Vacanza Romana - Roman Holiday!
We made it to Rome this past Saturday. It's an easy 1-hour trip by high-speed train, perfect for a quick day visit! The plan was to hit the Colosseum first. Unfortunately, between a very tight train arrival time and a metro system (that we planned to take from Roma Termini station to the Colosseum) that was shut down for the day, we didn't make it. Luckily, Shane purchased an annual pass (can you imagine, annual passes to the Colosseum!) so we will be heading back soon enough.
After a quick adjustment to our plans, we decided to just start walking and see where the day took us. We hopped on the open metro line and made it to Fontana di Trevi (Trevi Fountain) a little before 9am. There were plenty of people there, but it didn't feel unmanageable at all, and we were still able to take some great photos! It was also a nice place to sit down and plan out a little more of our day. The term "plan" is used loosely and we kept the day pretty spontaneous. I know this doesn't work for most people wanting to cram it all into a short visit, but it was still a fantastic day and we still saw A LOT.
Some gorgeous sights between Trevi and the Pantheon
Following Trevi, we headed to the Pantheon. After a short wait in line for tickets (cash only, but kids under 18 are free!), we headed inside and took it all in. The dome is incredible and larger than any photo can convey. It would be fun to watch the sunlight move around throughout the day. Since the center of the dome is wide open to the air, there is a gentle slope to the center of the floor and subtle drain holes in a few places on the floor so when it rains, it doesn't puddle up! The nearly 2,000 year old engineering and design that went into everything is truly impressive.
We stopped for a quick snack break at a cafe in the Piazza della Rotonda (where the Pantheon is located) and enjoyed cornetti (croissants) and cappuccino. Definitely paid tourist prices, but the view was nice and the kids needed to refuel.
After that, we just enjoyed exploring, taking in all of the incredible architecture, wandering down side streets, and even finding an appropriately-named little cafe.
It means "Turtles"!!
Random archeological sites sprinkled throughout the modern city is the coolest thing to see and stumble upon! This one was an old theater compound.
One of our favorite non-tourist things were ALL the drinking fountains. They can be found all over Rome, and are free-flowing with fresh, cold water. The fountains are fed from the aqueduct system running from the mountains! We were able to refill our water bottles as frequently as we wanted (and splash a little on ourselves to cool off). We knew about them before we went, so only brought 2 refillable bottles with us, but we had no idea how abundant and cold they would be! We had an app ready for finding them throughout the day (AceaWaidyWow), but only used it once to find a fountain right before getting back on the train at the end of the day. They were fun to find and use, and saved us from buying bottled water throughout the day (you know how we feel about single-use plastics).
This was the prettiest fountain we came across. Many others were built coming out of walls and looked more like traditional fountains with basins, while others were simple posts coming up out of the ground on the sidewalk with a spout.
We stopped at Taverna Romana for a late lunch. It's located a few block north of the Foro Romano (Roman Forum) and Colosseo (Colosseum). We had to wait about 20 minutes for a table, but it was a nice quiet street and the food was delicious! We started with misto di formaggi e salumi (mixed cheese and salami), then the kids shared some carbonara and we both got a fresh cod, chick pea and tomato salad. It was the perfect meal for a hot day! The menu at the restaurant was small, but that's a good thing! Find places that focus on a few good dishes and have most or all of their menu in Italian. You're sure to get more authentic, less tourist-trap options.
It's also worth mentioning that despite being peak tourist season, it never felt horribly crowded anywhere. Many places we wandered were nearly empty, and even the popular stops were easy to get around and didn't have crazy lines or crowds. That being said, 2025 is probably going to be a crazy time to visit. It's a jubilee year for Rome (happens every 25 years) and means special events and larger crowds. Many fountains, statues and other areas had barriers and scaffolding around them because of extra cleaning and restoration going on to prepare.
Our post-lunch wanderings took us past the Roman Forum and over to the Colosseum. It had been a pretty long day at this point, and we were very hot, so we made the joint decision not to explore those areas this time. Had to get some photos outside of course! We will be back soon enough to check out more. We hopped a bus back to Roma Termini Station, grabbed another gelato treat while we waited for our train, and then enjoyed the ride home.
Our train tickets cost us just over €100 round-trip, but we opted for the premium family tickets, which included some water and snacks each way. We left out of Napoli Afragola station, so there were no stops between there and Roma Termini. If you travel from downtown Naples and use Napoli Centrale, you would have the stop at Afragola before heading on to Rome. The train also continues farther north, so it's a great option if you're moving on to another city as well.
I think the best moral of this trip was, it doesn't matter if you have nothing planned! We spent the day in Rome, saw tons of amazing things and ate plenty of delicious food. If you have things that are must-dos for you, give yourself plenty of time. Otherwise, you can absolutely enjoy Rome in a spontaneous way!
