PlayPlay

I posted the following question back in 2002 on another message board when I had planned on visiting Rome, but ended up going on a Baltic's cruise instead. That post is since gone, but I did find a copy of one of the replies in my old email.

Since my Rome plans are now definite for this year, I will post it again with one of the good answers I received back then. Please feel free to change the list with your preferences or add to it if you like. This insight from past visitors will give future visitors a good feel for what they should concentrate on while in Rome.

Please list your top 10 choices of "must sees" while in Rome for the first time.
If you have more than 10, please feel free to expand with more.

My Top Ten "Usual" Sights:

1. Colosseum
2. Forum
3. Pantheon
4. Trevi Fountain
5. St. Peter's Basilica
6. Spanish Steps
7. Piazza Navona
8. Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel
9. Borghese Museum
10. Catacombs

My Top 10 "Unusual" Sights:

1. The crypt at Santa Maria Concezione
2. The keyhole at the priory of the Knights of Malta
3. Bernini's "St. Teresa in Ecstasy" at the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria
4. The Church of Santa Maria Maggiore
5. The Church of San Clemente
6. The relics chapel in Santa Maria en Gerusaleme
7. Moderno's "St. Cecilia" in the Church of Santa Cecilia en Trastevere
8. The Market at Campo di Fiore at about 7 am.
9. Santa Maria en Trastevere, the church and the piazza in front of it. Sit there in the evening for a drink and then wander the quiet,narrow streets of Trastevere and find a neighborhood trattoria for dinner
10. The church of San Pietro en Vincoli with the chains that bound St. Peter and Michelangelo's "Moses".

ajadedidealist

As a resident of Rome, I must say that so much of the enjoyment of the city comes from merely wandering. Thus, I will add
[x] Randomly walking around "Trastevore" area.
[x] Going to trendy, pretty Bar della Pace near Pza. Navona (overpriced, slow service, decent coffee, beautiful atmosphere)
[x] Walk through either the Borghese Gardens or Villa Pamphili.
[x] (if you're good, as there's a lot of traffic) take time to do a bike ride around the whole Centro Storico area.

But still, SEE the SIGHTS. They, especially the Pantheon, are beyond incredible

Grinisa

PlayPlay,your list sounds very familiar, like something I posted on the AOL board a few years ago. I pretty much stand by that list,although I might delete the Spanish Steps just because they aren't all that special, move the Capuchin Crypt up to the "usual sights" because it seems everyone has or wants to see it, and put the church of Santi Quattro Coronati with it's frescoed chapel of San Silvestro on my unusual list.

bookchick

Views of Rome from the top of Castel Sant'Angelo, the top of the Vittoriano (the Vittorio Emanuelle monument, aka "the wedding cake&quotare amazing and worthwhile.

You may also be interested in climbing the dome of St. Peter's.

You may want to do the Scavi tour, or perhaps a tour of some catacombs.

Another kind of touristy thing to do, but it's very interesting to see what is on the walls there is to go to Cafe Greco. Again, the price of a coffee or capuccino is high, but the atmosphere of "expatriots' Rome" is tremendous.

Palazzo Barberini is another great place to view wonderful art.

And I agree with the poster above, walk around a lot and soak in the atmosphere. The walk from the Vittoriano down via del Corso to Piazza di Popolo is fun.

Buon Viaggio,
BC

tdyls

These are more things and activities than necessarily places, but here they are (in no particular order)

1. Walk the Via Veneto and pretend to be able to afford to live on it
2. Walk down Via Condotti and pretend to be able to afford to shop on it
3. Eat a blueberry torta from Il Forno (?) in the Ghetto
4. Eat carciofi alla giudia, baccala, and other traditional Roman food.
5. See the synagogue on Lungotevere Cenci (?)
6. Eat a picnic lunch among the sunflowers in Ostia Antica
7. Sit in Piazza Navona and watch the world go by

tuscanlifeedit

tdyls, you wrote:

Eat carciofi alla giudia

I am always after the best carciofi alla giudia, and recently posted a question asking for recs on another board.

Do you have a favorite? We have tried the at
Da Giggetto
Al Pompiere
Ottello alla Concordia

any place else you would suggest? They are a true favorite of mind, and we will be in Rome on Saturday night and all day Sunday and Sunday night, two weeks from now.

tedgale

tuscanlifeedit: What a coincidence -- you are in Rome on the weekend of the 5th 6th March and I arrive on the 7th, accompanied by a spouse who has set only one rule for the visit: FIND GOOD CARCIOFI ALLA GIUDIA

thx for the tips

PlayPlay

Grinisa, your correct that was the list you made. Hope you don't mind me using it. It was so helpful I thought it needed posting again 3 years later!

SFImporter

There's nothing like a yummy Italian meal followed by a slow stroll through the city squares. Rome is a wonderfully romantic city to walk and turn a corner and be awed by beautiful unplanned sites as well.