Lady’s Guide to Things to Do in Rome, Italy

Today I want to share my guide to things to do in Rome, Italy with you. The Eternal City is packed with impressive ancient ruins, great restaurants, beautiful heritage buildings, and delicious gelato. Here are the highlights.

Things to Do in Rome

My last trip to Rome was in seventh grade. I was on a class trip with my junior high school, and my friends and I only cared about two things: gelato and shopping.

A lot has changed about my travel habits since then (well, maybe not the gelato part), and a lot has changed about Rome, too.

I traveled to Italy last Tuesday with my boyfriend and checked into The St Regis Rome near Piazza della Repubblica.

The hotel was gorgeous, and our room was a far cry from the basic accommodation I experienced at nearby Hotel Zara as a seventh grader.

Speaking of basics, on my previous visit to Rome, the tour guide had arranged for us to eat turkey every night for dinner.

I have no idea why, especially since I’ve never seen turkey on a menu in Italy since then. Either way, I didn’t eat pasta even once in the two weeks I was in Italy.

Eat at the Best Restaurants in Rome

Fast forward to today, and one of my top goals for things to do in Rome was eat. Our first stop was a restaurant called Vladimiro.

When we first arrived I was a bit worried by the prevalence of American accents, but by the time our food came I knew we had made a good decision (I also knew the life story of the couple next to me from Wisconsin).

Our caprese salad was delicious, my pasta primavera was perfect, and my boyfriend’s Roman pasta trio had me sneaking bites between sips of vino rosso.

The rest of our culinary decisions in Rome were equally well-advised. The highlights included Trimani wine bar, which served great food, and La Vecchia Conca, a local restaurant where we enjoyed excellent pizzas and truffle ravioli.

On the gelato front, we got great recommendations for gelato at Old Bridge Gelateria near the Vatican as well as Gelateria Artigianale Corona on Largo Arenula.

It was at the latter that I discovered my new favorite gelato flavor: ricotta with lemon and saffron. Amazing.

Go Sightseeing in Rome

Believe it or not, we didn’t just eat in Rome. No, we also did a bit of sightseeing, one of the many great things to do in Rome.

But as opposed to my previous trip, the sights included more than just the United Colors of Benetton on every street corner in the city.

Our first day in Rome took us on a late night visit to the Trevi Fountain. We figured the place would be empty at 11pm. We were wrong.

It was just as packed as it was when we returned the following morning at 10am, but no less beautiful in its Rococo exuberance.

From there we visited the Pantheon, home of one of the most intriguing ceilings in the world. It was hard to comprehend it as a Catholic church given its name and original purpose. It was beautiful, though.

We had the same feeling at the Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri, what with its zodiac marble floors and astrological meridian running through the center.

Visit the Vatican

Other church visits in Rome included a trip to the Holy See to visit the Vatican and St Peter’s. It’s one of the most popular things to do in Rome for good reason.

The basilica was gorgeous. I remembered surprisingly little of it from my last visit save for the Pieta, which I probably only recalled because our tour guide browbeat us into recognizing that it was the most significant thing in the building (we had originally guessed the gift shop).

After standing in awe of all the white marble, glittering gold, and dead popes, we headed to the Vatican museums for a visit. There was no line, so we walked right in, bought our tickets, and started making the rounds.

Like St Peter’s, the Vatican museums display an enormous quantity of art. We walked through room after room of sculptures, paintings, and ancient artifacts.

My favorite room was the stunning map room, its ceilings bursting with paintings and color.

By the time we arrived at the main event, the Sistine Chapel, I almost thought it would be a let-down after all the other amazing art we’d seen.

It wasn’t. Michelangelo’s masterpiece was still as beautiful as I remembered it, and I craned my neck for as long as it would crane before finally taking my leave.

Tour the Best Art Galleries in Rome

But the Vatican doesn’t have a monopoly on art in Rome. I also booked tickets for two other great galleries, one being the Caravaggio exhibition at the Scuderie del Quirinale and the other being the stunning Galleria Borghese.

The former was a small but impressive exhibition of many of Caravaggio’s most famous works. Seeing it was one of my favorite things to do in Rome.

The latter was an amazing collection of art that included several 17th-century Bernini sculptures that my boyfriend and I decided were our favorite works of art in Rome.

Walk the Spanish Steps in Rome

And if natural beauty counts as art, the most beautiful spot in Rome was the Spanish Steps. Touristy, yes, but with brilliant magenta azaleas in full bloom, the steps were quite a sight to behold.

Visit the Colosseum and the Roman Forum

Speaking of sights to behold, we also visited the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. Touring them is one of the best things to do in Rome.

I had vague memories of both, but my memories didn’t do justice to how huge they were.

We spent hours walking through the halls of the Colosseum, wandering through the fields and temples of the Forum, and standing in awe of how old it all was.

See Contemporary Architecture in Rome

But Rome isn’t purely about ancient ruins, Renaissance art, and famous churches. Just as my taste in Roman sightseeing had updated over the years, so had Rome’s landscape.

I wanted to explore some of Rome’s newest additions on our last day in town, so I dragged my boyfriend onto a bus (he only cried a little bit) and headed up north.

Our first destination was the Zaha Hadid-designed MAXXI museum. This national museum of contemporary art and architecture in Flaminio was stunning to see.

Our second destination was just down the street from the MAXXI museum, and also showed Rome’s contemporary side.

Renzo Piano’s Parco della Musica was built in 2002 and is one of the few landmark modern buildings in Rome designed by an Italian architect.

We walked around the huge pavilion to admire the space-age pontoon buildings, and found ourselves in the middle of some sort of food festival. Was this heaven?

Maybe it was, but we didn’t have much time to find out. After making a quick round and picking up some white truffle butter that reminded me of our trip to the White Truffle Festival in Alba, we caught a bus back to The St Regis and then a train to Naples.

Best Things to Do in Rome

As we chugged slowly out of Rome, an ancient aqueduct reached out its long arm in farewell.

I felt glad Rome had evolved since my last visit, but not so much the treasures were gone.

And while I know I’ll change between now and my next trip, I’ll always cherish the memories from my first two Roman holidays (well, except the turkey).

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