First a word of warning. If you are planning a family holiday with your young children, don’t go to Rome! Rome is not child friendly. There is a Disney Shop on Via del Corsoey, but it is mainly clothes, and that’s the nearest Rome gets to catering for kids. A vacation in Rome is for adults. Children will be bored silly!
So, what is there for adults on vacation in Rome? Well, you must have heard the saying, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do” – a saying, incidentally, attributed to St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan in the 4th century when replying to St. Augustine who had commented on the Milanese not fasting on a Saturday as the Romans did. The Romans love life and live it as fully as they can. You should do the same.
If you have been reluctant to have a Rome vacation due to the travel or language barriers, don’t worry. Practically all major airports provide flights to Rome, and English is the second language in Italy. Nobody whose main language is English will be stuck in Rome. The English are well known for their inability to learn European languages. Do know why? Because they get on perfectly well in Europe without them. They rely on Europeans speaking English and when they don’t, there is always sign language. If the English can get on fine in Europe then so can anyone.
The food in Rome is fantastic, as it is anywhere in Italy. It’s not all pasta and ice cream, though the ice cream is out of this world. So is the pasta! There are restaurants everywhere, ranging from the most sophisticated and formal to small eateries where you can pick up a bowl of fresh sardines to go, or pop into a trattoria for some home cooked pasta. A vacation in Rome is not complete without real Roman food – not the Italian food you eat in restaurants back home.
A trattoria is not a conventional restaurant, but an eating place without menus and with a pass-through clientele. The food is quick, like mountains of pasta and sauce, but very good. Prices are low and the food served informally, in more of a family atmosphere than a formal restaurant. The term is misused in other countries for a normal Italian restaurant. You must visit a real trattoria on your Rome vacation.
Food apart, the main reason people vacation in Rome is for the history. Roman history. Modern Rome bears no resemblance to Rome as it once was: the center of the world and ruler of all kingdoms it came across (apart from the Scots and the Vandals!). The language was different and the food different. Even the people were different. Visitors flock to Rome to see the ancient buildings, such as the Coliseum and the Capitol, even though they have little knowledge of the history of ancient Rome.
Before you start your tour of Rome, have a stout pair of shoes. Rome is best toured on foot. You can get bus tours, but if you want to get the best from your Rome vacation you should walk. The best method is to pay for a private tour, but if that is beyond your means at the moment, then use a tour book. They are very good and direct you to everything you will want to visit. So, the Coliseum is first.
Everybody has heard of the Coliseum, the scene of so many fights between gladiators and countless executions. No vacation in Rome is complete without a visit, yet, contrary to popular belief, it was built eighty years after the death of Jesus, and was never attended by the most famous Roman emperors such as Julius Caesar, Caligula, etc, and it was known as the Amphitheatre Flavio, until it was renamed in the Middle Ages. Close by is the Forum, where the Roman senators met, and you should also visit the ‘Temple to all the Gods’, other wise known as the Pantheon, which was built by the Emperor Hadrian towards the end of the great period of Roman world supremacy.
You must visit the Vatican City during your vacation in Rome. Situated with the city itself, the Papal state is the smallest independent state or country in the world, and the only state with a birthrate of zero! You can visit the Sistine Chapel with its ceiling painting of The Creation by Michelangelo, but the Vatican has treasures other than this worth viewing.
Whatever you do in your life, you should visit Rome at least once, and you will never ever forget your Rome vacation, whether it be the Coliseum you remember, or the Trevi Fountain, wherein if you throw a coin, it is fated that you will return to Rome some time. Perhaps you will remember the food, perhaps the superb paintings and sculptures. But you must visit once – that Roman Holiday of Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck awaits you.
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