Rome is a city that draws millions of visitors every year, and there are plenty of things that can help you to see the city and ways that you can start to understand different parts of the city too. If you can learn a few words of Italian before you travel, it will certainly help you to make friends among the locals, although with many of the people working in the tourist industry in the city speaking English, this is not essential.


Rome is an amazing city that will interest many different parts of your personality, but the best way to get the most of your trip is to plan ahead and to try and find ways to see more than just the tourist attractions in Rome.

 

Taking A Food Tour Of The City

Food is a massive part of the culture in Italy, and as the capital of the country, Rome has long been a center for cuisine with ingredients coming from across the country to the city every day. One of the best ways to understand the cuisine and culture in the city is to take a food tour, which will usually take two to three hours and will guide you through the different dishes and ingredients, and take you to the food market and give you a chance to try your hand at cooking a few dishes too. This is a wonderful way to meet new people, both in terms of the people joining you on the group and locals working in the food industry, and is a tasty introduction to the city's food too.

 

Exploring The Historic Sights Of The Italian Capital

A visit to Rome would not be complete without taking in the amazing scope of the Colosseum and the architecture of the Pantheon, but there are also plenty of other sites that you will want to visit too.

Exploring the Roman ruins will take you to different parts of the city, and if you are on a longer visit it is well worth spending a day or two, as there are further sites along the Appian Way, including the Circus of Maxentius and the Catacombs of San Sebastiano. Depending on how long you want to spend exploring the sights, there are one, two and three day passes that provide affordable access to all of these sights.

 

Visiting The Vatican

Vatican City is one small part of Rome, but it is also a completely independent state, although you can expect to have one of the most relaxed border crossings that you will ever encounter while traveling. The amazing roof of the Sistine Chapel is the most famous of the sights in the Vatican, but you will usually expect to queue for some time in order to reach this part of the complex to see Michelangelo's masterpiece. One of the quirky aspects of life in the Vatican is that it is one of the few countries that continues to have Latin as an official language, so if you do use an ATM in the Vatican, you can choose to carry out your transaction in Latin.

 

Learn To Be A Roman Gladiator

Having visited the Vatican and the city's historic sights, you may be ready for a change of pace, and just off the Appian Way is a historic gladiator school that has been reopened to train visitors to the city on how to become a gladiator. Join other visitors to the city to enjoy a lesson that will teach you how to use your training sword, and will have you dressed in all the training attire, including the gladiatorial helmet and breastplate which are included. This is a great way to meet other young people visiting the city, and it is also a good way to learn more about the history of the gladiator culture within ancient Rome, and how the men who performed in the Colosseum were trained.

 

See The Artistic Side Of The City In Trastavere

Located on the other side of the Tiber from the majority of the city, Trastevere is one of the artistic centers of the city, and is also home to some of the best night life and bars in the city. Exploring the cobbled streets will take you past plenty of different galleries and cafes, although if you are heading there in heels, you may want to know that Trastevere isn't joining the rest of the city in replacing all of its cobbled streets. This is a beautiful place to relax and to enjoy a drink as the city passes before you.