I'm going to Rome, Italy

Calif-Sherry · September 2007

Hello everyone..... I'm taking a trip to Rome next month. Anybody out there want to share information. Don't have my plans together yet, so, if you want to share experiences, suggestions, etc., please do.... Thanks, Sherry

Anonymous · September 2007

Sherry...I'm soooooo jealous! My ex and his new wife just came back from a cruise to Italy and spent time in Rome and Venice. They just loved it, especially the history, the architecture and the food!

So I don't have any info to share, but have you read Eat, Pray, Love? I'm waiting for it to be available at my library, but the first part takes place in Italy....you might want to check it out, just to get a flavor, ya know?

~Marin

EachDay · September 2007

I was in Rome 34 years ago (!) so I know things will have changed "somewhat" since then!!! Wink But you must try the gelato if you do nothing else, and go to Trevi fountain and throw a coin or 3...depending on what you want your wish to be.

There is a woman on the boards who lives in Italy outside of Rome, her screen name is Blundin2005, her first name is Marilyn. You can do a search and send her a PM and I'm sure she'd have many great ideas for places to see and things to do.

Anonymous · September 2007

I went about 8 years ago...

You will want to get Rick Steve's book on visiting Italy, try to see if there is one out on Rome specifically.

If you are Catholic you will want to get in touch with the Vatican so you can do a special tour, the Scavi, which is UNDER St Peter's Basillica. You will see the pagan burial grounds and tombs which the church is built on top of. You will learn why it's built where it is ... why the altar in the middle of the church is where it is (not in front and not centered)

I really enjoyed seeing the Forum, the Colisseum, La Boca de Veritas, Palentine Hill, Circus Maximus, etc ... don't forget the Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museums, Temple of Minerva (now a church Santa Maria sopra Minerva), the Pantheon (a temple, now church, dedicated to all gods [pan = all]). Visiting the fountains is amazing but a guide book is a must to find out why so many fountains exist. They weren't just gathering places but that's where the people would go down to get their water! Gotta get the guide book!! Spanish Steps! Have fun!

Minerva Pantheon

Anonymous · September 2007

Regarding the Pantheon (the temple with the "eye" in the top of the roof):

"The Great Eye at the dome's apex is the source of all light and is symbolic of the sun. Its original circular bronze cornice remains in position. The oculus also serves as a cooling and ventilation method. As wind passes over the dome of the Pantheon, it is accelerated and creates a negative pressure zone called the Venturi effect. This pulls air out of the oculus at the top of the dome, drawing more air in from the portico entrance. Obviously when it rains the water falls straight through the oculus, however the floor beneath has tiny holes in it to allow the water to escape. When the Pantheon was still dedicated to the Roman gods, the large number of flames for all the gods produced a vast amount of smoke which escaped out the top. When it rained, water would not be an issue because the smoke would keep the rain from falling through the Great Eye."
"The exact composition of the Roman concrete used in the dome remains a mystery. An unreinforced dome in these proportions made of modern concrete would hardly stand the load of its own weight, since concrete has very low tensile strength, yet the Pantheon has stood for centuries. It is known from Roman sources that their concrete is made up of a pasty hydrate of lime, with pozzolanic ash and lightweight pumice from a nearby volcano, and fist-sized pieces of rock. In this, it is very similar to modern concrete.^[2] The high tensile strength appears to come from the way the concrete was applied in very small amounts and then was tamped down after every application to remove excess water and trapped air bubbles. This appears to have increased its strength enormously."

iodine · September 2007

Boy, I can second Rick Steves books for travel! Especially great for museums and special sights. He's an art historian and gives good insight into what to see and what you are seening. Especially good on what to SKIP! He gives some good moderate priced resturants too.

Good shopping book "Born to Shop, Italy" , it was better in years past, until she sold out to Frommers. She spends too much time in the Name stores now, but worth a look when you go to Borders.,

-Lily of Florence for fantastic Itallian made, US sized, shoes. Good pricing, not cheap, but less than the big name brands. Via Lombardia 38. Right off Via Veneto.

We did a lot of picnics for lunch and when tired, did carpet picnics: take out food, bottle of wine and pj's in our room! Saves money and energy for the next day! If you like coctails, get a bottle of your liquor at duty free on the way out of the US, and have them in your room. Booze in resturants and bars is way expensive in Rome. Wine is not nearly so.

Oh, you'll have such a great time!

Anonymous · September 2007

Here's a fantastic article about the Scavi:

http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0735.html

Here are some of my favorite parts of that article:

"When the workmen began lowering the floor of the undercroft to accommodate the tomb of Pope Pius XI and renovate the grotto space, they discovered a series of tombs that, on further examination, seemed to be part of a kind of necropolis, complete with walls, streets, benches, funerary monuments, and so forth. Much of this had been disturbed or destroyed when the ancient Vatican Hill was leveled by Constantine's fourth-century builders, but a fair amount of it was still intact. While World War II raged across Europe, Pius XII quietly authorized a full-scale archaeological excavation of the area, which continued throughout the 1940s. ....

At the back of the Tropaion was a red wall; exposed to the elements, it began to crack, necessitating the construction of a buttressing wall to support the whole structure. When archaeologists unearthed the buttressing wall, they found it covered with graffiti. And it contained a secret, marble-lined repository. One piece of graffiti, decoded, seemed to say, "Peter is [here!]" ......

No one knows for sure. Archaeology isn't algebra; it yields probabilities rather than certainties. But reputable scientific opinion today holds that the excavations under St. Peter's in the 1940s - originally undertaken for an entirely different purpose - did yield the mortal remains of Peter.

Oddly enough, amid the fragments of Peter's skull, vertebrae, arms, hands, pelvis, and legs, there is nothing from the ankles on down. But perhaps that isn't so odd after all. If a man has been crucified upside down, as tradition says Peter was, the easiest way to remove what was left of his body (which may well have been turned into a living torch during his execution, in another refinement of Roman cruelty) would have been to chop off the deceased's feet and remove the rest of the corpse from its cross. ......"

Annie62 · November 2007

First, I want to say have a wonderful time. You will have a terrific time. I went last October for my 10th anniversary. Here is my simple high level advice.

Food:Don't worry about finding a particular restaurant from a guidebook to eat in. I'm fairly well traveled and have lived in and around NYC (a restaurant mecca) and found that in Rome, good food in all price ranges was easy to find. Avoid obviously touristy places. If you are in a major piazza, walk down a nearby side street and you are bound to find a reasonably priced very good restaurant. Order house wines - it's ALL good.

Sites:As for places to visit, the Vatican was amazingly impressive (reading about it didn't do it justice) and I loved the ancient ruins (I'm a history buff). I did a lot of research on tripadvisor.com. There were recommendations for cultural association tours by Angel tours and ICON. English speaking expats conduct very affordable small sized tours of the major sites. We did St Peters basiclica/vatican musuem and the coliseum/ancient forum tours. The guides mostly tell you stuff you can get in a guide book but it's much more fun to walk around and listen than to keep your nose in a book. Most favorite surprise for us - we took the public bus to the Appian way and went to the catacombs. It was a beautiful day, felt like you are in the country, had a great tour. There's a nice restaurant in the area if you are hungry. Recommended by a local altho we didn't eat as we weren't hungry. Also took a trip (again can go by bus - takes an hour) to Villa D'Este- a renaissance villa that had a specatular park of water follies (fancy fountains). There are other sites nearby if you have time (Hadrian's Villa is one).

Favorite neighborhood: Trastavere - lots of good reasonably priced restuarants, funky bars, street life. Good place to hang at night.

Preparation: Ready Dan Brown's Angels and Demons before you go. You learn about Rome's fountains a bit about the vatican, and some of the sites and get a kick seeing them when you are there.

IMO, Rick Steve's is a bit over-rated. I think he's great if you are going on a longish budget oriented trip and need to coordinate travel or haven't traveled in Europe before and need common sense advice. Good tips for traveling light etc. But if you are staying in one hotel (or renting an apartment which is a very affordable way to visit), you don't need to worry about that so much. Trip advisor was an awesome resource and they have 'local experts' who are helpful.

Misc: We shipped our bags fedex to hotel. Wasn't cheap but we got an extra full day of wandering the streets of Rome. Our flight got in at about 7 am and check in was around 2 pm. Took the train to/from the airport. Also took the buses, subway etc while in Rome. Figured what we saved on taxis covered some of the Fedex charge.

Have fun. When you come back give us a report and make us jealous!

Annie

Anonymous · November 2007

What a great idea to Fed Ex your baggage. Can't get lost that way! And easy to travel without them!!!!

Anonymous · November 2007

You know, she posted this thread last month and my guess is SHE'S THERE. Oh well, we can reminisce about our trips. I was looking forward to hearing some of her plans.

I'm going to Rome, Italy

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