Trip Report: Easter in Rome - Our Long Weekend in the Capital of Italy
Since we have moved to London, Easter weekend has been important as it usually means family visits for the long weekend. This year would not be any different as Beth Anne would be visiting again! We would have Easter in Rome!
Logistics
I’ve already covered how we arrived in Italy with our Fun & Food in Florence post and our Siena day trip, which led to us being close to Rome.
For our stay, since we had three people, we would have to find a four person AirBnB. I had Mary Frances led the way in terms of neighborhood and then we found a great place just moments from the Pantheon! Our place was in the middle of the city, close to several great spots!
When we left on Monday evening, we could have taken public transportation, but we opted for taxi so we could have an extra few minutes with Beth Anne and Kevin. It cost around $45 so it wasn’t too bad! Our flight to London Luton was at a good time if stretching your weekend to the max as it departed at 9:50pm, and landed at 11:50pm.
Activities
Because Rome is one of the ancient cities of the world, we obviously had a lot of bucket list items! There are loads of “city” walking tours, cooking classes, and history walking tours. Since I am a newbie to Rome, I had so many choices! We opted for three choices: free walking tour, Cooking With Us Rome cooking class, and then a Coliseum tour. Unfortunately, the Vatican was semi-closed during Easter so I will have to return to see those sites!
One of my other favorite Rome activities was the photo missions I embarked on every morning! To avoid the crowds and to get the golden hour, I woke up insanely early for a holiday, walked 15-30 minutes, and then took a lot of pictures. For me, this experience was very worth it as I had time to myself, explored the city on my own time, and nabbed terrific photos!
Costs:
- Hotel: £450
- Flight: £210
- Activities: £120 + £41
- Food: Never enough pasta!!
Onto Rome
Since we were in Siena, it made things slightly easier to get to Rome. Or so we thought…
Our tour ended at 6pm and we had about an hour before our bus to Rome. We decided to just walk through the city to the bus station as we did not have anything else to do! Unfortunately, the bus kept getting delayed as we kept walking to the bus station… By the time we had arrived at the bus station, our delay went from a reasonable 15 minutes to two hours…
Bus Ride from Hell
Once the bus finally arrived around 9pm, we quickly realized this would be a bus ride from hell. The bus was very, very full and not filled with jolly local Italians. Rather, it was full of tourists or others just trying to get to Rome. Mary Frances and I had to separate and we both drew the short stick. For my ride, I sat next to a sniffling sicko and MF had the person who forgot deodorant for a week straight before getting on the bus. Safe to say, I don’t think taking a bus from Siena to Rome will be in our future!
Thankfully, I pre-ordered an Uber from the Rome bus station once we finally arrived at 12, a mere 3 hours behind schedule. This enabled us to get to the AirBnB more quickly and catch up with Beth Anne! We all quickly said hi and bye as we all went straight to bed!
Let’s Eat All Saturday
For the only non holiday day on our trip, it felt that we had 1 sole mission - to eat all Saturday!
Photo Mission
While researching for the trip, one of my favourite photographers posted his top tips for Rome and came away with spectacular photos! Therefore, I knew I had to try my hand at the same locations to test out my skills! Thankfully, I already have one skill that most tourists don’t have - the ability to wake up early!
Today’s photo mission would be the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. During the day, both locations are extremely crowded and any photos will be with hundreds of your closest friends!
Wandering through Rome
After my photo mission, we returned to the BnB so I could take a shower and pick up MF for the day. We did not have any set plans for the day outside of a full day cooking class beginning around 2pm. This, we decided to wander or perhaps join a walking tour.
Re-Trace
As it turns out, they wanted to walk in my footsteps from this morning! We strolled through the Pantheon, stopped at Trevi, and ended at Spanish Step. However, there were two big differences - crowds and MF!
We enjoyed taking a few group and couple pictures at each spot while we dodged the annoying tourist. Granted, I’m sure we were also those people!
Mi Amore
During our walk, we decided to have a quick real breakfast pit stop at Mi Amore. It had a decent Tripadvisor rating and we just ordered the simple things to fill us until lunch. We couldn’t waste precious room when we had a full day of pasta ahead of us!
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Breakfast
While waiting for our food, we formulated our remaining day. Since my childhood best friend, Shelby, just happened to be in Rome, I wanted to meet up with her family for lunch. This meant either skipping a walking tour for lunch or skipping meeting up with them for the walking tour. Thankfully, we made the right choice!
What other Rome Spots?
Next on our wandering tour was the Piazza Navona! One of the ancient and biggest piazza’s in Rome, it is full of gorgeous buildings, churches, and tourist traps! The random fountains with the church backdrop made it extremely scenic! Now that it was noon, the crowds were thickening and we knew we needed a break!
Osteria del Pegno Roma
For our special lunch with the Griffins, I researched for a grand total of 5 minutes thanks to my already extensive list of restaurants. Partly found with MF and partly found because I do way too much google research! I chose Pegno Roma as the reviews were fantastic and it was conveniently located near their morning activity and our afternoon activity. Plus, who can go wrong with homemade pasta?!
Whisky enjoying their stories of their Italy trip, we gorged ourselves with amazing pasta, local vino, and bruschetta! I chose the classic spaghetti carbonara, MF elected for the cheesy brocrlli tortellini, and Beth Ane opted for the ragu. Whilst I won the taste test, I’ll let you be the judge of who had the best dish!
I had an absolute blast catching up with Shelby and her family. Their Italy stories cracked me up and we definitely add more recommendations based on their trip! This meal was definitely better than any walking tour!
Ice Cream and Run
After our delicious meal, we obviously had to get famous Italian Gelato, Gelateria del Teatro. Coincidentally, we walked by a gelato shop with a long line. Since we could make time, we waited in line while I looked for a cash machine since the cooking class only accepted cash. In the end, we may have had to eat our gelato very quickly, but we discovered our favourite gelato shop!! It was a classic win win win situation!
Cook with Us
For the remainder of our Saturday, we spent the whole afternoon and evening with Cook with Us - Rome! Assisted by Chef Cesare, we made delicious treats from homemade tomato sauce to tiramsu! I would highly enjoyed this read!
Easter Sunday
As it is Easter Sunday, we ventured off to the ancient times in the Coliseum to one of the holiest places on earth at Vatican City.
Breakfast with Beth Anne
After my very successful photo mission, Beth Anne texted and told me she was ready for breakfast. For anyone who travels with Beth Anne, there are two holy things on her trips - coffee and breakfast. As breakfast is holy, she picked a cafe that appeared open on this Easter Sunday, but it was a 30 minutes from the Coliseum. Oh well, I was able to explore more of Rome before the crowds arrived!
Once at the bakery, I immediately decided this was worth the high step count! They had SO many pastries! The breakfast was yummy and filling! I really liked my croissant filled with chocolate and nutella and then a real breakfast of eggs and other things. Once done, I made the reverse route to the Coliseum.
A Coliseum Tour
Once returning to the Colisuem, it was absolute chaos. Compared to this morning, the crowds are everywhere and just insane! Read about our Coliseum tour in this post!
Osteria Fortunta
After our long walking tour of the Coliseum and the ancient Forum, we ventured to Fortunta for some amazing pasta! This restaurant received rave reviews in my research - although it goes without saying it will be hard to find an issue with pasta in Rome!
Thankfully, we nabbed an inside table after a long-ish wait and just before the rain came into the city! We were famished at this point so we each ordered our own pasta dish. I had the classic Cacio e Pepe while MF decided to get the ragu sauce. For the dessert, in typical MF fashion, we ordered the Panna Cotta. It was very tasty! In true Andrew fashion, we all went to a gelato place down the street for our own scoop!
Living it up in Vatican City!
As it was Easter Sunday, it felt very appropriate to visit the holy Vatican - especially after we heard how they stole all the marble. Despite our expectations that it would be insanely busy, it was relatively calm.
Everything was still set up for the earlier Easter service and crowds were still going inside St Peter’s Basicila. While I was jealous because my tour was cancelled, it was still really exciting to see the exterior!
As we walked around and took pictures, we made loads of Pope jokes as if we expected to see him come outside and greet us. We also got a kick out of seeing the famous and colorful Swiss Guards. I thoroughly enjoyed our short time in the Vatican!
One Giant Circle
Shortly after our Vatican visit, we found Nick’s favorite gelato shop, Gelateria La Romana, on our way back to the Spanish steps. We briefly made him very jealous, but we still preferred our first stop at Gelateria del Teatro. Still, gelato is gelato and we enjoyed it!
Before we realized, we were making one giant circle! We were walking in the general direction of the Spanish steps, which is only about 10 minutes north of our AirBnB. We found the most famous Piazza and unsurprisingly it is very busy in the evening. Essentially, we were walking to each Nike store in Rome to find Beth Anne a new pair of trainers. However, by the 3-4th store, she gave up and ordered them online…
Zo Pizza
Since we had been in Italy for almost three whole days and had yet to eat pizza, we obviously had to correct this travesty! My chosen pizza place was Zozzo as it is a hole in the wall good pizza place. Hole in the wall described it perfectly as there were few tourists and the decor was very homey. More importantly, it was in an alley away from the main crowds and it was void of crowds!
For my main, I had the spicy salami diavola pizza. It was very tasty and I managed to finish it! MF ordered a nice tasting prossucito sandwich. In a classic Beth Anne move, she “didn’t read” the menu and ordered a pizza that only had bread, red sauce, and garlic. That is it. While it was good, it was basically breadsticks!
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MF's dish -
My pizza -
BA's "pizza"
After another day in Italy, we were thoroughly full of pasta, pizza, gelato, and other yummy Italian treats!
One Last Time
For our last day in Rome, we are very sad! We didn’t want to leave the land of pasta despite having plans to return to Italy the next weekend!
Lazy Morning
After my quick photo mission to the Vatican, I came home and wanted a break from the traveling. Since Thursday afternoon, we had been going from place to place and I needed a mini break to remind me it was a weekend!
Thus, we watched Game of Thrones. Granted, we did have some time to kill as Beth Anne was downsizing apartments later that day in anticipation of Kevin’s arrival. While watching our favorite TV show, we packed and slowly got ready!
More Pasta, Less Problems
As we only had two (full) meals left today, Mary Frances, as the core researcher, desperately wanted to visit Borghiciana Pastificio Artigianale, by the Vatican. We ventured to this small trattoria a few streets from the main Vatican street. Any other day, we would have never realized this place existed unless MF did this research!
We grabbed one of the last available tables and ordered a full meal. I had the ravioli while MF had the pesto with bacon. Beth Anne had the carbonara. Overall, this is the best pasta we have had in Rome!! The pasta was very fresh while the sauces were more homemade! We loved it!
Obviously, with such great pasta success, we ordered the panna cotta. For my expert (MF), she thought it was a close second to Nella!!! Wow!
Kevin Arrived!
Because it started to rain and Kevin finally arrived in Rome, we went back to the AirBnB to rest and plan our remaining time. Ideally, we needed an inside activity. Before we came, I stumbled upon an article discussing the holy Vatican stairs and how it was open for a very limited time! Because it was Easter weekend, we felt obligated to visit! Plus, it would give Kevin something to do to beat his jet lag and an unique relic to see!
The Holy Stairs
For Catholics, this is a very religious experiences. Supposedly, the marble stairs originate in Jerusalem and were brought to Rome in the early hundreds by the Catholic church. There are marks in the marble that note where the blood of Jesus fell as he carried the cross. One other unique part of this activity is you had to walk up the stairs on your knees. Unfortunately, Kevin didn’t mention that his knees were badly scratched until after we went!
Once we arrived, there was a very long line since a school bus tour had just beat us there… Unfortunately, the wind and rain also picked up so we were thoroughly enjoying ourselves! After we were inside, it was a very interesting experience.
Climbing the stairs!
Between people who viewed it very religiously, somewhat religious, and casual tourists (like us), each experience was different - including if who you were kneeling next to! If you focused on the metal bits on the marble stairs signifying where Jesus’ blood fell, it was a moving historical and religious experience. As soon as my eyes moved from the metal cage to the person’s butt in front of me, the experience was slightly lessened! Overall, I am very happy that we went to this place as it is truly once in a lifetime!
Holy Stairs
Last Supper
For our last Roman supper, we went to the Catina and Cucina. We stumbled upon this restaurant as we were searching for a gelato place and it had a very long line plus very high Google reviews! Therefore, we had high hopes and we wanted to make sure Kevin properly began his Italian adventure!
For our appetizer, we ordered a caprese salad to share for the table. It was just good. For my main, I ordered a salami pizza since I felt that my earlier pasta experience could not be beaten or the memory did not want to be ruined. MF had ravioli in a meat sauce and enjoyed it. Compared to our earlier eating experiences, this felt very similar to Carrabbas in the US.
However, our slightly average meal could be saved with a visit to our favorite gelato shop - Gelateria del Teatro!! It was extremely yummy!! Although it was sad we had to leave…
Onto London
To get to Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO), there are many options. If we planned well ahead, we could have taken the train or bus. It would have saved money! If we slightly planned ahead, we could have bought tickets on a shared bus. Instead, to maximize family time, we opted for a $45 taxi directly to the airport using the MyTaxi app. Because we had wine, we had to nervously sweat through the weigh in process. Because of our previous record high in Porto, we felt confident with our 6 bottles of Tuscan reds.
Afterwards, we strolled in the lounge and thoroughly enjoyed lounge life. The food was decent and the water and wine were fantastic! A great way to end the trip!
The UnChartered Summary
- While you cannot go wrong in Rome, I would highly recommend the following places:
- Borghiciana Pastificio Artigianale is by far our favorite pasta in the city!
- Gelateria del Teatro is our favorite gelato - I enjoyed chocolate with strawberry or cookies and cream. Whilst technically not “gelato”, I love chocolate too much!
- Zozzo was our only pizza place, but thoroughly enjoyed it!
- Word to the wise (or common sense) - Because of high ratings on Google or Tripadvisor, we are lured to these places. However, they always aren’t the best!
- For the tours, book early, private, and early in the morning!!
- In terms of areas, I would highly recommend near the Pantheon! We loved being centrally located as we were 30 minutes from the Vatican and Coliseum while only 10 minutes from Trevi and Spanish steps.
- More importantly, here is a link to all the restaurants and gelateria!
Before this visit, I’ve heard many Rome rumors - people either loved or hated it. Now, you can count me in the love it camp!
