To say it is a campsite gives the wrong impression, though it is - a large one. We stayed there in a trailer-type bungalow in October 2005. The accommodation was clean and comfortable with twin beds (linen provided), heating and shower room/WC. It was very cheap, compared with any hotel - only £145 for two of us for six nights. There are no cooking facilities, but that was fine for we ate out while sightseeing during the day and had a cold meal in the bungalow in the evening, or went to the splendid on-site pub/restaurant which also provides breakfast. The main downside was no way to dry wet shoes! Frequent buses connect the camp with the Rome metro system.
Camping Roma, Via Aurelia, 831 (Km8,2), 00165 Roma. Tel +39 06 6623018, Fax +39 06 66418147, Email campingroma@ecvacanze.it, Website www.ecvacanze.it.
Church dedicated to the martyred St Cecilia, the patron saint of musicians. The building itself (some parts dating back to the 12th-century) is stunning enough, hidden away behind a courtyard. But more beautiful are the ruins in the cellar (turn left inside main door, a small fee is charged for entrance). Roman ruins, once at street level, have been excavated, giving the bizarre experience of walking along a ruined, underground street with rooms either side of you (one of which is alleged to be St Cecilia’s).
To top it all off, at the far end of these ruins lies the entrance to the stunning Byzantine-style crypt dedicated to St Cecilia: an incredibly beautiful room to find hidden alongside the dustier Roman ruins. The most magical place I visited in Rome.
22 Piazza di Santa Cecilia
If you're in Rome make sure you take a day or afternoon trip out to Ostia Antica (30 mins by train). It was the ancient port city of the Roman Empire & when the river silted up it was abandoned and the silt preserved the city beautifully. What's left is a huge ghost-town several miles inland with amphitheatre, apartment blocks, forum, bath houses and villas.
You can enter and walk around most buildings - even go upstairs and walk in gardens - and there are few of the restrictions you'll find in Pompeii. We went on a Sunday afternoon and the place was spookily almost deserted.
In the summer, the amphitheatre often hosts open air performances of folk and opera. A real find. Plus you can round off the day with a swim with the surf girls and boys at Rome's funky beach suburb, Ostia, a train stop away at Lido Centro.
Take the (very shabby)overland from Piramide/ Ostiense towards C. Colombo or Lido Centro. Costs about 3 Euros.
A beautiful church built by Italian immigrants. Like stepping into Baroque Rome. Got some fabulous murals of saints associated with Glasgow.
Rose Street, City centre, near Cowcaddens subway stop.
The labyrinthine, subterranean graveyards of the city's early Christians will remain the most memorable experience of a trip here. No grand views, no Roman poseurs to ogle, just an immersion (literally) in the rituals of early first millenia Italians.
The catacombs are at various locations around the city
Unlike Ostia or Pompeii, there is absolutely no street plan or logic, just random buildings scattered across the landscape as Hadrian's whim took him. So it's very, very easy to get lost.
The villa of the powerful Borghese family. Not only the gardens are wonderful, the villa itself boasts some of the most famous works of the Baroque era. Some of the best Bernini sculptures are there. Booking required.
Entrance: Piazzale Museo Borghese; www.ticketeria.it/ticketeria/borghese-eng.asp
I just happened to have a small binocular in my bag and it added to my enjoyment of the frescoes, as I could get a really close look. Also spotted someone next to me who had a little handheld mirror to save his neck muscles. Ingenious.
The legend is that if throw a coin over your shoulder into the Trevi fountain, you will return to Rome! It worked for me! Eat an ice cream whilst sitting there. Famous for most celebrated sequence, Ekberg splashing in the fountain, in Federico Fellini's 1960 film La Dolce Vita.
Down Via del Corso follow the signs for Fontana di Trevi, it's to the right.
Piazza di Trevi, 00187 Roma
Directions: near Via Del Corso and Via del Tritone Underground exit: Barberini Buses 52,53,61,62,63,71,80,95,116,119,175,492, and 630 exit Via del Tritone
www.romeguide.it/MONUM/STORICI/trevi/trevi.htm
goitaly.about.com/cs/rome/a/trvi.htm
If you are thinking of coming to Rome, this is just to let you know that in order not to queue for hours to get into the Coliseum, you can buy your ticket (valid for Palatine and Coliseum) at Via San Gregorio which is just few metres away from the Coliseum.
Please be aware that the “Gladiators” around the perimeter of the Coliseum will ask you some money to take a picture with them (at least you can decide if you want a picture with them or not).
There are a lot of illegal tour guides pretending to be professional ones, always ask to see their badges and to get a valid receipt of your payment.
Be aware of pickpockets, they are in the crowd pretending to be tourists like you.
Hope you will enjoy Rome and the friendliness of the real Romans.
In summer, the Seine quaysides around the two islands of La Cite and St Louis, and the Pont des Arts are just the place for romance. Magical, if you can beat other like-minded canoodling couples to a bench.
This place you need to visit. If you can find a quiet spot and imagine you were there 2000 years ago, the feeling you get cannot be beaten.
Your first sight of St Peter’s from the end of the Via della Conciliazione will take your breath away.
Rome's zoo is being gradually improved and has been renamed the Bioparco. A greater emphasis is now being placed on its ecological and environmental credentials. I visited it on a Wednesday afternoon. Apart from three Russians who asked me for directions to the exit, I was the only visitor. I think the animals were glad to see me. If you like wolves there are lots here. Very wolfish and sleek. Apart from its intrinsic merits, it's one of the few places in Rome where you can get away from the crowds.
Viale del Giardino Zoologico. Trams 3 and 19, plus a short walk.
The tat you find round St Peter’s, including glow-in-the-dark Virgins and shake-and-snow models of the basilica (unless, of course, you’re into kitsch).
Open 9am-1hr before sunset
Enter from Via Sacra, Largo Romolo e Remo or Via del Foro Romano
Gangs of pickpockets, both girls and boys, harass tourists on the Rome underground by stealing wallets and purses not kept securely enough. They distracted us with a breast-feeding baby and then pounced as we entered the packed train. My friend had his wallet taken and we saw many similarly fated tourists going into the Police Station where we reported it. They used physical means to restrain me but succeeded only in bruising my arm.
The underground is not very extensive in Rome, consisting of lines A & B, but it is the most convenient mode of transport especially for the Vatican and St. Peter's and the Colosseum.
Rome is overwhelming. But I have some reservations. Compared with other European cities its facilities for visitors are primitive. The main bus and tram station in front of the central station was a free for all for traffic (this is true of the city as a whole), and the melted tarmac was churned up into waves so that one had to totter across a petrified sea to catch a bus.
The ticket machines for the Metro were generally not working and there were vast queues for the one booth that seemed to be open. Indeed, queueing seemed to be imposed upon all visitors who wished to see any of the city's sights. Moreover, if you had a mobility difficulty, such as being confined to a wheelchair, you could forget a place like the Forum, which required climbing gear to explore it - so steep were the steps. There was litter everywhere.
In contrast Vatican City appeared well cared for and receptive to visitors. I wondered how much of the money made from visitors to Rome was being fed back into the conservation of monuments and improvements in facilities. I visited Rome for the first time in March 2006, and I would be interested to know if more recent visitors have seen progress in these respects.
Rome, Italy, Eternal City.
Along with Ostia, Antica and the Parthenon one of my Rome highlights. Amazing site with gardens, mosaics, statues and ruins of a magnificent holiday villa, theatre and baths built by the emperor Hadrian. And like Ostia and unlike the sites in Rome itself, relatively crowd free.
Get there by bus from Tivoli
The ticket is combined with entry for the Palatine, so buy the ticket from the Palatine ticket offices.
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