We've made it to the last city guide of my Italy trip! But there will still be a photo diary tomorrow as well. We arrived in Rome around 12pm from Positano and stayed until Thursday morning, we left at 5:30am...BARF! Rome is a big place, so once again I'll only be sharing the highlights of what we did.

What to Do

The Aventine Keyhole

This is one of the coolest things we saw in Rome. My friend Caleb read about this little-known secret and I'm so glad he found it. There were only 4 other people there when we were. Basically you will walk up to a big green door and look in the keyhole to have a perfect view of St Peters Basilica through a garden. You can apparently arrange to go into the garden but we didn't look into that. So go to the Piazza Dei Cavalieri Di Malta and look through that keyhole!

The Coliseum

One of our first stops in Rome was The Coliseum (or Colosseum depending on how you spell it.) We didn't buy our tickets online and were lucky enough to have a slow day in the on-site ticket sales. We didn't have a guide so we just walked around and took in the general splendor. They do an audio guided tour which I would recommend if you have more time to spend there, we had a lot to get done so it was probably best we didn't do that.

Palatine Hill / Roman Forum

You can gain access to these with a ticket from the Coliseum, its about 12 Euros for all three if I remember correctly. It's one of the Seven Hills of Rome and is one of the most ancient parts of the city. Once you come down from the Palatine Hill you will find the Roman Forum. It's funny that such ancient structures are surrounded by modern buildings and a bustling city.

Piazza Di Spagna / Spanish Steps

The Spanish Steps are a great place to sit and people watch. They're always a bit crowded but that's part of the charm. There's also some great designer shopping in this area. I ended up buying my splurge purchase at the Gucci across from the steps on our last day.

Trevi Fountain

Any movie you've ever seen that takes place in Rome involves The Trevi Fountain. The legend goes, if you toss a coin in the fountain you're sure to return to Rome some day. This is another huge tourist spot so you'll have to wait to get to the edge of the fountain to make your wish.

Vatican Museums

There is so much to see here. We used a Rick Steves audio tour that was an hour long for the museum. It was a fast track tour so we didn't see everything, but we got a great taste. One thing you absolutely can't miss is the Raphael Rooms. Four rooms designed (3 painted by) Raphael. One of the rooms features The School of Athens, a fresco full of figures in the disciplines of philosophy, poetry, theology, and law. A few of the frescos include self portraits of Raphael.

Sistine Chapel

At the end of the Vatican Museums you'll find the Sistine Chapel, where the ceiling is painted by Michelangelo. He also painted "The Last Judgement" which can be found on the front wall of the chapel. Your neck WILL be killing you by the time you leave from looking up at the gorgeous ceiling. Sadly for us all the seats along the walls were full up so we were standing the whole time. You probably will be too. (No pictures allowed but I broke the rules thanks to my phone case that covers the screen)

St. Peter’s Basilica

There will be long lines to get into the Basilica. We actually cheated our way around them by following a tour group through the special tour entrance from the Sistine Chapel. Such rebels! This is one of the largest churches in the world so there's a lot to see inside. It's free to enter, but they charge you if you want to climb up the Dome.

Other

The Pantheon, not to be confused with the Parthenon in Greece is another great place to check out. It's an old Roman temple turned church. Santa Maria della Pace, which reminded us of Gringotts, is another church to stop by. We also visited the Baths of Diocletian, Capitoline Museums and Palazzo Doria Pamphilj. The third was probably my favorite, the walls are FULL of art and your ticket comes with an audio guide. We had wanted to visit the Galleria Borghese but weren't sure if we would have time and as a result we didn't get to go because they sell out of viewing times.

Where to Eat

 

Ristorante Dilla

This was where we had our last meal of the trip. It was the perfect way to end our 10 day trek around Italy. I had the whole wheat spaghetti with hazelnut and sage pesto followed by chocolate salami for dessert.

Spaccio Pasta

This place was right down the street from our airbnb and we had a 10% off coupon so it was a no brainer. You HAVE to get the rosemary foccacia, it is delicious! I ate a whole basket of it myself (my friends shared a second one.) We also shared some fried dough balls. I had the Fettuccine Pomodoro e Basilico. It was really good, but a little more saucy than I like. I prefer less sauce on my pasta which is how the Italians usually do it, this was more like an American amount of sauce.

Le Virtù in Tavola

Another restaurant that was right by our accommodations. They brought us a glass of champagne shortly after we sat down as well as two kinds of bread. I ordered the baked sea bass with potatoes! It was really simple and really tasty.

Taverna del Seminario

I wasn't a huge fan of my entree here, the chicken with salad, but it's worth mentioning for the dessert. I got the apple tart and it was brought to me nice and warm. Soooo tasty! My friend, a tiramisu fanatic, had that and said it was pretty good as well.

Amedeo Ristorante

This was a "let's look on Yelp and find somewhere close" restaurant. All three of us diners ended up getting the same thing, marinated chicken with carrots and zucchini. It was pretty tasty, sort of like comfort food.

Verde Pistacchio

More gelato! This place was super cute, you paid through a green VW bus and then chose your flavors at the counter. As usual I got dark chocolate and strawberry. I think this was one of my favorite gelato spots but they're all running together so it's hard to really rank them.

Giolitti

This is a cafe and gelato shop and they had soooo many flavors. I went a little off my usual and got dark chocolate and pomegranate here.

Old Bridge Gelato

A friend recommended this very small gelato shop as a place to stop before (or after) visiting The Vatican. As with all the other gelato we ate, it was delicious.

This is what I wore for the last day of our trip. We spent the first part of the day at The Vatican Museums and St Peter's Basilica and when we finished early and I hadn't bought any clothes yet I dragged my friends back to the shopping at the Piazza di Spagna (near the Spanish Steps.)

I had wanted to buy a bag or shoes but I balked at the prices even though I had already pre-decided I could splurge. In the end I got some really fun Gucci aviator sunglasses! Now that I'm home though, I'm thinking I should have gotten this GG Marmont velvet shoulder bag I saw since it was "only" €1090 ($1220), so I would have saved almost $400...GAH!! Oh well, I'll just keep saving up for my dark plum Chloe Faye bag (if I can still find it somewhere when I have enough. following a couple on eBay)

Dress: Ralph by Ralph Lauren (Lord & Taylor), Sandals: Ancient Greek Sandals 'Athanasia' (Moda Operandi)

Guess I went with an animal theme in Rome. This giraffe print dress is great because it's cool enough to wear in hotter temperatures but still has sleeves so I was able to wear it when we went inside churches. These photos were taken when we took a bit of a rest in a local garden.

Dress: Jones New York (Lord & Taylor), Sandals: Sam Edelman c/o ThredUp, Sunglasses: Ray Ban 'Erika'

For some reason this cat print Equipment blouse screamed Rome to me. Of all the places we went it seemed most appropriate to wear it here. Maybe it's because of gladiators and the Coliseum? I wore these pants two days on the trip and it was great because I was able to use the big pockets to hold my stuff instead of the tiny blue bag I brought to avoid pick-pockets (see it here.)

Cat Print Blouse: Equipment (eBay), Cargo Pants: G.H. Bass (Clinton Crossing), Sandals: Ancient Greek Sandals 'Athanasia' (Moda Operandi),  Sunglasses: Ray Ban 'Erika'