Advantages: History, lots of things too see and so, food, amazing museums, Gelato
Disadvantages: Too much to see, crowded around major sight, fear of being pickpocketed

...A short summary This trip report will focus on the trip that my wife Nikki and I took to Rome in the period from July 2nd - 7th 2005. We targeted out places that we wanted to see during our trip. On our list was the usual stuff such as the Vatican, Pantheon, Piazza di Spagna, Colosseum, Forum, Capitol etc. With all of this on the list there was no rest for the wicked :-) Please visit my homepage http://gardkarlsen.com to see pictures from our trip. Get in touch if you have any questions or comments. Prelude A couple of years back we went to Milan and Venice and we had a great time there. I guess we decided that we had to return one day to check out some other Italian cities and especially Rome. After all Rome is one of the classical destinations along with places like Paris, New York City, London etc. Our chance came when we were... Read review

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Advantages: Much to see.
Disadvantages: Noisy, traffic-choked, expensive, petty crime

...airlines, Alitalia has sensibly stopped trying to pretend they can supply a real meal in those plastic trays, preferring now to dispense drinks and a picnic box. At least I've stopped getting off planes with gravy down my shirt! Getting into Rome is pretty easy too. €11 gets you a one-way non-stop train ride called the Leonardo Express to Roma Termini, which, not surprisingly is Rome's main terminus station. This is scheduled to cover around 20-odd miles in 31 minutes, so non-stop it might be, an 'express' it isn't. Beware - the area around Termini is akin to London's King's Cross, i.e. a bit of a dump these days, complete with 'unofficial taxi drivers' and several other varieties of rip-off merchants. It's also the nexus of Rome's two main Metro lines (La Metropolitana), which I'll deal with later. Fortunately, our hotel was only a 10... Read review

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Advantages: A lifetime of sights to see, excellent transport, amazing ice cream
Disadvantages: Very busy

...I visited here with two student friends in 2003, on a mission to soak up a lot of culture, have a great time and not spend much money, and we did pretty well on all counts. After sitting through years of torturous Latin lessons at school, I had high hopes for the city. We managed to find possibly the strangest hotel in Rome to stay in, the Hotel Giarda, near Stazione Termini, where they monitored our every movements through strategically placed security cameras, and the chamber maids had a good daily rifle through our luggage, but other than that it was well situated for exploring. Here are my top Roma sights (in no particular order): Vatican City: Even though this is slap bang in the middle of Rome, the Vatican is technically an independent state, with the Pope as sovereign, its own post office and legal system, and definitely... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Bags of history, fantastic tour guides, beautiful views
Disadvantages: None noticable

...The immensity of these historical remains took my breath away before I had even begun to learn about the depth and horror of its history. Those of you who have seen Gladiator or studied Ancient Rome in history lessons may be aware of the basic features and uses of the Colosseum in its days of glory but the amount of information given during the tour intrigued and enlightened me to the full extent of its history. Getting to the Colosseum could not be easier. It is situated in the centre of Rome quite literally with main roads running meters away from its ancient structure. The Metro station is situated within meters of the entrance with a zebra crossing leading across the road to the cobbled pathway that ran around the Colosseum. However if you do chose to take the metro be careful when traveling to keep any belongings in front of you... Read review

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Advantages: The best of both worlds, intrigue and combat
Disadvantages: This is not an action film. Some that expect this will be dissapointed.

..." Special features: • Audio commentaries from members of the cast and crew • 'All Roads Lead To Rome': an interactive onscreen guide for all 12 episodes with insightful historical facts about ancient Rome prepared by the series' historical consultant Jonathan Stamp • 'Friends, Romans, Countrymen: an introduction to the characters (15 mins) • 'Shot x Shot - Gladiator': a 'making of' documentary on the thrilling episode 11 fight sequence (40 mins) • 'Shot x Shot - Triumph Of Caesar': a 'making of' documentary chronicling the epic episode 10 triumph scene (40 mins) • 'The Rise Of Rome': a behind-the-scenes featurette on sets, wardrobe and actors' boot camp (25 mins)