Rome, August 2023

A couple of friends and I wanted to go for a short trip during the summer and, since none of us had been to Italy before, we decided to go there. We were considering different places in Italy, but I’d always wanted to see Rome (due to its history), so we agreed to go there.

The city was definitely as interesting as I’d expected; there are so many beautiful places that it can be a bit difficult to keep track of all of them. The only small problem was that, since we were there in mid-August, it was really hot during the day (about 35C every day with constant sun), but the evenings were quite pleasant. It was also full of visitors (as one would expect in the summer), but there are enough spots in the city where one can enjoy the time without too many crowds (Rome is much more than just the popular locations).

Other than just walking around the city and exploring places, we also had a few organised visits during the stay: to the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the Vatican museum, and Stadio Olimpico.

The Colosseum

As this was our first time in Rome, we obviously had to go to the Colosseum. I have to say that, even though I had a rough idea that it is a large building, I was still surprised by how large. Other than that, the audio guide I had during the tour was quite helpful for understanding the significance of different parts of the building; I think the visit would not have been as useful without the guide.

The Roman Forum

The Roman Forum is very close to the Colosseum and, given that I was aware that there are ruins from old Roman buildings, it was another location that I was really eager to visit. This was unfortunately without an audio guide, so I could not learn the significance of all the buildings that are there, but, even without that, it felt quite special to be able to see just how much of these buildings is actually still preserved. When I was in school, the period of the Roman Empire was among my most favourite historical topics, so this sort of brought me back to those days.

The Vatican Museum and St. Peter’s Basilica

The Vatican has no religious significance for me or my friends, but we definitely wanted to visit the museum. For this, we booked a guided tour and, luckily, we booked it in the very early morning; at that time, the museum was not super full, so our guide could freely show us around, and we were able to actually see things properly. Later on (after the guided tour was over), we were free to explore on our own, but the museum was already extremely full, so it was actually really difficult to move around.

The museum itself is quite fascinating and certainly worth the visit; there are many beautiful sculptures, original paintings (obviously most of them with religious motives), and mosaics. From an artistic point of view, the Sistine Chapel was definitely the highlight though.

After the visit to the museum, we also went to St. Peter’s Square and Basilica. Both are quite impressive; absolutely worth seeing them.

Stadio Olimpico

We also had a bit of time to visit Stadio Olimpico; just like myself, one of my friends is a football fan and he likes Roma, so it all fit well. We actually booked a guided tour for this. The stadium itself is nice, but the tour itself was a bit underwhelming. I guess I was a bit spoiled here, as I could not help but compare this to my Stamford Bridge tour a few months ago, which was much longer and simply more informative. At Stadio Olimpico, it was more of a landmark reaching and picture taking tour. In addition, it was a bit disappointing that we were not allowed to go inside the dressing rooms (we could just peek inside from the doors). Finally, the fan shop at Olimpico was really poor (again, compared to the fan shop at Stamford Bridge, which was amazing).

Still, I am happy to have seen the stadium and to have been inside it.

Pictures from around Rome

Other than these organised visits, we also walked around quite a bit to simply explore (actually, I arrived one day before my friends, so I had an extra afternoon to explore things on my own). Our hotel was near Piazza della Repubblica, so lots of places were reachable on foot, such as the Villa Borghese, Fontana di Trevi, the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, many churches, and many beautiful squares.

We also visited what might now be one of my favourite (smaller) museums I have ever visited: the Museum and Crypt of the Capuchin Friars (Museo e Cripta dei Frati Cappuccini), which has art created from skeleton remains. Hauntingly beautiful.

Below are some pictures taken from around the city (including a couple of pictures of delicious food).