HANNAH SHARES

I was chatting with one of Michael’s coworkers last week about our upcoming trip to Rome. She was surprised we were doing it for a 4-day weekend as she had been told by others it’s impossible to do in only 4 days.

I’ve been to Rome two times before this trip, the first time nearly 12 years ago, and once more in 2019. Between those two trips I felt like I had seen all the big ticket spots in Rome, and each of those were only 2-days in the city, so I felt confident we’d be able to do it all!

When we plan weekend trips I don’t typically like to plan out our whole weekend. It’s difficult to do so anyways with a baby (she’s very go-with-the-flow, but still, you never know). But also, often our favorite parts of our trips are the unplanned ones. For Rome though, since there’s so much to see, I did make an itinerary, and hoped we’d be able to stick to it as much as possible. Naps included! We had a lot we wanted to see, and many of the sites here require pre-booked tickets or tours.

We took the train from Vicenza on Friday morning and arrived in Rome at 1pm. It’s a very easy 4.5 hour trip. We decided to walk the mile and a half to the hotel (about half an hour) since the weather was so nice. It wasn’t a terrible walk, but with our luggage, the bumpy sidewalks, and hills, I probably wouldn’t choose to do it again. We stayed at Hotel Cesari in the city center. We were right between the Trevi Fountain and The Pantheon (about a 5 minute walk to each), and walking distance to most things we wanted to see. (I’ve done busses in Rome before, and wanted to avoid that. Taxis/Ubers are an option too, but wasn’t wild about those with Lucy in a car seat. Plus they can be expensive.)

We dropped our bags at the hotel and found a spot for lunch on the same street. We ordered two spritzes and two pastas, amatriciana and cacio e pepe. After Lucy’s nap we stopped by the Trevi Fountain and then headed around the block for dinner at a restaurant I had booked before we arrived, Il Falchetto. I was nervous when we walked in because it was a little fancier than I expected. It was quiet and they sat us right in the middle of the small restaurant, and I hoped Lucy would be on her best behavior. They brought a high chair for her, and she was an angel the whole time. The food was delicious, I had lamb and Michael had veal. We would go back!

Saturday morning we were up early to head to the Vatican. We initially planned to take the bus there, but decided to walk it. It took us about 35 minutes to walk the 2 miles there, and it was such a beautiful morning. There was hardly anyone out and about. Our tour of the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel started at 8am. We booked directly through the museum online and had a group of about 20 others. I highly recommend doing the first tour of the day. We had the place almost to ourselves. One thing I was bummed about, the tour used to end at St. Peter’s Basilica, but now ends at the Sistine Chapel. We planned to do St. Peter’s after, but when we arrived in the square, we couldn’t believe how long the line was to get in. You can’t pre-book entrance here right now. We decided to skip it, but I was disappointed Michael didn’t get to see inside. It’s one of the highlights of Rome for sure.

We made our way back to the hotel, stopping at Castel Sant’Angelo and to get our first look at The Pantheon on the way. After nap time, we headed out to explore the Roman Forum and The Colosseum. We ended up walking up the stairs of the Altar of the Fatherland on the way, and when you come down the backside of the monument, there’s a perfect view looking down into the Roman Forum. The Colosseum was a short walk from there. We decided to skip a tour here. I have done it before, and it’s neat, but not a must in my opinion. I did see you can do “after-dark” tours there, which I think would be really fun! Just not baby-bedtime-friendly for us.

Saturday night we did dinner at Cucina del Teatro, a cozy spot we passed earlier that day and decided to make a reservation. We sat inside and all three of us shared a meal – a lobster pasta and a steak. Both were fantastic. Steak apparently makes a great teether, FYI!

We didn’t have much planned out for Sunday, which was a good thing because Lucy was exhausted. We started the morning at the Trevi Fountain and had a small breakfast and caffé right there. Michael tried a regional specialty called a maritozzo con panna, basically a sweet roll split open and filled with fresh cream. I’ve never seen it before, it was delicious! We walked to the Spanish Steps later in the morning and explored the area. It’s mostly just a high-end shopping area, not much going on. We peeked into Antico Caffè Greco, supposedly the oldest café in Rome. It was very busy so we didn’t go inside. I read that it’s worth the visit, but the prices are steep, you pay for the experience and ambiance, not necessarily the food and drink. We opted for lunch and gelato near The Pantheon instead, and did a quick walk through the inside of The Pantheon after. I actually didn’t realize the top of The Pantheon is completely open in the center until we were walking through and noticed the floor was totally soaked because it had rained that morning. There is a special drainage system built into the floor, kind of interesting! If you’ve never been to The Pantheon or heard of it, it’s worth looking up and reading about the history and architecture. The dome is the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome.

That afternoon we decided to test out a baby in a cab and headed to the Papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls (one of Rome’s four major papal basilicas and my favorite of the four). We spent about an hour at the Basilica. St. Paul’s tomb is actually there beneath the altar.

We took a cab back to the hotel area and decided to check out the rooftop of our hotel. We ended up sharing a couple of small pizzas there for an early dinner. Lucy wasn’t getting her two usual long naps over the weekend (we tried), so she was due for an early bedtime. I stayed back with her and Michael headed out to see The Colosseum and Roman Forum at night.

Our last morning we had breakfast at the hotel since it was raining outside. There were a couple of spots we didn’t make it to over the weekend that I have seen on previous trips, so Michael went to check them out while I stayed back for Lucy to get a good nap. He visited the final two papal basilicas, St. Mary Major and St. John Lateran, and the Holy Stairs. The Holy Stairs are directly across from St. John Lateran, and are the stairs Jesus took to Pilate in Jerusalem. They were brought to Rome in the fourth century by Saint Helena. Visitors are allowed to climb the stairs on their knees only. The stairs have been covered by wood since the 1700s for protection, but were briefly uncovered in 2019 after restoration. My last trip to Rome actually lined up with when they were uncovered to the original marble and we were able to climb the original, uncovered stairs.

Before we packed up, we did one more quick gelato trip to Giolitti. I researched the best gelato in Rome, and this spot was mentioned the most often. It did not disappoint. We think it takes first place even over our favorite spot in Vicenza. I suggest not going during a busy time, it gets crazy. Also, pro tip: pay at the register before you go to the back to order. Otherwise you’ll get to wait in the crazy line twice. 😄

We opted for a cab back to the train station this time. We hopped on the train just after noon and were home by 4:30pm. The train is quickly becoming our preferred travel method!

ROME GUIDE

DINING
Il Falchetto and Cucina del Teatro for dinner
Vos – we enjoyed the pasta here for lunch
Giolitti for gelato (others highly recommended – Gelateria Della Palma, Verde Pistacchio, and Frigidarium)
Antico Caffè Greco – oldest café in Rome, near Spanish Steps
L’ Antico Forno di Piazza Trevi – café right in front of the Trevi Fountain, this is where we tried the maritozzo con panna

THINGS TO DO
Colosseum
Roman Forum
Altar of the Fatherland
Vatican City (St. Peter’s Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museums, Gardens)
Piazza Navona
The Pantheon
Trevi Fountain
Castel Sant’Angelo
Spanish Steps
St. John Lateran
Holy Stairs
St. Paul Outside the Wall
St. Mary Major

HOTEL
9Hotel Cesari – perfect location, walkable to everything you want to see, has a great rooftop bar for light food and good cocktails

Additional Tips for Rome (especially with a baby)
You can use a stroller, but we used a carrier the entire time and think it was the better option in this city.

Choose a hotel right in the middle of everything. It’s worth it to be able to walk everywhere rather than spending time and money on transportation. It’s a super walkable city.

Local specialties include cacio e pepe (literally, cheese and pepper, delicious), carbonara (absolutely nothing remotely close to the American version), and maritozzo con panna. I’m sure there are many others, but these are the ones we tried and enjoyed!

Do the Vatican tour first thing in the morning and book ahead of time directly through the museum website.

Avoid the busses if you’re traveling with a baby. They are too crowded for strollers and honestly for my comfort anyways. If you can’t walk, we used the app FREE NOW to book taxis. Hotel staff are also happy to help with taxis.

Don’t schedule out your entire day. Spend time walking the city just to walk. We had about three full days in the city excluding travel, and were able to see everything we planned.

Finally, I can’t imagine a better time to visit Rome than February. My previous trips were both in June and it is HOT! And crowded. This trip was end of February and we had nearly perfect 60 degree weather, and it was busy, but not nearly as crowded as peak-Summer tourist season.