From emperors to popes
From emperors to popes, Rome is a great mix of things: It is beautiful, it is noisy with outrageous traffic, it is a 21st century capital noted for an abundance of scandal — and it is the place to look deeply at more than 2,700 years of history. Indeed, it is a place where ancient and not-so-ancient events had a profound influence on the shape of today’s world, for two reasons: The city was the hub of a great empire for hundreds of years, then Roman Catholics made it their “capital” and so brought it back onto history’s stage.

About Rome
The ancient Romans built an empire that left place names, roads and remains of amphitheaters, aqueducts, temples and forums all around the Mediterranean and north to England, but most of all in Rome itself. The ancients endowed the city with the magnificent Colosseum, Pantheon and Forum plus countless other sites, enough to entertain the devoted amateur archaeologist for weeks. As if that were not enough, early Christians also made Rome theirs. The popes built and rebuilt the city to suit themselves, commissioned great works of art — and saved the Colosseum.

Today, it is a capital city whose citizens love their opera, who know well how to avoid the traffic on a motor scooter and who treat good food with the reverence it deserves.

Perhaps nowhere else in Europe do art, history and myth combine to enthrall visitors to such an extent. Visitors say that seeing and touching legacies from the time of the Caesars or St. Paul evoke tremendous emotion. Others remember most vividly the magnificent churches and religious art. The city also offers plenty of opportunities to wreck your budget in fashionable shops or feel like someone special while riding a horse-drawn carriage. Almost everyone returns home carrying a few extra pounds and raving about the food and restaurants. The typical tourist also wants to ensure a return trip, hence the traditional coin toss at the Trevi Fountain. A word of caution: Petty crime — such as purse snatching, often from motor scooters; pick pocketing, and theft from parked cars — is a problem. Thieves target crowded tourist sites.

Like Paris and London, Rome is included in tours of Europe's great cities. As such, it draws from across the range of personality types. Similarly, it is popular with religious pilgrims regardless of personality type. Rome gets most of its tourists in high summer, which means you should plan to go at another time! Avoid August because many Romans themselves leave town and close up shop. Besides, it can be very hot then.

Compete in the Rome Marathon. Or, if you’re not ready for that, participate in the event’s noncompetitive Fun Run.

Charter a yacht and sail out of and back into Rome’s port on a itinerary you have designed.

Take a self-drive tour of Rome.

Stay on a private farm in Greater Rome. Or stay at a campsite; Flaminio Village and Roma Camping are closest to the city center.

Sample the nightspots, from casual outdoor bars to discotheques to Irish pubs. Stay out all night.

Cycle through Rome and the area. There are several designated bike tracks.

Take a hop-off, hop-on Archeobus tour along the old Appian Way, hopping off along the route when you wish, to discover the heritage of Ancient Rome along that famous highway.

Sign on for a one-day private cooking course with walk through the city’s markets.

Tool about town on a rented motor scooter, or on a motorcycle.

Plan your own journey to see seldom-visited archaeological sites. For a long list of sites that may be visited only on request, go to www.romaturismo.it

Stay in a private apartment rather than a hotel. Or, stay in a convent, or a villa.

Renew your marriage vows at in the English church, the All Saints Anglican Church near the Spanish Steps. The Renewal of Vows Blessing is open to members of all denominations and requires no special planning.

Attend a soccer game.

Do what locals do: Dine late, starting at 9 p.m. and lingering until after midnight.

Take a hop-off, hop-on bus tour of Rome, or a more focused version that concentrates on Christian Rome.

Attend a theatrical event in the Villa Borghese after seeing the extensive Borghese art collection in the gallery there.

See Rome from the air in a small aircraft (carrying three to nine people) departing from Aeroporto dell’Urbe.

Attend a wine tasting in a city wine bar. Take a moonlight stroll over the Tiber.

If you can bear the crowds, join the Good Friday procession of the cross, and experience in person the Pope’s blessing to the city and the world at Easter.

Attend a summertime concert at the Roman theater at Ostia Antica, Rome’s ancient port and now an archaeological park.

Take a day off at the beach.

Go to the opera. In summer, see and hear opera at the Baths of Caracalla.

Eat a typical Roman meal at a certified typical restaurant. A number of restaurants carry the Ristorante Tipico trademark. For the list, see www.romaturismo.it/v2/allascopertadiroma/en/ristorazione.html

Take a packaged tour that is built around the arts and wine.

Eat gelato several times a day.

Take a dinner cruise on the Tiber. Or, use the river cruise option as a way to sightsee in Rome by day.

Buy souvenirs big (antiques, designer clothes) and small (kitsch gifts like glowing Madonnas).

See the graves of poets John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley in the Protestant Cemetery. Also, visit the Keats-Shelley House, where Keats died; it is now a museum.

Join a guided tour that takes you to the catacombs, multi-storied cities of the early Christian dead located just outside the city. There are Jewish catacombs, too.

Toss a coin into the Trevi Fountain to ensure a return visit. (However, aim straight into the water; coins that hit the sculpted figures damage the marble.)

For more information, consult the Rome Tourist Board at www.romaturismo.it and Italian Government Tourist Board at www.italiantourism.com

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