Planning our Roman holiday

My parents have always been keen travellers. While my school friends holidayed in Cornwall, we would pack the Morris Minor Traveller with our camping gear and be off to a different European country each summer. Not that I appreciated it at the time - my memories are of brushing off a damp tent in the early morning, in order drive for hours to the next campsite, and constant arguments with my two sisters over who had rights to the very limited leg-room.

Now my parents are retired and can travel the world in comfort and leisure and I’ve hatched a plan for us to spend some quality holiday time together. That’s how three generations of my family come to be off to Rome in April for a four day break. The question is, will we all agree on what to see?

I’m sure my parents will be keen on admiring the marvels of St Peter’s and the Sistine chapel. However, I suspect that my ten year old son will be more interested in sampling the best gelato and pizza that Rome can offer. As for me, I can imagine myself dabbling in the Trevi fountain or posing incognito behind my sunglasses like some starlet of the 1950s.

I’m currently researching some things to do that will give my son a holiday to remember but which we can all enjoy together. We have two full days and two half days, and of course I’ve been using all the blogs I can find as my guidebook.

My main blogging tour-guide has been Shelley from At Home in Rome - she’s currently taking a break from blogging but I’ve found her archive of posts full of insights on what to do and see. Viator has a useful 3 day itinerary for Rome and some tips for visiting Rome with kids, which were also written by Shelley.

For foodie inspiration I turned to Ms Adventures in Italy, especially the Tour del Gelato - that’ll definitely be on the list. I loved the Travel for Kids site with lots of useful tips on what my son might enjoy in Rome - I think I’ll be revisiting this one for future holidays too. Eurocheapo also has good tips and general information as well as a comprehensive list of hotels in Rome. And finally there was some photographic inspiration from Escape from New York.

So having completed my initial research I’ve come up with a rather ambitious list of things to do;

1. Of course, we’ll want to re-live the gladiatoral contests in the Colisseum, stroll among the ruins in the Forum as well as some other ancient Roman sites. However, I’ll have to be selective to avoid archaeological overload and home in on places like the Trajan markets that might catch my son’s imagination.

2. I expect that another full day will be spent around the Vatican, but again St Peter’s will be about climbing the dome for the view of Rome and kissing St Peter’s toe, rather than looking at every single fresco and painting. One could spend days taking in the riches of the Vatican museums, but I expect we will just stick to the Sistine chapel and then along the secret passage to The Castel Sant’Angelo to keep my son interested.

Apart from these must sees I’m hoping to soak up some authentic Roman atmosphere and so here’s the rest of my wish list;

3. Conduct our own Tour del Gelato with help from from Ms Adventures in Italy and At home in Rome. You can start Shelley’s gelato tour here and work through the list to her favourite Gelateria, Gelarmony.

4. Have our meals in those small and authentic, family-run restaurants that you find down the back streets - is it possible to find somewhere that serves Roman specialities and also pizza and pasta to keep my son happy? My mouth has been watering at Shelly’s recommendations for Da Enzo in Trastavere and the pizza at Taverna de’ Mercanti and here’s Shelley’s list of her top 5 pizzerias serving the authentically thin and crispy Roman style pizza. I’m also hoping to try out some to the recommendations from Brendan Eats and Drinks for his favourite trattorias in Rome.

5. Did I own up yet to my sweet tooth and my love affair with marzipan? I must try some of these vibrant marzipan fruits at Pasticceria Siciliana Svizzera and these sugared almonds, sold for wedding favours would be sweet treats to bring home. To break up the sightseeing, I’m sure we’ll require frequent cups of coffee and a pasticcini - Antonini at Via Sabotino looks nice.

6. With the food taken care of, we may need some spiritual sustinence and I’d love to attend mass in a neighbourhood church - as Catholics in Rome, how could we not? Chiesa Santa Maria in Travastere looks just the place for a spiritual and visual experience and after mass, perhaps we’ll be allowed to see the frescos in the crypt.

7. I like a good street market too and there’s a flea market on a Sunday morning in Travastere, as well as the food and vegetable market in Campo de’Fiori where we could pick up some interesting local specialities for a picnic in one of the many Roman Parks and Gardens.

8. I’ll be dabbling my hand in all the fountains I can find - there’s the Trevi fountain of course and we will have to follow the corny tradition of throwing our coin to bring us back some day. But I think my favourite will be the Fontana delle Tartarughe, or Tortoise Fountain.

9. If time permits I’d like to see the old Appian way and visit the catacombs of St Sebastian, to see where the early Christians were laid to rest. Or perhaps the Cappuchin Crypt where the chapels are decorated with the bones of Cappuchin monks will appeal to a small boy with a taste for the slightly wierd and gory.

10. And for some unusual shopping I may be checking out the religious goods on Via de’ Cestari for a tasteful crucifix, or treating myself to some fragrant delights at Pharmacy Santa Maria Novella.

If I haven’t mentioned accomodation, it’s because we’ve already booked on the recommendation of a friend into a religious guest house, Residenza Madre Pie, close to the Vatican. If you’d like to stay somewhere with a religious flavour, the Santa Susanna website has a list of convents that offer accomodation in Rome as well as other religious sites in Italy. Another option that we considered was to rent an appartment - the Bed and Breakfast Association of Rome has a good list.

Well, I’m feeling exhausted already, so I suspect that I may not get to see and do everything on my wish list.

If you have any tips for secret and special places to visit in Rome, please do share them with me.

Related Posts
The Market at Campo de’Fiori
The Turtle Fountain in Rome
The view from the dome of St Peter’s

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Thanks to the following for their photos from Flickr under creative commons;
George O Goodman, blork, pedro_qtc,robobby, Clare & Dave, ninja-bear, Adam Comerford.