Over the last 30 years the city of Rome has become an anchor point in my life, a central place from which my travels in Italy began all those years ago. Rome is a place that to this day still amazes and totally overwhelms my senses each time that I visit. I honestly cannot remember how many times I have walked the streets of this magnificent city most times without any set agenda or plan.
I have often heard Rome described as a living museum and I could not agree more.
Rome is all about experience, adventure, knowledge and the feeling of discovery everywhere you turn. Open your eyes, heart and mind and I guarantee that you will always see something wonderful and unexpected all you need to do is be receptive to your surrounds and what floods in, the term sensory overload does not do this ancient city justice.
Watching the Roman’s go about their day to day lives rushing from work to appointments and back to work again whilst surrounded by all this history and culture is something that I have always found to be amusing and yet so very Italian. From my perspective Italians seem to happily acknowledge the history and culture that they are so intrinsically immersed in and yet at the very same time they adopt an attitude that screams of the dolce vita and living for the day.
I think that we can all take something from that perspective.
In no set order my favourite places to visit when in Rome are
- Colosseum
- Roman Forum
- Castel Sant’Angelo
- Trevi Fountain
- Altare della Patria
- Pantheon
Of course, my list above in only a small sample of the magnificent land marks and historical monuments that are freely available to all and sundry. Get an early start make sure you have comfortable walking shoes, grab a map, eat some Gelato and find yourself a nice trattoria a few blocks back from the main attractions for a nice inexpensive lunch and let’s face it how many coffee shops can you walk by before stopping for a coffee, remember no cappuccinos after lunch or you risk being found out as a tourist.
