Day 9 – June 17, Florence to Rome

Last breakfast on the balcony overlooking the city, we will miss the breakfast and service at this hotel!  Seriously, the staff at this hotel was excellent – nothing but wonderful things to say about them as well as the accommodations.  They booked us a taxi to the train station – but OOPS, the taxi only had room for 4 people, so Zoe got to sit on Sarah’s lap.  (There was no way we were going to walk through cobblestoned alleyways with our backpacks and suitcases, even if it only was supposedly a mile – no way per Sarah).

We got to the train station early, so grabbed cappuccinos and waited for our train.  We saw the family from Wauwatosa from our food tour there, and waved at them.  We got on the high speed train from Florence to Rome in business class – 247 km/hr which was to take 90 minutes.  It was perfect!  Too quick for a game of cribbage, despite what Zoe wanted.  It was really cool to see all the smaller Italian countryside homes whizzing by on the ride.

Upon getting to the train station, we walked to the hotel.  In Florence, it felt like every street downtown was a back alleyway with cobblestones and no or minimal side walks, usually enough room for one person.  Rome felt much bigger, so that was good for luggage purposes!  We got to the Hotel Quinarale where we were staying, and dropped off luggage – this was around noon and we were told that our rooms would be ready around 1 pm. 

We wandered until we found a restaurant (OperArt) across from the Opera House and ate outside – pasta and wine and soda.  We cannot tell if in Italy the tradition is to have long slow lunches for tourists, or if they are forgetting about us (and other patrons) or what the deal is.  It’s a great way to kill a few hours waiting for the rooms to be ready!  Matt educated the kids on the American Way of “turn and burn” – get food out to patrons and turn over the table, when you are paid on tips.

We checked in, changed into pants, and then headed to the Pantheon for our timed 3:00 pm tickets.  HOLY cats.  SO MANY PEOPLE on the street.  Like so many.  Like the Uffizi gallery but on a street.  ALL the streets.  We made out way to the Pantheon.  Now this is where the not so fun couple of days for Zoe will be.  Technically the Pantheon is/used to be a religious place, so shoulders and knees are to be covered.  Are most of the people in shorts?  Yes.  And honestly the boys and Matt are fine in shorts and Sarah is in long skirts and pants, but poor Zoe’s shorts are…. Short.  So she was sweating in 90 degree heat in the ONLY pants she will wear, her skin tight black jeans. 

The Pantheon was cool, not sure how you could spend hours here, but okay.  Sarah did not spit on Rafael’s tomb.  She could have, but did not.  It was interesting, and then we were done.  We walked by the Trevi Fountain on the way back to the hotel, exhausted. 

Unfortunately, Zoe and Noah desperately wanted McDonald’s, which was across the street from the hotel, so Matt and them headed over and got a double cheeseburger, nuggets and cheese & bacon covered fries and apple soda spritz.  Apparently they even had macaroons (and beer)!  Then us adults and Braden walked over to PinsAllegra, a tiny pizza place that sat 15.  On our way over, we passed by the food tour WI family AGAIN – we all waved across the crosswalk on the busy Rome street.  Man, those poor people just cannot escape us, haha!

Day 10 – June 18, Rome

We started the morning early before the hotel breakfast opened, so we had some chocolate-filled crossiant-like things that we had picked up from the mini-market nearby. They were.. food.  Like, in America they might be someone’s standard breakfast and here, we cannot believe they are legal to be sold.

The plan today was for a guided private Vatican “first thing in the morning” tour, then the afternoon for relaxing, and from 5-8 pm, a private guided tour of some catacombs and another basilica.  The adults were definitely looking forward do the Vatican, and the kids were looking forward to the catacombs.

Our taxi ride was quick to the Vatican Museum, swerving between lanes, cars, people – it’s impressive to watch, and Matt is very glad he is not driving.  So we were told by the hotel it might take 15 minutes to get a taxi that is an XL (for 5-6 people) and then 30 minutes to the Vatican.  So we needed to be at the Vatican at 7 or 7:15 and thus called for taxi around 6 am.  Wow we we WRONG.  The taxi came instantly, and there was no traffic.  We were deposited outside the Vatican at like 6:20.  NOTHING is open that early except for a shady café right across the street that capitalized on tourists like us, and we paid confiscatory pricing ($$$$$) for two cappuccinos.  We then sat in the little café outside and watched all the people who didn’t have tickets lining up outside the Vatican in the hot sun.

We met our guide at the time outside a different cafe, and she went through everything we’d be seeing and how the tour would go, along with a little history of the Vatican. As we were waiting, Zoe started to not feel well.  She turned kind of green and white (Sarah immediately blamed that bizarre breakfast bun that we all ate at the hotel).  We went in, got our tour earbuds and tried to get Zoe some water to feel a little better.  She felt like throwing up but was willing to be convinced into persevering. 

We walked in through the main entrance, then through the gardens to start the tour. The Vatican Museum is MASSIVE and their collection is huge.  I don’t think we totally appreciated what this would all be like until we were there. 

 Right away we were in a hall with over a thousand statue busts that had been collected over the centuries. Then into another courtyard with famous sculptures, including Laocoon, which we saw the copy of at the Uffizi, and the original was here, with its arm broken (the copy at the Uffizi was done with a guess at what the arm would have looked like).

There were many sculptures from ancient times that had inspired Renaissance works in the Vatican that our guide pointed out.

There were also sarcophaguses, including one of Constiniz, daughter of Constantine (this come up more later)

We continued through the Vatican and a couple of the papal apartments, seeing how each pope had customized the building during their reign. One ceiling painting included a camera (which was new technology at the time). There were also rooms dedicated to tapestries, a room of maps from the middle ages, and many different painting techniques on the ceiling, including one making everything look 3D. Zoe quickly found a bench every time she could to rest as we continued on through (by this time we were pretty certain she was having an abdominal migraine, which she has had in the past, which SUCKS, and we were hoping she wouldn’t throw up all over the ancient never-been-restored mosaic floors.  Also we were hoping to run into the Pope and maybe he could bless her and she might feel better (spoiler: that didn’t happen).

We quickly passed the more contemporary exhibits of art that had recently been added to the collection. Our guide pointed out that the art had to be of a religious nature and it had to be donated to be added to the collection. Then, the Sistine Chapel. We found out that from 1980-2000 there had been a massive restoration of the ceiling to remove centuries of candle smoke that had collected and almost covered the paintings. It was paid for by Nippon Television Network Corporation of Japan, and as such they have exclusive reproduction rights, so no pictures were allowed.

So we can only tell you about the Sistine Chapel (we didn’t even take any illegal pics because God would know), but it was amazing.   Essentially after walking through the Vatican museums, you are shuttled into an enormous room where you cannot speak or take pictures.  There are guards everywhere.  It is lined with wooden benches along the side and open in the middle.  We arrived fairly early when there was still bench space on the side, so we were able to sit for 20 minutes in the air-conditioned Sistine Chapel, looking up at the ceiling and all of the frescos around it. Zoe took the time to rest and recover. It was beautiful. 

Then we went out when St. Peter’s Basilica opened, and our guide had to exchange our tour headsets for another tour headset specific to the Basilica (it’s all business, as she said). We passed by the jubilee door, only opened every 25 years, and anyone who passes through is forgiven of their sins. There’s a wall built behind it so it doesn’t accidently get opened in the meantime – no crashing through like the Hulk to get your sins forgiven, unfortunately.

Our guide led us into the massive St. Peter’s, pointing out the many small chapels and burials of popes and other famous people in the church. We circled around the church, starting with Michelangelo’s Pieta, Virgin Mary holding Jesus’s body carved in marble and the only sculpture signed by Michaelangelo. It’s behind bullet proof glass now after a crazed visitor attacked it.

We continued along the side, up to the massive altar and the bronze canopy that was designed by Bertenolii to highlight the altar. As the church was built, the grave of St. Peter is under the altar (and our guide said this had been confirmed, almost 28m under). There were also several automatic votive candles around that took credit cards.

Then we descended into the crypt below the church. Each pope can decide where they are buried, so there are many popes buried underneath the church. A well-lit path circles through some of the popes as a tour, but there are many more side paths and layers that we couldn’t go down.

We finished the tour on the other side of the church and then into St. Peter’s Square, finding a spot in the shade to regroup. Matt and Braden went to scout out the shopping for some waters and snacks but found out to shop at the Vatican store you have to pay a euro to even go in. Um, no, we’ll find somewhere else.

We wandered away from the Vatican, down one of the streets that was a pedestrian mall to the Italian Post Office, which has the ATM that has the best exchange rate (at least according to reddit – PRO TIP: you can decline the conversion fee they try to charge you at ATMs in Europe and still get your money), and then we tried out FreeNow, the Italian equivalent of Lyft. Our taxi arrived quickly and got us back to our hotel, where we rested a little before deciding to take it easy and walk only across the street to grab lunch at La Cucina Nationazle. There were several other American and tourist families in there, so we settled in and ordered various pasta dishes. It was good, nothing outstanding but can’t complain.  We are getting better at navigating Italian restaurants (a, they are never in a hurry; b, they always take drink orders at same time as food orders; c, they always bring out our food and rapidfire say what the dishes are and we have to guess whose they are saying; d, you have to ask for your check, they will never offer it). 

It’s in the high 90s now outside, so we went back to the hotel to hang out for a bit before our Catacomb Tour.  This was another tour that our Italian travel lady had said was highly rated, and seemed like some of the reviews specifically said kids had liked it.  So we trooped over to a fancy hotel a block away from ours (“fancy” meaning it appeared most of their clientele was older men and younger women for which there was a non-zero chance some of ladies were escorts).  We waited there and then met up with our tour guide and a driver.  Yes, a driver haha!

So we drove over to a tiny “church complex” with the Catacombs of St. Agnes that had the Mausoleum of Constantiza with it.  It was adorable in that it is used for summer programs for children so it felt quaint – you walked by all the kids playing foosball and other games outside, around to the back following a sign that says catacombs, unlock the barred entry way, and down into the catacombs you go.  No pictures were allowed – there are multiple levels dating back to the early 4^th century.  Our tour guide explained the history of the catacombs, how they were raided for the bones that then could be used as relics, and showed us how the gravediggers made tombstones/inscriptions (she made light of some of their crude drawings, while most of us felt like the drawings were fantastic, haha says something about all of our art skills).  Zoe and Braden swear they saw a grave that still had a random bone in it that she didn’t point out.

We then went in the mausoleum, where occasional tourists filtered in.  We saw beautiful mosaics on the ceiling (unusual at that time) and other artwork there, and learned more about the history of Constantiza.

After that, we were ferried by the driver to St. Mary Magalorie, one of the four basilicas in Rome and technically under purview of the Pope.  There were tons of gates and ramps outside of it, and our tour guide told us that if we came during the day, we need to show a passport and wait in line, and it gets very crowded.  We had no idea until that point that we were getting to see something so special!

We were led in (there was another family there with their tour guide separately as well) by an employee, and there was a cardinal in robes chatting with her too.  We were led on a tour of the inside (this is where Pope Francis chose to be interred and his tomb is there, very simple appearing tomb), along with all the chapels and artwork.  It was almost overwhelming.  We then climbed up to terraces via a winding spiral staircase and across the roof for a view across the rooftops of Rome, which was amazing.

Grabbed pizza again at PinsAllegra (delicious again!), including a courgetti (zucchini), ham and mozzarella one, and then headed to Gelateria Artigianale Il Capriccio di Carla for gelato. This place was mentioned on several top lists of Roman gelato places, and there was a line out the door when we got there. Lots of different flavors, including cheese & pepper (we didn’t try that.. maybe tomorrow). But delicious gelato and a great way to end the day!!

Day 11 – Friday, June 18, 2026 – Rome

Finally a day we could sleep in!!!   Slept in and enjoyed a great breakfast buffet out in the hotel courtyard.   Lots of people, definitely much busier than the other hotels we had been too.  Big city, you know?  Buffet was good and had automatic coffee/espresso machines so we could guzzle as much as we could make.  Little more rest time before we began our walk down to the Colosseum.

We had tickets for 10:45 am.  The closer we got, the more the throngs of people were filling the street.  Anyone who takes pictures and doesn’t have thousands of other tourists in them has clearly cropped them.  Truthfully, we don’t mind – we are all there for the same reason!  More so, we feel bad for people who live in these tourist saturated locales.  But so much of their economy seems dependent on tourists too,  Goes both ways. 

We got in line, soaking in sweat (and so glad that there will be laundry available at our next hotel because things are getting dicey here, folks).  In we went, and it was kind of confusing initially to see how it was laid out.  Like, we love our Rick Steves, but he skips over SO much in his audio tours that we think it interesting, that sometimes it was hard to follow the transcript.  On the other hand, some of his explanations of things that are skipped over by the museums themselves are so interesting that we don’t want to give up on his stuff.

We threaded around, looking in awe at where the Emperor was thought to have sat, where the Vestal Virgins were thought to have sat, and the underground maze of pathways that existed to put on the shows and fights.  It was super cool, if not incredibly hot.  We purchased water from a vending machine, which came in handy as there were multiple places to refill said water bottles that were free (take THAT, other parts of the city).

We then exited and went over the the Roman Forum, which is a large area filled with interesting historical ruins (where Caeser was burned, the Roman Senate, where the virgins lived, etc, basically the important part of downtown ancient Rome).  It was so hot that at some point, most people were collapsing on random blocks of historical marble under some trees.  We probably would have been fine, but honestly, we were kind of “history’ed” out by that time and just wanted a snack and air conditioning.  Plus Rick Steves map didn’t agree with the one we found online, AND Matt’s phone wouldn’t work any more because it was too hot.

We staggered out, soaked in sweat and stumbled back into the downtown area.  We made a beeline for the gelato place from last night, then realized it was so hot that your gelato liquified immediately – so we inhaled it all.  We went back to the hotel and turned on an Italian cooking show which was perfect to get ready for the Food Tour!

Yes, we chose to do a Roman Food Tour as well.  We swore that all the foods on both tours were going to be different, then when we re-read the description, we were like, shit, they are kind of similar?  (Zoe: “I will never eat pizza again”. Matt: “I am calling bullshit on that”.  Zoe:  “AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!”). Oh well!  We took a taxi over to the Travistere neighborhood and sat on some steps, then popped over the Trappizino’s at the appointed time where the meet up was.  There were three American looking ladies there, and we were right, they were on our tour, along with a couple from California, and a foursome of ladies from various places (the one from the Twin Cities and Sarah chatted for quite a while!!  She was lovely).  Marta was our tour guide and she was fantastic (note – after the tour we saw her whiz by our taxi on a scooter and she was a badass in traffic, was fun to watch).

We started with street food of trappazinos and white wine, then walked over to a cheese/charcuterie type place for more wine and cheese and meet, then walked over to a pasta place for pasta and wine, then ended at a gelato place.  It was a lovely evening and we absolutely adore these food tours!

Back to the hotel via that Lyft app and time to pack up for the early train to Naples in the morning.

A couple things we noticed: in Rome, more dresses and kind of “nicer” street clothes, almost all white and black, whereas in Florence, seemed more casual – but linen is definitely the cloth of choice; more wide brimmed straw hats in Rome compared to Florence (but could have been the heat wave); streets in Rome were easier to walk on than the ones in Florence which were MUCH tinier; both had TONS of tourists; both had TONS of random restaurants.  Definitely felt like shadier street vendors in Rome too.