Rome · Lazio

A visit to the ruined city of Ostia Antica is particularly recommendable. It was the original harbour city of ancient Rome and had its heyday in the 2nd century. As the city of Rome began to shrink in the 5th century and Ostia, due to the silting up of the Tiber, no longer was located on the sea, but in the middle of swamps, the harbour city lost its significance and was abandoned by its last inhabitants in the 9th century. On the grounds, one can picture perfectly how life in ancient Ostia must have looked. There are beautiful, marvellously well-preserved floor mosaics, statues and sections of buildings, one wanders through a complete city.

20 kilometers southeast of Rome the gentle Alban hills unfurl as a verdant tapestry, adorned with an array of vineyards. The grapes grow perfectly in the mineral-rich volcanic soil. The exquisite wines have been enjoyed in an area that has been a favored location for aristocracy to build its summer residences since the Renaissance. The resort town of Castel Gandolfo is considered one of the most scenic in Italy. It is located on lovely Lake Albano and is protected as a regional park, il Parco Regionale dei Castelli Romani. Its papal palace has been transformed into a museum, so visitors can enjoy its beauty before doing a wine tasting or going on to see some of the other sites of historic and artistic interest that are interlaced in the area. 

When you tread on the modern-day streets of Rome listen closely: each footfall will seem hollow. As contemporary Rome was built over the bygone city, the former street level was much lower than it is today and the sound your steps make echo from the ancient voids below. In certain parts of the city you can access the underground world. Our tour starts with a visit of the three-tiered Basilica of Saint Clement. The church complex includes a spectrum of buildings that were constructed and then repurposed as villas, churches and temples. The tour then continues on to the Church of Saint Peter in Chains, for a tour of its foundation and to see the relic of the chains that were used to imprison the saint while in Jerusalem. The tour concludes with a visit of and the Basilica dei Santi Quattro Coronati (The Four Crowned Martyrs). The church was built in the fourth century to honor four anonymous saints and martyrs.

It is said that a Catholic could attend mass in a different church in Rome each day of the year and never need to return to a single church twice. With an incredible combination of churches, cathedrals, basilicas and other holy sites, the wealth of architecture, history and art they hold are impressive even for the non-religious. The layered history of Rome is perhaps best seen in its underground “cities” of catacombs. As visitors descend into the underground burial chambers they will see the ancient tombs as well as some engaging examples of early Christian art.

Rome is a classic. On this tour visitors can admire the Spanish Steps, the widest stairs in Europe. English Romantic poet John Keats lived and died in one of the villas along the steps. The house is now a museum. They then walk to the Trevi Fountain, where images of the lovely Anita Eckberg seem to dance in its waters, as she did in the film “La Dolce Vita.” Today swimming there is strictly prohibited, but visitors can still toss coins in, following the lead in another great film, “Three coins in the Fountain”. The film demonstrates that if you throw a coin backwards over your left shoulder into the fountain, you will soon return to Rome. Everyday nearly €2,000.00 is collected (the money goes to a local charity that supports the homeless) and everyday tourists toss their coins with the hope that they can quickly come back to the “Eternal City.” The tour continues to the Pantheon and finishes at beautiful Baroque Piazza Navona. The piazza has it all: three glorious fountains, Bernini sculptures, a lovely outdoor café scene and the magnificent Sant'Agnese in Agone church.

A journey through antiquity understandably tops a lot of bucket lists. A walk through the ruins of one of the greatest empires of all time is a humbling experience. The ancients built wonders and influenced the world at a time when surviving much beyond the age of 25 was a feat. Architects of the past aimed to lay the foundation for the following generations; they accepted that man played a part in the process of establishing a greatness that he would never see. The contributions of lives in Rome created an area that at that time must have been phantasmagorical – as even its mere remnants are grand. A walking tour of ancient Rome takes you to: the Colosseum, the world’s most famous arena of entertainment; the Arch of Constantine, the largest and only still existing triumphal arch in Rome; Palatine Hill, the location of the imperial palace complex; the Imperial Forum, famous as the area Julius Caesar and Caesar Augustus had built; and Trajan’s Column, which reads like a scroll descending from the sky and depicting the victories of the emperor who commissioned it. The walking tour shows the facades of each sight.  Entrances can be included, upon request.

When the ancient empire fell a new, Christian one took root in its stead. Power was transferred from the Roman command to the religious realm; the emergent Catholic world was ruled from the Vatican. As seat of the Holy See is located in the extraterritorial city state embedded in Rome, visitors can easily enter the bite-sized country with a global grip on ecclesiastical jurisdiction. A visit to “Christian Rome” includes a tour of St. Peter’s Basilica (entrance is free, but the purchase of headphones are required; an ascent to its Dome is optional) and the Vatican Museums with the Sistine Chapel (entrance extra).

An enchanting evening spent in Rome, with its beauty illuminated, exalted, somehow even more magical in the warm lights against the dark sky, creates an everlasting memory for all those who experience it. The tour includes many of the main “musts”: from the obelisk in Piazza dell’Esquilino; the elegant, historic hotels and cafés frequented by the Cinecittà celebrities in the 1960s as they lived la dolce vita in Via Veneto; Barberini Square with its Bernini fountains; Quirinal Square which affords views of the presidential residence; St. Peter’s Basilica; Castel Sant’Angelo; and Piazza Venezia with its monument to the first king of a united Italy, Victor Emmanuel II. On the tour it is possible to step even further back in time, towards Capitoline Hill, the Forum, the Colosseum, the Triumphal Arch of Emperor Constantine, Circus Maximus and the Aurelian Wall that protected the city from barbarian attacks. The Eternal city is brimming with impressive sites that are jaw-dropping during the day and breath-taking at night.