Five Days in Rome

The final leg of our trip led us to the Eternal City, Rome.  It’s a city of many contradictions:  it’s large and sprawling, but the many neighborhoods have a very local, small-town feel.  Beautiful art and architecture, right next to impassive and massive post-WWII structures.  New vs. Old vs. Ancient.  Loud public areas situated ten minutes away from quiet, chic side streets and small piazzas. Urbane and sophisticated residents clashing with loud and obnoxious locals trying to make a quick euro.  It’s all there; some of it’s good and some of it’s bad.  But it’s all authentically Roman.

The lobby of the Westin Excelsior Roma, Rome, Italy.

We stayed at the Westin Excelsior, located on Via Veneto in the heart of what used to be the most glamorous part of Rome back in the La Dolce Vita sixties and seventies, when I first visited and stayed there.  The hotel has its own set of contradictions:  glamorous yet somewhat rundown. Once-elegant spacious public areas and rooms now in need of a major refurbishing.  Wonderfully helpful concierges but less than helpful housekeeping.  Its location is perfect for exploring much of Rome, and it’s just across and down the street from the venerable Harry’s Bar, perfect for a nightcap.

The Spanish Steps and Piazza di Spagna, Rome, Italy.

After a quick lunch at the hotel’s sidewalk Café Doney, we took the ten-minute walk to the top of the Spanish Steps for a bird’s-eye view of much of Rome’s shopping district.  From the top designer showcases of Via Condotti, home to the flagship Bvlgari and Roberto Coin stores, as well as all of the other top Italian brands, to more affordable shops just a few blocks away, there is jewelry, clothing, leather goods, art, antiques and much more.  Store hours were interesting:  most open around 10am, some close from 2pm to 5pm, then reopen until about 7pm.  Post-shopping, we stopped for an apertivo at one of the numerous outdoor cafes and watched the hustle and bustle from a comfortable seat.  When we were there, it wasn’t very crowded anywhere. . .except for the local Zara store, where the line to get in wrapped around a corner.

Not far away is the main Rinascente department store on Via del Tritone,  a mini-shopping area of its own, featuring many of those same designer brands all under one roof.  Our recommendation is to go in, take a good look around and work up an appetite for lunch at one of the restaurants on the top floors.  If the rooftop is open, grab a table there for an incomparable view of Rome.  It it’s not, there’s an open-air terrace one floor below with similar views and great food.

Our wanderings around the city took us to several great spots. . .it’s hard to walk more than ten or fifteen minutes and not happen upon a world-famous church, obelisk, fountain or piazza.  Among the best:

• The Trevi Fountain. We did the obligatory coin toss (backwards, over the shoulder) into the fountain to guarantee our return to Rome.

• The Spanish Steps. In the evening, this is where Romans go to see and be seen.  It’s fun to be part of that crowd and catching a beautiful sunset here is a delight.

• Piazza Navona, with its three notable churches and fantastic Bernini fountain. Dinner at one of the restaurants bordering the piazza is a must (recommendation to follow).

• Piazza Trilussa in Trastevere, an action-packed neighborhood just across the Tiber from the main part of the city. We followed our ears to an impromptu concert here after dinner one night, featuring an aging Italian hippie leading the crowd in enthusiastic tributes to everyone from The Beatles to The Clash.

There is so much art and architecture to be seen in Rome that it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.  We narrowed our focus to explore four locations in some detail.  We are big proponents of springing for guided tours, the cost of which is more than offset by the efficiency and education provided by the guide.  Travel tip:  Context Travel is a first-class provider throughout Europe and offers numerous tours of major and minor sites all around Rome.  Their small group tours are more expensive than many that you can find on Viator, another good source, but their guides are experts in their fields. Many are professors who have spent their careers studying the subject of the tour.  When we’ve gone on Context small group tours, we’ve been the only ones in the group (possibly because of the higher cost), so we’ve had tremendous learning experiences with all of them.

The Vatican Museums, Vatican City.  Photo by Corey Buckley on Unsplash

Cecilia was our Context expert guide for our tour of the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel.  In the Museums, she took us from ancient Rome and its Greek statues to the Renaissance art of Michelangelo and Raphael to Bernini and the Baroque era.  The sheer volume of incredible art is staggering, and a guide like Cecilia is essential to navigate the highlights and answer questions along the way.  An interesting stop was the Gallery of Maps, a collection of 40 hand painted topographical frescoes based on maps of Italy from ancient to modern (16^th century) times.

The Sistine Chapel, Vatican City.  Photo courtesy of The Vatican Museums.

At the end of our tour of the Vatican Museums, we spent about 15 minutes in the astonishing Sistine Chapel.  Here are two of Michelangelo’s masterpieces:  nine stories from the Book of Genesis on the ceiling, and a depiction of The Last Judgement on the main altar wall, at once breathtakingly beautiful and disturbing.  It’s also a room of huge historical importance.  As the site of papal conclaves, where Roman Catholic popes have been elected for most of the last six centuries, it’s where some of the most significant leaders of the Western World were chosen.  We’ve visited twice before when the Chapel was packed with more than a thousand people.  Because of Covid, there were no more than a couple of hundred people, and we had a chance to move around to see much more of this Renaissance gem.

St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City.

After a quick lunch nearby, we were off for a one hour tour of St. Peter’s Basilica, the largest Roman Catholic church in the world, and home to more priceless art.  Awesome is a really overused word, but it is appropriate for St. Peter’s.  We saw Michelangelo’s Pieta, his first major sculpture masterpiece, as well as the ornate tomb of Saint Pope John Paul II, and much, much more.  Interestingly, the hundreds of art works on the walls include very few paintings.  Most are mosaics; St. Peter’s is one of the most important collection of this art form in the world.  Our tour, booked through Viator, was led by “an official Vatican guide.” He was just OK; he delivered a lot of information in a monotone voice.  Next time, we’ll see what Context offers.

Bernini’s Rape of Proserpina in the Borghese Gallery, Rome, Italy.

Our last museum tour was at the splendid Borghese Gallery and Museum, which is located in the lovely Borghese Gardens, very close to our hotel.  We purchased our small group tour through Viator, but the tour operator was Loving Rome and it was excellent.  While not as large as the Vatican Museums, the Borghese’s collection of Baroque art is unparalleled.  Our enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide did a wonderful job of explaining the differences between Renaissance and Baroque art and sculpture, while also relating interesting stories of how Pope Paul V’s nephew came to acquire its priceless objects.  The star of the show is Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Rome’s most important Baroque sculptor, artist, and architect.  His sculptures are amazingly detailed, capturing his subjects in Baroque freeze-frames.

Rome’s ristorantes offered a variety of ways to satisfy our hunger after a busy day of walking and touring.  Picking unique neighborhoods in which to dine is a great way to get outside the main tourist areas and see different parts of the city.  And, of course, you’ll run into a new set of contradictions!  Here’s where we went:

• Al Vero Girarrosto Toscano  Tuscan cuisine, meaning you’ll see more meat dishes on the menu.  The food was great, the service friendly.  It’s like dining in a well-appointed Tuscan wine cellar.  Sadly, hardly anyone was there, although we dined on a Tuesday night.

• Taverna Trilussa   A Trastevere must.  This is the place for pasta, Roman style.  They excel at the four classic Roman pastas:  Carbonara, Amatriciana, Gricia and Cacio e Pepe.  I had the Carbonara, and it was superb.  Afterwards, a walk around the neighborhood provided an introduction to some interesting characters.

• Ristorante Tre Scalini   The food is good (pizza, pastas, seafood) but the scene is better.  We sat outside and experienced the busy Piazza Navona at its entertaining best.

• Pierluigi Roma  Located in (actually occupying) Piazza de’ Ricci in the Campo de Fiori neighborhood, this is rumored to be the best seafood in Rome.  The food was very good; the service was a little pompous.  It’s a beautiful place to dine under the stars.

There is so much to see in Rome; we focused on a few wonderful places to visit. A lot remains for future visits.  There were great experiences and some not-so-great experiences (a couple of taxi drivers were not my favorites).  But even so, we found a terrific taxi driver, Eugenio Mecozzi (eugeniomecozzi1@gmail.com), who also does private tours and is extremely accommodating.  The many contradictions of Rome were endless and fascinating!

Sunset over Rome, from the Spanish Steps, Rome, Italy.