A short City Walk through Rome in 2021

Travel:

I traveled to Rome on the train directly from Florence.

Previous trips to Rome on flights from Dublin Airport with Aer Lingus and Ryanair

Stay:

I stayed close to the Piazza di Santa Maria Maggiore at the Hotel Amalfi on Via Merulana. This property is a relatively small 3 star hotel elevated on one of the many hills surrounding Rome city centre - so perfect for the start of a days walk meandering downhill. It is also close to the main train station, Roma Termini which runs an express train to Rome’s Fiumicino Airport (also known as Leonardo da Vinci International Airport).

Rome, like a lot of capital cities in Europe, is known for a loose based star rating with 3 and 4 star hotels often falling short of expectations. The Hotel Amalfi therefore, lived up to its 3 star rating although the building showed signs of wear and tear. The bedroom and bathroom were small but clean. My bedroom window opened onto the busy street, so I could hear the early morning traffic but the view of the Piazza di Santa Maria Maggiore was worth slight inconvenience of listening to waspy scooters and heavy waste trucks. The staff were friendly and helpful. I didn’t eat breakfast at the hotel, preferring to grab a fresh coffee and pastry out on the street. All in all, this was a good hotel if you are on a budget. It’s proximity to the Roma Termini and a short walk to the Colosseum is a bonus.

I have previously stayed in the Trevi Rome Suite which is a more upmarket 3 star hotel in a historic 17th century palazzo. This hotel is extremely centrally located and close to the Trevi Fountain, a few streets fro the Pantheon and a stroll away from Piazza Venezia and the Victor Emmanuel II National Monument (also known as the Alter of the Fatherland) - this monument now boasts a rooftop walkway known as the Ascensori Panoramici providing an unrivalled 360 degree view of Rome.

I remember fondly taking my father to Rome for his 60th Birthday. We traversed the city, taking in the Vatican tour, sword (plastic) fighting with the centurions at the Colosseum and playing pool and darts with the locals in a couple of Irish bars. We left it too late to catch the train back to the airport and had to wait all day for another flight - a pack of playing cards kept us amused! We stayed in the Imperial Relais Suite which was a very smart 2 star hotel a short walk from the Colosseum. Although this trip was a few years ago, I remember the bathroom being particularly large and the large beds very comfortable.

Eat:

Italy is great for coffee and pastries. The Italians knock back an espresso most mornings on the way to work. Often standing at the counter of a busy cafe, the preference is to add some sugar to the coffee and drink it black in one or two sips. Some prefer to have a double espresso before a cigarette on the short walk to the office. My all time best espresso was on in a small cafe on top of Mount Etna volcano in Sicily with the turgid smell of hydrogen sulfide in the air and rumbles from the belly of the volcano forming volcanic smog over the crater. I got a cable car up to a viewing point using the Funivia dell’Etna bringing me close to the Cratere (crater) del Laghetto on the south side. You can also take the off-road vehicle option which brings you right up to the smoking crater. I stayed in the Bar Con Terrazzo Panoramico enjoying the coffee and magnificent views down over the moon like landscape out to the Ionian Sea - blue and calming in the hazy sunshine.

Although I’ve traveled to Rome a number of times, I tend to settle on small cafes for lunch or coffee and look for inexpensive restaurants, especially when dining alone. The following are some of the establishments where I have enjoyed lunch or dinner;

Renato e Luisa: Via dei Barbieri - nice place for good pasta and a glass of wine, off the beaten track but close to Largo di Torre Argentina which is an important archaeological site where the murder of Julius Caesar took place.

I Suppli dei Coronari: Via dei Coronari - quirky vintage restaurant perfect for lunch and very well priced. On a quiet street close to Piazza Navona it’s perfect for lunch outside on a hot sunny day where the soft terracotta walls of the thin street provide much needed shade.

Ristorante Sant’Anna; Via di Sant Anna - well priced small restaurant and the pizza is good here. Again on a quiet side street behind the Chapel of Mother of Divine Providence.

Bar Antico Caffe; Via della Lungaretta - what you see is what you get kind of place but coffee and cake are good here. Perfect little stop-off beside the beautiful Basilica of Our Lady in Trastevere and sun drenched square of Piazza di Santa Maria. I found this place on a meandering walk down from the Chiesa di San Pietro in Montorio where a lavish Italian wedding was taking place. Due to the morning’s heat, the doors were left open revealing a scene where romance thrived amongst some of the best dressed people in the world. In the small courtyard of the church sits one of my favourite buildings in the world; the Tempietto di Bramante. This is a perfect little renaissance gem designed by Donato Bramante and completed 1502-09. My framed photograph of the temple is for sale in JAM Travelogue Store. Around the corner from stands the Fontana dell’Acqua Paola on a tight bend on Via Garibaldi - given it’s elevation location, the panoramic views across the city are amazing.

Antico Caffe del teatro di Marcello; Via del Teatro di Marcello - a lovely stop about halfway through the walk where the sandwiches are delicious and can be washed down with crisp white wine under the cover of a parasol.

Grand Hotel Palatino; Via Cavour - I’m including this restaurant as I enjoyed a lovely evening with my late wife here. The food was tasty and wine good. I love the look of this hotel and have promised myself a stay in the future as it’s perfectly located close to the Colosseum.

Sitar Indian Restaurant; Via Cavour - facing the Grand Hotel Palatino, this is one of my favourite restaurants. It’s so hard to find authentic Indian food when traveling around Europe but this small family run restaurant is an exception to the rule. I took my father here for his first ever Indian meal (at the age of 60!). I re-visited in 2021 and it was a perfect as ever - the food is fresh and packed with flavour. Be careful to book in advance as it is possibly NOT the best kept secret in Rome!

Culture:

If you’ve never been to Rome then please make it your ambition. It’s probably my most favourite city. I’ve been to Athens and older parts of the world but think of Rome as the birthplace of modern civilisation. It’s not just the grand buildings; it’s also the low lying streets, the squares and sense of a community building structures for living and working together. There is culture at every turn. A walk along the river Tiber will take you to Ponte Palatino and the Cloaca Maxima (the Greatest Sewer) which is an arch marking the drain some 2,500 years old and still in use today. Further along the river, the Ponte Cestio links west Rome with the island of Isola Tiberina where the Basilica di San Bartolomeo all'Isola built in the 10th century sits behind a small piazza linked to the east side of Rome by the oldest bridge, the Ponte Fabricio dating from 62BC. The view of the beautiful arched Ponte Sisto with the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica in the distance is both serene and peaceful.

Rome is dripping with museums, galleries and monumental buildings providing tours. It is so important to book in advance as access may not be possible on the day as numbers often reach capacity. I tried to walk through the Roman Forum on my last trip and found that it is now ticketed access, whereas, it used to be freely open to the public. I couldn’t get access on the day as it had already reached capacity through online bookings. The Forum is definitely worth a visit as it is an exhilarating walk in the footsteps of emperors and philosophers. My top tip however, is to make your way up the Cordonata Capitolina steps to the beautiful Piazza del Campidoglio square designed my Michelangelo. There are great views over the Roman Forum from the sides of the building facing the steps where the Fountain of the Goddess Roma sits proudly in front of a grand stone staircase and the Torre Patarina reaches to the sky. To the left, stroll past the Gemonian Stairs to a small garden with magnificent views over the Church of St. Joseph of the Carpenters, the Septimius Severus Arch (triumphal arch) and the remains of the Temple of Vespasian and Titus. The Gemonian Stairs were once the site of public executions as they marked the highest point over the Forum. There is also a small statue on top of a slim column, Lupa Capitolina, of Romulus and Remus (legend portrays the brothers as the founders of Rome) suckling from the She-Wolf. To the right of the building, past the steps leading to the Sala della Protomoteca, a very picturesque segmental arched bridge leads to another wonderful viewpoint over the Forum. This viewpoint leads the eye out past the Temple of Vesta and the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina to the Colosseum. With the Temple of Saturn almost within touching distance to the left, this view is possibly one of the greatest in the world.

To the side of the Scalinata dell’Ara Coeli (Marble Steps) lead up to the Basilica di Santa Maria in Ara Coeli - once referred to as the ‘stairs of Rome’ this is a popular spot for weddings.

Rome is not a city where I have been to the theatre or opera. I have also yet to visit the Castel Sant’Angelo or the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica, however, the tour through the Vatican is not to be missed. The layout of the Vatican is on a surprisingly expansive footprint. The tour leads you through rooms as big as a banqueting halls, festooned with silk wall hangings, huge paintings and sculptures of everything from the feet of giants through to goats and snakes. The first room takes your breath away, then you move through the next and the next, each as magnificent as the last. The rooms painted by Raphael are particularly impressive. Halfway through the tour, you reach the Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art which includes paintings from Edvard Munch and Van Gogh. Two of my favourites were the ‘Study of Velazquez Pope II’ by Francis Bacon - this study lead to the paintings known as the ‘Screaming Popes’. Salvador Dali’s Crocifisso is a powerful painting on the crucifixion. Jesus is depicted high on the ‘cross’ looking down at the Roman soldiers. The power of the piece is in the lack of a cross - Jesus is suspended in the air possibly already floating to heaven. The tour finishes in the Sistine Chapel which is a surprisingly sparse rectangular room. The ceiling painted by Michelangelo 1508-12 is, however, worth the journey. Depicting scenes from the Book of Genesis, the famous image of the two fingers almost touching (God creating Adam) is only one of nine central panels. All in all, the ceiling is a masterpiece, fully deserving its worldwide acclaim and exiting out onto the Piazza San Pietro the grandeur of the elliptical colonnade can only result in lifting your spirit.

Walk:

The Rome Walk takes around 5 hours non-stop from start to finish. My walks are designed to take in the most interesting buildings on a single route, therefore, I don’t tend to linger at any given location. I suggest that more time is given to explore the buildings, galleries and museums and allocate a couple of days for the walk to allow for food and rest stops.

I started my walk at Piazza di Santa Maria Maggiore. The square fronts the dominant Basilica Papale di Santa Maria Maggiore which spans the full width of the square (80 meters). It is a formidable romanesque basilica with exquisite classical detailing and opens onto a large square to the rear, the Piazza dell’Esquilino. The route moves downhill turning onto Via degli Annibaldi from Via Cavour where the vista of the Colosseum is breathtaking. Around the Colosseum past the triumphal Arch of Constantine and left up a short hill to the entrance to the Roman Forum.

I remember the first time I walked on the Via dei Fori Imperiali. It was as if the people had left ancient Rome as they found it and built a road above - the columns, capitals, friezes, architraves, cornices and pediments are scattered at the roadside forming a number of archaeological sites. The most impressive are the Forum of Augustus and the Trajan Forum. Trajan’s Column marks the location of two purely classical churches, the Church of the Most Holy Name of Mary at Trajan’s Forum and Santa Maria di Loreto which is a small church built in 1507 from travertine stone and brick and is distinguished by an unusual octangular upper storey sitting on top of a square base. My walk crosses the Piazza Venezia across the Victor Emmanuel II National Monument, up the marble steps and Cordonata Capitolina steps onto Piazza del Campidoglio.

Not on the video, I walked down to the River Tiber taking in many of the various historical bridges, Isola Tibernia and taking in the magnificent synagogue, the Tempio Maggiore di Roma. I doubled back through the Teatro Marcello which incudes a magnificent entrance porch, the Portico of Octavia and through onto the Piazza di Campitelli where the splendid Chiesa di Santa Maria in Portico in Campitelli looms over the narrow square.

My walk continues up to the Chiesa del Gesu which took my breath away when I first entered the interior. The walls and ceiling seemed to be covered in gold as it is richly decorated in the Baroque fashion. A short walk takes you to the Largo di Torre Argentina and onto the Piazza di Sant’Andrea della Valle where the luminescent Basilica Sant’Andrea della Valle sits proudly on Corso Vittorio Emanuele II. My walk moves on to the Pantheon and the Piazza della Rotonda. The Peantheon is one of the most perfect classical buildings I have seen. It’s a simple portico with a dome behind but the simplicity is powerful. It’s staggering to realise the coffered concrete dome dating from 125AD is still the largest un-reinforced dome in the world. The corinthian columns on simple bases support a large portico and the dome includes an oculus (opening) at the top allowing light to drift into the interior creating a diffused melancholic atmosphere.

The walk continues through Piazza di Monte Citorio and Piazza Colonna where the obelisk of the Colonna di Marco Aurelio dominates the small square. Then on to the Trevi Fountain - probably the most beautiful gable end wall in the world! The fountain creeps up on you as you exit one of the narrow streets. Initially, you expect it to be free-standing within a square and part of the sensation is one of surprise when you see it is attached to the Palazzo Poli. The fountain is just sumptuous. It’s not only the sculpture of Oceanus taming the waters but the classical backdrop of a triumphal arch in the corinthian order projected out from the facade with the central niche providing shadow and light in a 3D fashion.

My walk continues past the Column of Immaculate Conception onto the Spanish Steps at the Piazza di Spagna. The steps lead up to the Piazza della Trinita dei Monti where views over the city are spectacular. The Sallustiano Obelisk stands in front of the church of Trinita dei Monti. The streets leading from Piazza di Spagna to the Basilica of S.S. Ambrose and Charles on the Corso are packed with fashionable and expensive shops. My walk takes you to the Fontana Ara Pacis where one of the few modern buildings, the Museo dell’Ara Pacis sits, hunkered down, half buried beneath the square. Onto the River Tiber with a view of the Corte di Cassazione across the Ponte Umberto I.

The route snakes back to the Piazza Navona, hailed as one of the most beautiful squares in Rome. It is rectangular and includes two massive fountains; the Fiumi Fountain, Fontana del Moro and the Neptune Fountain. The square is filled with painters and portrait artists but is dominated by the massively ornate baroque church of Sant’Agnese in Agone in the centre of the square.

From Piazza Navona my walk continues across Saint Angelo Bridge past the lines of angelic angels to the Castel Sant’Angelo, a brooding circular castle constructed as a tomb by Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself completed in 139AD before becoming a military fortress in 401AD after the addition of the Aurelian Walls.

My walk concludes in Saint Peter’s Square in the Vatican City. The walk up Via della Conciliazione with the view of St. Peter’s Basilica is truly magnificent. The first sighting of St. Peter’s is a real pinch yourself moment and when you get to the basilica, you will appreciate the scale and the unrelenting colonnade around the elliptical piazza, as you marvel at Rome’s ambition and legacy.

Reflection:

They say see Rome and die. I can understand it.

You get a sense of walking the same paths the ancients walked. You wonder what it must have been like for visitors and country people coming into the city for the first time, hundreds, if not thousands of years ago. The scale is incredible but the design and detailing of the churches, fountains and palazzos is also breathtaking. The Italians are expressive and talk with their hands. The city’s motto ‘Roma Invicta’ translates as Rome Unconquered. The abbreviation SPQR is inscribed all over the city - it stands for ‘the Senate of the People of Rome’. You get a sense that the city belongs to the people, it’s in their blood and their culture has been formed by the deeds of their forefathers. There has been drive and ambition to build a better Rome for centuries. Marcus Aurelius stated ‘everything that exists is, in a manner the seed of that which will be’.

I have been to Rome a few times yet I have still to visit the Villa Medici or explore the many great buildings surrounding Piazza del Popolo, never mind the many piazzas and gardens such as the Villa Borghese.

The 1954 film ‘Three Coins in the Fountain’ depicts the main characters throwing a coin over their shoulders into the Trevi Fountain to ensure they will return. With my coin tossed, I am already looking forward to my next visit.