trionfale covered market. It’s one of the best in the city, located three blocks north of the Vatican Museum (Mon-Sat roughly 7:00-14:00, Tue and Fri some stalls stay open until 19:00, closed Sun, corner of Via Tunisi and Via Andrea Doria). If the market is closed, try several nearby supermarkets; the most convenient is Carrefour Express (Mon-Sat 8:00-20:00, Sun 9:00-20:00, Via Sebastiano Veniero 16).
Along Borgo Pio: The pedestrians-only Borgo Pio—a block from Piazza San Pietro—has restaurants worth a look, such as Tre Pupazzi (Mon-Sat 12:00-15:00 & 19:00-23:00, closed Sun, at corner of Via Tre Pupazzi and Borgo Pio, tel. 06-686-8371). At Vecchio Borgo, across the street, you can get pasta, pizza slices, and veggies to go (Mon-Sat 9:00-21:00, closed Sun, Borgo Pio 27a, tel. 06-8117-3585).
Rome’s main train station is the centrally located Termini train station, which has connections to the airport. Rome’s other major station is the Tiburtina bus/train station, which is starting to get some high-speed rail connections, including privately run Italo trains. For in-depth descriptions of Termini and Tiburtina stations, see here.
Smaller stations include Ostiense (some high-speed rail service, mostly Italo) and its neighbor, Porta San Paolo (connections to Ostia Antica). If you’re staying near the Vatican and taking a regional train, it saves time to get off at the San Pietro train station rather than at Termini.
The most convenient connections for travelers nearly always depart from Termini, but as a precaution, it’s always smart to confirm whether your train departs from Termini or Tiburtina.
From Rome’s Termini Station by Train to: Venice (roughly hourly, 3.5 hours, overnight possible), Florence (at least hourly, 1.5 hours), Siena (1-2/hour, 1 change, 3-3.5 hours), La Spezia Centrale (7/day direct, more with transfers in Pisa, 3-4.5 hours), Milan (hourly, 3-8 hours, overnight possible), Milan’s Malpensa Airport (6/day, 5 hours, 2 changes), Amsterdam (6/day, 20 hours), Interlaken (5/day, 6.5-8 hours), Frankfurt (6/day, 11-12 hours), Munich (5/day, 10-11.5 hours, 1 direct night train, 11.5 hours), Nice (7/day, 8.75-10.5 hours), Paris (3/day, 11-12 hours, 1-2 changes), Vienna (2/day, 11.75 hours, 1 direct night train, 12 hours).
From Rome’s Tiburtina Station by Train to: Florence (almost hourly, 1.5 hours), Milan (almost hourly, 3-3.5 hours), Naples (11/day, 1.25 hours), Venice (5/day, 3.5 hours).
Rome’s two airports—Fiumicino (a.k.a. Leonardo da Vinci, airport code: FCO) and the small Ciampino (airport code: CIA)—share the same website adr.it).
Rome’s major airport has a TI (in Terminal 3, daily 8:00-19:30), ATMs, banks, luggage storage, shops, and bars. The Rome Walks website (romewalks.com) has a useful video on options for getting into the city from the airport. For airport information, call 06-65951. To inquire about flights, call 06-6595-3640.
The slick, direct Leonardo Express train connects the airport and Rome’s central Termini train station in 30 minutes for €14. Trains run twice hourly in both directions from roughly 6:00 to 23:00 (leaving the airport usually at :08 and :38). From the airport’s arrival gate, follow signs to the train car icon or Stazione/Railway Station. Buy your ticket from a machine, the Biglietteria office, or a newsstand near the platform; then validate it in a yellow machine near the track. Make sure the train you board is going to the central “Roma Termini” station, not “Roma Orte” or others.
Going from Termini train station to the airport, trains depart at about :22 and :52 past the hour, usually from track 24. Check the departure boards for “Fiumicino Aeroporto”—the local name for the airport—and confirm with an official or a local on the platform that the train is indeed going to the airport (€14, buy ticket from any tobacco shop or a newsstand in the station, or at the self-service machines, Termini-Fiumicino trains run 5:52-22:52). Read your ticket: If it requires validation, stamp it in the green or yellow machines near the platform before boarding. From the train station at the airport, you can access most of the terminals. American airlines flying direct to the US depart from Terminal 5, which is a separate building not connected to the rest of the terminals. If you arrive by train, catch the T5 shuttle bus (navetta) on the sidewalk in front of Terminal 3—it’s too far to walk with luggage.
Allow lots of time going in either direction; there’s a fair amount of transportation involved (e.g., getting from your hotel to Termini, the ride to the airport, the walk from the airport train station to check-in, etc.). Flying to the US involves an extra level of security—plan on getting to the airport even earlier than normal (flying transatlantic, I like to arrive 2.5 hours ahead of my flight; within Europe, 2 hours is usually sufficient).
The Terravision Express bus connects Fiumicino and Termini train station, departing roughly every 40 minutes (€6 one-way, €11 round-trip; leaves the airport from Terminal 3, leaves Termini Station from Via Marsala—just outside the exit closest to track 1; one hour, terravision.eu). The SIT Bus Shuttle also connects Fiumicino and Termini (€6 one-way, €11 round-trip, similar schedule and info to Terravision, tel. 06-592-3507, sitbusshuttle.com). While cheaper than the train, the buses take twice as long and can potentially fill up (allow plenty of extra time).
Shuttle van services run to and from the airport and can be economical for one or two people. It’s cheaper from the airport to downtown, as several companies compete for this route; by surveying the latest deals, you should be able to snare a ride into town for around €10. To get from your hotel to the airport, consider Rome Airport Shuttle (€25/1 person, extra people-€6 each, by reservation only, tel. 06-4201-4507 or 06-4201-3469, airportshuttle.it).
A taxi between Fiumicino and downtown Rome takes 45 minutes in normal traffic (for tips on taxis, see here). If you’re catching a taxi at the airport, be sure to wait at the taxi stand. Avoid unmarked, unmetered taxis; these guys will try to tempt you away from the taxi-stand lineup by offering an immediate (rip-off) ride. Rome’s and Fiumicino’s official taxis have a fixed rate to and from the airport (€48 for up to four people with normal-size bags).
Cabbies not based in Rome or Fiumicino are allowed to charge €70 for the ride. That sign is posted next to the €48-fare sign—confusing many tourists and allowing dishonest cabbies to overcharge. It’s best to use a Rome city cab, with the words “Rome Capitale” and the “SPQR” shield on the door. They can only charge €48 for the ride to anywhere in the historic center (within the old city walls, where most of my recommended hotels are located).
If your cab driver tries to charge you more than €48 from the airport into town, say, “Quarant’otto euro—è la legge” (kwah-RAHN-OH-toh eh-OO-roh—eh lah LEH-jeh; which means, “Forty-eight euros—it’s the law”), and they should back off.
To get from the airport into town cheaply by taxi, try teaming up with any tourist also just arriving (most are heading for hotels near yours in the center). When you’re departing Rome, your hotel can arrange a taxi to the airport at any hour.
Rome’s smaller airport (tel. 06-6595-9515) handles charter flights and some budget airlines (including all Ryanair flights).
To get to downtown Rome from the airport, you can take the Cotral bus, which leaves every 40 minutes (€5, 20-minute ride, toll-free tel. 800-174-471, cotralspa.it), to the Anagnina Metro stop, where you can connect by Metro to the stop nearest your hotel. Rome Airport Shuttle also offers service to and from Ciampino (€25/1 person, listed earlier). The Terravision Express Shuttle connects Ciampino and Termini train station (€6 one-way, €8 round-trip, about 2/hour, 45 minutes, Termini to Ciampino pickup on Via Marsala outside the station next to the Terracafé, tel. 06-9761-0632, terravision.eu). The SIT Bus Shuttle also connects Termini to Ciampino (€6 one-way, €8 round-trip, about 2/hour, 45 minutes, pickup on Via Marsala just outside the train exit closest to track 1, tel. 06-592-3507, sitbusshuttle.com). A taxi should cost €30 to downtown (within the old city walls, including most of my recommended hotels).