Visiting Rome.

[EvertonCJ]

Hi all. I am taking my lovely wife to Rome in a few weeks for a 3 night break. We will be visiting the obvious sites such as the Coliseum and the Vatican City. Are there any hidden gems that you suggest we visit? We will be eating out each evening. We would love to find some non-tourist type restaurants if anybody could recommend any. Many thanks.

 

[AndyC]

Hi all. I am taking my lovely wife to Rome in a few weeks for a 3 night break. We will be visiting the obvious sites such as the Coliseum and the Vatican City. Are there any hidden gems that you suggest we visit? We will be eating out each evening. We would love to find some non-tourist type restaurants if anybody could recommend any. Many thanks.

If you're not overtly religious, you might find the Vatican to be a long, long and potentially boring tour, it definitely helps if you're a practising Catholic.
The Coliseum is utterly amazing and the Pantheon is, from a constructional engineering perspective alone, marvellous.
Visit the catacombs, eerie but worth it.
There are thousands of restaurants, Rome is a culinary feast.

 

[EvertonCJ]

If you're not overtly religious, you might find the Vatican to be a long, long and potentially boring tour, it definitely helps if you're a practising Catholic.
The Coliseum is utterly amazing and the Pantheon is, from a constructional engineering perspective alone, marvellous.
Visit the catacombs, eerie but worth it.
There are thousands of restaurants, Rome is a culinary feast.

Thanks for replying Andy. Neither of us are religious, but, my wife is keen to visit the Vatican City. Will definitely visit the Pantheon. Should we book tickets for the Coliseum before we go or wait until we get there? Thanks for your help.

 

[orly]

Interesting fact: It wasn't built in a day! Who knew?!

 

[AndyC]

Thanks for replying Andy. Neither of us are religious, but, my wife is keen to visit the Vatican City. Will definitely visit the Pantheon. Should we book tickets for the Coliseum before we go or wait until we get there? Thanks for your help.

You should be okay to get tix for the Coliseum while you're there, it's not high summer so whilst it will be busy, it probably won't be utterly manic.
Seriously mate, the tour of the Vatican is longgggggggggg, and if neither of you are seriously religious, I would suggest swerving the tour and just go to St.Peters and wander around the VC. If she really, really, really wants to see the Sistine Chapel, then you'll have to do the tour, but wear comfy shoes... and don't go first thing in the morning. People will tell you to go and get there before 10am, if you do the tour, go about 1pm when it should be a bit quieter.

 

[canuckblue]

Just do what the Romans do.

 

[EvertonCJ]

You should be okay to get tix for the Coliseum while you're there, it's not high summer so whilst it will be busy, it probably won't be utterly manic.
Seriously mate, the tour of the Vatican is longgggggggggg, and if neither of you are seriously religious, I would suggest swerving the tour and just go to St.Peters and wander around the VC. If she really, really, really wants to see the Sistine Chapel, then you'll have to do the tour, but wear comfy shoes... and don't go first thing in the morning. People will tell you to go and get there before 10am, if you do the tour, go about 1pm when it should be a bit quieter.

So you have to sign up for a formal tour to see the Sistine Chapel or can you just pay to view it on your own?

 

[AndyC]

So you have to sign up for a formal tour to see the Sistine Chapel or can you just pay to view it on your own?

99.9% certain from memory of our visit that you have to do the tour to see the SC and being honest, we got bored and it took around 2.5 hours or more... and the SC when you get eventually there will be packed.
We were more or less herded through it like sheep because of the queue behind waiting to get in.

 

[AndyC]

Rome has so much to offer mate, don't get hung up over the Vatican.
Lots of churches to visit if you want a taste of the religious artistry etc.
You can spend ages wandering around the Forum area, it is spellbinding.

 

[Ball Horse Eyes]

Definitely try to get to Roma Sparita for a proper Italian meal (www.romasparita.com) - it's way off the tourist track but the food there is absolutely incredible. They serve pasta in a bowl made of fried parmesan and you just eat the "bowl" when you're done. It's immense.

I'd also recommend the crypt of the Capuchin monks (Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini). Macabre, maybe, but it is worth seeing. Gave me a humbling sense of my own mortality mixed with a feeling that people really didn't have much to do in the days before TV, except make incredibly elaborate stuff out of bones...

Long shot but if you or your wife are into horror movies, it's worth going to the Profondo Rosso shop - run by Luigi Cozzi (director of Starcrash and Contamination), it's a (wildly overpriced) horror memorabilia shop but with a Dario Argento museum in the basement that's really awesome if you're a fan.

Oh, and get yourself a granita from the shop opposite the Pantheon with "GRANITA" written on the sign above it. A revelation of a drink!

 

[Seathestars]

Beware the ides of March

 

[Philw]

You should be okay to get tix for the Coliseum while you're there, it's not high summer so whilst it will be busy, it probably won't be utterly manic.
Seriously mate, the tour of the Vatican is longgggggggggg, and if neither of you are seriously religious, I would suggest swerving the tour and just go to St.Peters and wander around the VC. If she really, really, really wants to see the Sistine Chapel, then you'll have to do the tour, but wear comfy shoes... and don't go first thing in the morning. People will tell you to go and get there before 10am, if you do the tour, go about 1pm when it should be a bit quieter.

@EvertonCJ

If you do go into St Peters remember to be well covered, no short skirts or bare shoulders. Prob more applicable to your wife tbh...

 

[EvertonCJ]

Definitely try to get to Roma Sparita for a proper Italian meal (www.romasparita.com) - it's way off the tourist track but the food there is absolutely incredible. They serve pasta in a bowl made of fried parmesan and you just eat the "bowl" when you're done. It's immense.

I'd also recommend the crypt of the Capuchin monks (Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini). Macabre, maybe, but it is worth seeing. Gave me a humbling sense of my own mortality mixed with a feeling that people really didn't have much to do in the days before TV, except make incredibly elaborate stuff out of bones...

Long shot but if you or your wife are into horror movies, it's worth going to the Profondo Rosso shop - run by Luigi Cozzi (director of Starcrash and Contamination), it's a (wildly overpriced) horror memorabilia shop but with a Dario Argento museum in the basement that's really awesome if you're a fan.

Oh, and get yourself a granita from the shop opposite the Pantheon with "GRANITA" written on the sign above it. A revelation of a drink!

Romasparita sounds perfect. Thanks. Mrs EvertonCJ doesn't like anything too scary. She's lived with me for 29 years the poor girl.

 

[blueloon]

99.9% certain from memory of our visit that you have to do the tour to see the SC and being honest, we got bored and it took around 2.5 hours or more... and the SC when you get eventually there will be packed.
We were more or less herded through it like sheep because of the queue behind waiting to get in.

We had a completly different experience . Picked a tour that got good reviews, about a dozen English speakers on it, informative guide , covers the SC and the best bits in about 1.5 hrs really enjoyed it . Yep they let them into the SC in batches , but worth it.
We caught metro out to Coliseums, did tour and then walked back through the sites to VC taking in lunch at Piazza Navonne , which is close to Pantheon.

 

[WA Toffee]

So you have to sign up for a formal tour to see the Sistine Chapel or can you just pay to view it on your own?

You don't have to join an official tour, we just paid the admission and walked around on our own. If I remember correctly, you also need to take your passport. If you are planning on taking photos of the ceiling be very discreet as it is not allowed. One of the security guys saw my wife taking some and made her delete them.
Also, don't sit down at a cafe unless you want the price to be tripled. And pretty much every cafe will give you free wifi when you buy a coffee