If you missed my Italy Trip Part 1: Florence & Tuscany post, click here to read!
Click here for a PDF of our itinerary.
To pick up where I left off after that post, we took the Italo bullet train back from Florence and we got off in Rome, and our friends headed back to Naples because they had to work Tuesday-Friday. We were lucky they had off for Memorial Day, allowing us an extra day over the weekend with them! So Craig & I got off at the Roma Termini station. From there we bought a 48 hour pass to the metro, and got on the next one up to our stop, which was the Spagna stop. We got off and little did we know, that stop put us right there at the Spanish Steps! So that was unintentionally the first thing that we saw.
We walked about 4-5 blocks to our hotel, which I found on a flash sale at booking.com, called La Maison D’art Spagna. I really didn’t know where we should stay when I booked, generally the theme for the places I picked where that the price wasn’t through the roof and it appeared to be walkable on the map to the sights we wanted to see, or at least centrally located.
It was a really nice hotel in an old palazzo, and we had a view of the top of the Spanish Steps! We had a small room but it was all we needed. We were only in there when we were sleeping anyways 🙂
When we arrived it was close to dinner time, so we changed and headed to find a good spot to eat! Going into Rome, we had two places already picked out with reservations, but once we were there we were just more in the mood to walk and explore, so that’s what we did! We passed so many cute places but were looking for just the right ambiance. We found a small place on the corner of cobblestone streets with white lights strung up on the trees outside called Il Bacaro Vini & Cucina. We got a very private and romantic table in the corner of the restaurant, ordered a bottle of wine, a shrimp appetizer, and pasta for dinner of course. I got a mushroom tagliatelle and Craig got ravioli with bacon inside. Then of course we ordered dessert and decided to split a tiramisu. Well it came out in a cup! Their take on a tiramisu. It was still delicious!
On the way back to the hotel we walked a bit more and decided to go check out the Spanish Steps at night. Luckily they were a little less crowded and so beautiful with the lights on them!
The next morning we were up early to try and beat crowds at some hot spots. Trevi Fountain was up first, it was about a 15 minute walk from our hotel and we got there around 7am. There were some people but it was manageable to get some pictures without others in them, which I considered a victory!
From there we continued walking until we saw the Colosseum in the distance. Y’all, this really took my breath away. It was my favorite touristy thing we did in Rome. It’s just so cool and big and old! We got tickets for a guided tour (I recommend this and you get to skip the line) to the Colosseum as well as the Roman Forum. Here are some of my pictures:
After spending a few hours on our feet in the heat, we were ready to sit down and get some food in our bellies. I had been given a recommendation for Mimi e Coco so we headed there via foot (told y’all we walked a TON) and on the way there we passed the Pantheon. We were too hungry to stop, so we went to lunch first and then came back by there afterwards.
More pasta & wine! This was some of the best pasta of the trip. I just got the spaghetti pomodoro, basic as it gets but wow….SO GOOD.
Pantheon came next…
Then we walked through Piazza Navonna…
By this time it was around 4pm or so, and we were ready to head back to the hotel for a quick rest and recharge before dinner. We also really needed to shower…it was pretty hot out and we had been walking around since before 7am! We ended up showering and passing out for a little nap. 30 minutes was all we needed and it felt so good. We got up and ready for dinner and yet again had another reservation that we cancelled so we could walk around and explore 🙂 The good news is, if you go to Rome, don’t feel pressure to find reservations. There are SO MANY restaurants that you can easily just walk around and find something!
We really thought the Piazza Navonna area was really pretty so we walked back that way and found a little place on the side of the street called Osteria dell’Anima. We each got an Aperol Spritz and ordered pizza. It was pretty good but nothing to write home about. I think we were in such a touristy area that the places around there are probably not the best in terms of being really authentic, from scratch type places. But hey we were starving and it’s hard to give me a pizza I don’t like, haha.
After dinner we walked MORE (lol) around and found ourselves at the River right after a storm had passed. It was so pretty and peaceful!
Then we headed back to the hotel and passed out. We aren’t big “nightlife” people but I hear the nightlife in Rome is great, if that’s your thing. I just don’t have any recs in that department.
The next day was our last day in Rome and we had to check out of our hotel, meaning we had to figure out something to do with our bags. We found a bag drop place near the Roma Termini station and took the train there to drop them, then we got back on the train to head to the Vatican!
Oh my gosh, y’all. The Vatican was madness. PURE CHAOS. The Colosseum was nothing compared to this crowd (we later found out that the Pope had just spoken about 30 minutes before we arrived, hence the millions of people) so we found a place to buy another guided tour. This time, I personally would not recommend it. We got a tour of the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica. The museum portion was downright painful. It went on and on and on. So many people packed into such tiny spaces…I personally don’t care about the art that much so I was not enjoying it. And poor Craig’s headset went out so he couldn’t even hear what they were talking about. We finally came to the Sistine chapel (no photography is allowed inside) and while it’s impressive, I did find it to be a little underwhelming. It may be because I was so overwhelmed with all the people, and again I’m just not that into the art. It is impressive that one man did all of it so long ago, certainly. I found the Statue of David to be much more impressive, personally.
Then finally we came to St. Peter’s Basilica. This is the part I would recommend doing. Just get right in line (be there early!!) or get a tour of this. Wow is it impressive. Also side note–since it’s a sacred place, it is not allowed to show your shoulders OR your knees. If you go, plan to bring a jacket to cover your shoulders and possibly consider wearing a maxi dress or something long to cover your knees to be respectful. As a Catholic I did feel a really strong connection with this space and I truly enjoyed seeing it.
Again after all of this we were exhausted and found the first place for food. More pasta 🙂
And gelato of course!
Then we ventured back to Roma Termini to get our bags and get on our Italo train back to Naples. We were spending the night with our friends before heading to the Amalfi Coast. More on that in Part 3!
xo,
Bess
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