➳ Adventures of M+A Kramer: Italy: Rome

We planned on spending Amanda's birthday week in San Francisco and Napa Valley this year, but then we discovered a mistake fare and decided to forgo our original travel plans for Italy. In Italy, we visited Venice, Rome, Florence, Tuscany, Cinque Terre, and Milan.

Part 1 - Planning & Introduction
Part 2 - Venice
Part 3 - Rome
Part 4 - Florence
Part 5 - Tuscany
Part 6 - Cinque Terre
Part 7 - Milan

"Those who expect to travel smart, do."
-Rick Steves

Rome in a day. Were we crazy? Yes, probably; but we thought it was possible. When we starting planning this trip, we were going to skip Rome altogether. Our friends convinced us otherwise, so we ended up spending a day here. We enjoyed seeing the famous sights and eating some really tasty food.

To Get There

The train from Venice arrived at the Roma Termini station at 9:15 a.m. From there, we hopped on the metro to drop off our backpacks at the hotel. Metro rides are 1.50€ per ride, or you can get a day pass that covers the metro and bus systems for 6€. [metro photos by Matt]

Where We Stayed

We used 7,000 SPG points to stay at the Sheraton Roma and paid just 10€ for the city tax. It was a great value in another expensive city. The only downside to this hotel was the location: not close to the sights, but a quick metro ride and 10 minute walk away. We rode the bus back after dinner though, and it dropped us a little closer to the hotel. [hotel photos by Matt]

What We Did

Our first stop of the day was the Colosseum. When we arrived, there was an hour and half wait to get in (keep in mind it was low-season, so the wait high-season must be worse). Fortunately, we had booked tickets ahead of time online. Tickets are 12€ plus the 2€ advance booking fee which allows you to skip the line and enter at the Ticket Holders/Roma Pass entrance. This ticket also covers entrance to the Forum/Palatine Hill nearby.

The Roma Pass is another good value option (34€). It covers two museum visits on their list (does not include the Vatican Museums) and unlimited metro and bus transportation for three days. For us, it didn't make sense since we only visited the Colosseum and were only spending one day in the city.

We entered right away using the Ticket Holders/Roma Pass entrance, explored each level while listening to the Rick Steve's audio tour, and took pictures along the way. What an incredible structure with a lot of history.

The Forum/Palatine Hill was right next to the Colosseum. Amazing how these Roman ruins are in the middle of the city.

We spent the afternoon visiting St. Peter's Basilica at Vatican City (free). It is beautiful and quite large. We spent most of the time with our eyes wide in amazement, the audio tour long forgotten. There is a dress code and a line to enter security, but otherwise it wasn't too long of a wait. [Note: We did not visit the Vatican Museums.]

We climbed all 551 steps to the Cupola or Dome and enjoyed the views of Rome (5€ or 7€ to take the lift part-way up). There was not a line, but it is probably really busy during peak season.

We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening walking the Rick Steves' Heart of Rome tour. It started at the Spanish Steps where we were photo-bombed by a tour group. [evidence below]

And it led us to the Trevi Fountain where we tossed coins over our shoulders, dodging a few scammers with light toys and roses in the meantime.

We continued on to the Pantheon, built in 126 AD. Such history here. We'll spare you the details, but the audio tour was very informative.

We walked through Piazza Navona.

And had some time to spare before dinner, so we wandered the cobblestone streets in Trastevere and came upon another church - Santa Maria.

Where We Ate

Our favorite meals of the trip were in Rome. Ristorante la Pentolaccia Pizzeria Annicinquanta was highly recommended to us by our friends Adam and Nick. We shared bruschetta, 1/2 liter of wine, and each ordered the Anni50 for lunch. It did not disappoint and was quite reasonable (26€ total).

After reading reviews and ranking some of Rome's gelaterias, we decided to try the top two on our list. We shared pear gelato at Gelateria San Crispino. It was tasty, but we preferred Gelateria Vice at Corso Vittorio Emanuele II 96.

Gelateria Vice was where Amanda discovered a love for lemon gelato. Yum. It tasted like summer.

Initially, we tried making dinner reservations at a few restaurants, but they were closed until March. We are so glad they were though because we found Antica Trattori Da Carlone (thanks Adam!). It is located in the Trastevere neighborhood at Via della Luce 5 and is truly a local place. The hotel concierge made a reservation for us since the employees spoke very little English.

By far, this was our favorite meal of the trip and also the most expensive (57,50€ total). For an antipasto, we ordered prosciutto, mozzarella di bufala, and foccacia and paired it with the house red wine. We can't even begin to describe the flavors, but it was all incredible.

Matt ordered the Bucatini all'Amatriciana, while Amanda ordered their signature dish - Spaghetti alla Carbonara. Yum. Somehow (probably due to the language barrier), we ended up with an entire bottle of wine (we had only ordered a 1/2 liter). Sometimes mistakes are okay though, because the wine paired so well with the pasta that we finished it all.