2022
Image 1: Piazza Navona
If you are a student and/or under 26 from the EU you will get a discount at a few tourist places like The Coluseem and The Vatican so remember to bring your student ID and ID. There are "undercover" tickets and tour guides and I know this because we were randomly greeted at the two previous mentioned tourist attractions and we were given special tours (for a similar ticket price). Both times this was beneficial as we got to skip the queue and be given a 2 hour guided audio tour. When we bought tickets for The Colosseum (the price of €27) it included entry to the Forum Romanum which is honestly such a stunning place to visit. Right next to it is a Campidoglio which has a pretty good view over the Forum Romanum if you do not want to pay to visit it as you get a pretty good view of everything from a top-down view.
Image 2: Inside the Coluseem!
Image 3: Antoninus and Faustina Temple which was a temple constructed by Emperor Antoninus Pius around the time of 141 AD and dedicated to his wife Faustina the Elder.
Want a quick workout? There is a long staircase at Piazza del Campidoglio which is challenging and fun to walk up and at the top, it is a church to visit. The long staircase is not the only way in there as near the Fountain of the Goddess Roma in Piazza del Campidoglio to the left there is a staircase (Gemonian Stairs) up into the "Convento di Santa Maria in Aracoeli."
Image 4: Stairway to "thighs on fire"
Fountain de Trevi is always such a nice spot to go to as it is a stunning fountain piece (bring a coin to throw in) and through the surrounding places there are restaurants and gelato.
Image 5: Fountain de Trevi.
Close by (perhaps a 10 min walk) is the Column of the Immaculate Conception and the Spanish steps which are worth the walk up. If you walk up the (138 steps) stairs you might be able to see that the person on top of the Column of the Immaculate Conception is Virgin Mary stomping on a serpent. There is an elevator too nearby to get you up and down! You will want to save some energy for a trip to the park.
Image 6: All the way at the top you can see Virgin Mary.
Whilst you are on The Spanish Steps, you are not too far away from Villa Borghese which is a gorgeous park with lots of great artwork museums and a nice spot for children to hang out at this cafe as they have merry-go-arounds, (small) horses, balloon vendor, green patch to play on right in front of an outdoor cinema. Go a bit further in and you will see the Temple of Asclepius, Museo Pietro Canonica and they have a zoo as well! Perfect for a day out in a park as they also have a restaurant or two to get refreshments and food!
Image 7: Temple of Asclepius. The boats are rentable for the duration of 10 or twenty minutes and can hold two people.
Again the Vatican had an under 26, EU citizen and student discount situation so remember to bring ID as they will need to verify this. For the price of €55 (student) / €65 regular it was a really good audio tour, however, it did go on for a bit long. Don't leave this till your last day as it will get tiresome but it is a great day out to look at fantastic art pieces by artists such as Michelangelo. Raphael. Caravaggio and Bernini just to name a few.
When it comes to the culture you should be ready to spend more time eating out and partying late. It is typical to eat dinner around 7 pm here and that is when a lot of restaurants open up too. Don't worry, Rome is a city where you can eat at any time of the day, or at least till the restaurants close. The party and club scene were a bit lacklustre in that we could not find any, and most locals did know of any place either so get a seat at your preferred venue and have a drink all night! 'Lion' is a cosy space where their signature drink menu had this nice theme to it as it was named after and inspired by James Bond. If you have some time I'd recommend this bar! A personal opinion on wine: wine from Sicilia and Valpolicella are always tasty so if you want to treat someone lookout for those two names.
Image 8: Valpolicella is a region in North-Italy and honestly has so tasty red wine.
When it comes to LGBT+ venues I did find one gay club Club 101 as far as I know as I did not have any time to enter the nightclub venues, however, I know they exist and they are open. For opening times check out their google business page that is highlighted. In the morning after a night out, and once you are Colosseum tour I would defiantly recommend heading to Coming Out for some food, or My Bar which is right next to it (both LGBT+) for a cup of coffee and a nice American breakfast. Which rumour has it is also a LGBT+ somewhat disco/dance.
Image 9: Club 101
Image 10: An American breakfast at Coming out with a cup of coffee which cost me about twelve euros for all of this.
Interestingly most bars and restaurants did not have any toilet seats in the men's or women's toilets. When looking into it seemed to be an Italian thing to do whilst it was not an issue for me it was something I did not expect so be do what you want that information.
Side note: Me and my family saw the Rome Marathon which stretched a whopping 42.195km (26.218 miles) starting at the Colosseum and ends there as well. If running interested you should have a look at the next one for 2023. 🙂
