I will be in Rome for one day-7 am til 7pm. My children have never seen the city and I would like them to get as complete a feel for the city as we can in this time period. I would appreciate all the help I can get. I have looked at many web sites and cannot tell a good one from the less than perfect. It has been 30-35 years since I have been to the city. We will be four and as much as I would love to walk around I know this is not really feasible. Of course going into the Vatican should be on the list-do we need tickets in advance? Thanks to anyone who can help. We will be in Rome the first Tuesday in August. Yes, I know it will be hot and that we will be true tourists in August--No choice this time around!
This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kim,
Posts: 1 | Location: Glen Rock, NJ USA | Registered: 27 June 2003
The historic center of Rome is quite compact; either my list or Pauline's would be very doable in a day. (Nothing in depth, of course, but time to see the highlights and stop for a few gelati. )
Posts: 14178 | Location: The Beautiful San Francisco Bay Area | Registered: 06 August 2001
Dee, you might want to take a look at the Traveling with Ed and Julie website, www.twenj.com there is a one day itinerary outlined there as well as lots of tips about Rome with kids.
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[This message was edited by Colleen on 27 June 2003 at 11:38 PM.]
We were in Rome for 4 days with the two terrors, ooops I mean Kay's and my Nephews (unrelated to each other, 12 and 13, one from California and one from Indiana, one angelico but a pain in the butt and the other una diavolo and a pain in the butt, both amazingly still alive although it was touch and go for a few days). If your kids are anything like they were ... well pray a lot. But here are some of the things the guys liked:
Gelato The Sistine Chapel Gelato The Colosseum Gelato Terme di Caracala Gelato San Clemente Gelato
This could all be done in a day if you start at first entrance at the Vatican and just do the Sistine.
Wherever you find yourself in Rome, take a cab to St. Peter's first thing in the morning. Tour St. Peter's then see if you can easily get in to see the Sistine Chapel. After that take a cab to the Piazza Navona. Take your time around there and the walk to the Pantheon. Explore the Pantheon relax in the Piazza della Rotunda there and then walk over to the Piazza della Minerva where you will explore the beautiful Santa Maria Sopra Minerva church. Also there is a Bernini whimsical Elephant on top of an Egyptian obelisk. It should be about 12.30 so now walk over to the restaurant Sant'Eustachio (five minute walk) in Piazza dei Caprettari for a good lunch. After lunch walk up Via Argentario, which is close to the restaurant, to Largo Argentario, which is just across the Corso Vittorio Emanuelle, to take a quick look at the dig there (and all the cats!). Look for a cab to take you to Michelangelo's Piazza del Campidoglio where you can look over the Roman Forum. From there walk over to the Colloseum to explore it. After that take a cab to the Spanish Steps to sit on the steps and rest. If you have the energy, and after a rest sitting on the steps, you can walk down Via Babuino to the Piazza del Popolo. Once there the children no doubt will be exhausted and hungry so walk down Via Ripetta which runs off the Piazza Del Popolo to Pizza Re' at Via Ripetta, 14 for a really good Neapolitan pizza. It should be getting close to seven by now...
Keep alert for gelataria as you walk around to keep the children's interest.
Peter
Posts: 1364 | Location: Essex Fells, NJ and Longboat Key, Florida | Registered: 21 July 2002
Dee - Peter's advice is perfect. Santa Maria Sopra Minerva church has the wonderful naked Christ by Michelangelo and Bocelli also did a Christmas concert from there.
Dean's list ran a close second to Peter's - except his list included too many non-important things. For Dean's list to be excellent, just emliminate The Sistine Chapel, The Colosseum, Terme di Caracala and San Clemente - and do all the other things he recommended.
I spent two weeks in Rome, in August ( !!) with my little son and we made as follows each morning...wits someone different in the afternoon fontanella Piazza Farnese fontanella Campo de fiori fontanella Piazza Navona fontanella looking around without maps...what we'll found behind the next corner??? another fontanella the children loves a lot the elephant in front of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. Expecially when you talk about the tempio romano under the church!!!!
I like everone elses ideas, but I will throw my two cents in as well.
The problem you will have is, is that your arrival into Rome is rather early. Most of the sites on the top ten list will not be open yet. With the exception of St. Peter's. I would go there first. If interested in the Museums and the Sistine Chapel, go get breakfast and and head to the que. Yes, there will be a que. There is no way to avoid it at that time of day. The doors do not open till 8:45. If you do the museum you will be out at the latest noon. From their, I would hail a taxi to Navona (look out the window as you pass the Castel). From Navona, I would walk to the Pantheon. Now it is time for your Gelati break. Two places to recommend. Try la Parma or Giolitti. Both are located just north of the pantheon. Or if you need a cappuccino, try St. Eustacchio or Taza D'oro, one is just west and the other just east of the pantheon. These are two of the best gelati and Cappuccino places in Rome.
Now I would walk down either walk down Via del Corso to Via Condotti (window shopping) and to the Spanish steps or get a taxi straight to them. From their I would walk to the Trevi Fountain. Throw your coins in, so tht you will return another time to have a "slow" experience in Rome. Walk to Piazza Venezia then over the Capitol hill Through the Campidolgio and doen into the Forum. Make sure you buy your tickets at the Palatine hill entrance at the forum, before you head to the Colosseum. This way you do not have to wait in the ridiculouslly long ticket line at the Collosseum. At this point it should be late afternoon and be approaching the end of your stay. If you have any free time left, I'm sure you can figure something out at that point. One thing that will definitely work to your advantage, is the fact that it is August, the traffic in the streets will be minimal. Your taxi rides will be alot quicker!
Tony Polzer Tour Operator 3 Millennia Tours www.threemillennia.com tony@threemillennia.com
Posts: 1224 | Location: Rome, Italy; Zagreb, Croatia | Registered: 12 February 2003
Since you have so much good advice here i will had one "You can skip this" to not waste your time with.
There is a cafe near the spanish steps that for years was a hang out for writers and romantics called Cafe El Greco. I am not a snob when it comes to service but I do require a mondicum of courtesy and the last three times I have been there I walked out shaking my head saying never again.
St. Eustacchio is a place Italian me take their sons for their first cafe.....the coffee is better and the service will give you great memories.
Dee, if you can at all manage it, rearrange your trip not to do this to yourselves. (Unless of course you are in town due to someone else's business plan, a cruise-ship stop, or some other unavoidable constraint, it shows very poor planning!)
Failing which, your best bet is certainly not to go to the Vatican and lock yourselves up in the Sistine Chapel and endless miles of museums -- you will have no idea of Rome at all.
You cannot possibly cover the Colosseum, the Forum, Pantheon, the Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain and St. Peter's in twelve hours. As a physical feat it can be done, by running yourself frazzled; but two years later you and your kids will remember nothing but crowds and taxis.
You don't mention how you're getting to Rome in the first place, i.e. where you arrive and where you leave from. In 12 hours, it makes a huge difference. Anyhoo, here's what I'd do if I had to do it for my kids:
If by train or bus at the main train station:
- Walk "A", old Rome: in the morning, walk down the via Cavour, see the church of S. Maria Maggiore, then the Colosseum. In small streets just off the via dei Fori Imperiali there are quite a few small pleasant and surprisingly untouristed restaurants: that's lunch. Afternoon: a walk in the Subura area near (generally N of) your restaurant, one of the most typical neighborhoods of Rome; then the Forum and the Capitol square. Cab back to the train station from the Piazza Venezia.
- Walk "B", a more contemporary Rome: in the morning, walk down the via Cavour to the church of S. Maria Maggiore, then the long straight street from the back of that church (which is on the via Cavour) -- via Depretis, Quattro Fontane, etc.: changes names but is quite unmistakable, no way of getting lost -- with stops at S. Carlo and the 4 Fountains, if you like museums at the Palazzo Barberini which can be seen in an hour, the Triton Fountain, the church and obelisk of Trinità de' Monti from which there is an excellent panorama of the City. From there, down to the Corso by the via Condotti; lunch somewhere in there. Afternoon: to the Piazza del Popolo, the gardens of the Villa Borghese, the via Veneto -- good opportunity to sit and have your Campari or gelato -- and back to the train station, by cab if tired.
If from the main airport: take a train then as above; not a cab, which is no faster, and a darn sight more expensive.
If by your own car: a bad idea, as noted, and an avoidable one: stay wherever you were and see a bit more of that place.
If by car, someone else dropping you off: let us know where, and a good itinerary can be worked out.
These are walks. The one thing not to do, if you have only one day to get to know a city, is to take public transportation: cost, wasting time in waits and the mechanics of tickets and so on, uncertainty, losing the opportunity to see anything, and disjointed feel for the city. I also assume that, since you want to see Rome, you'll have a map, or even have one now.
I had a wonderful speedster day and night in Rome last year, and I loved it so much that I will be back there for two full weeks this fall. My first hint is to be a bit ruthless: cut down your list of "must sees" to the things that you really have an interest in seeing, and don't have a second's regret about what you're "missing." You are keeping sane and seeing alot and all that you missed will be there for your next visit. One day, hmm. I'd start at the Piazza del Campidoglio at earliest light, looking out from behind the Senate building over the Forum down to the Colosseum. The left-hand museum has the beautiful equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, the scraps of the monumental Constantine, and the reclining Triton. Enough great art for a minute or two. If the kids want, and the adults as well, they can climb down and explore the Forum and even walk to the Colosseum; I think there is a handy cafe where you could wait for the kids, if you didn't want to explore with them. With a good guidebook and some native curiosity, one can absorb alot just by walking through someplace like the forum. One won't be any sort of expert or see everything, but the impressions will last a long time. Then I would walk to the Palazzo Doria-Pamphilj to check out a Roman palace and one great work of art, Velasquez's portrait of Innocent X. Then maybe a look in S. Ignazio, to see some wild baroqueness, then the Pantheon. Caffe and gelato break, for sure Then I would head for the Piazza Navona and lunch. After lunch, I would go to Saint Peter's and spend the afternoon there. I myself would not try to see the Vatican museum on a one-day trip, putting off the museums and the Sistine Chapel until another visit. After a visit to the basilica and a climb of the dome, a walk back across the Tiber into the center of Rome, looking for obelisks and fountains and more caffe/gelato stops, and it's seven o'clock. Relaxing and walking in Rome with your eyes wide-open are such wonderful activities in themselves that "seeing the sights" can take a back seat for such a short visit. You'll have a great day. Yrs, Robert
Posts: 821 | Location: Santa Monica, California | Registered: 23 March 2002
Bravo Robert, you have them following in the footsteps of Georgina Masson, much better to do ...specially remembering her sidelines such as "If you are tired by now..." and various other personal tidbits. May I plug another favorite guidebook (also cause I wrote the Rome with children part), the Eyewitness guide to Rome pub. by DK...if I only had a dime for every copy they sold...in the various languages and editions MJ
Mary Jane Elegant Etruria: Cultural Holidays - Travel Consultancy
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!!) with my little son and we made as follows each morning...wits someone different in the afternoon 
