Here in March/April 2020 Italy has been in the news. So sad that the Covid-19 virus has killed so many Italians and shut down their country. I thought I would do a post about our trip to Rome in March of 2017.

I traveled with my Wife and youngest daughter to Rome. We flew from Minneapolis – to – Amsterdam, then to Rome. We hired a car and arrived early. We had a wait for awhile to meet our AirBnB host.

Our AirBnB was by Largo Argentina in the center of Rome. This location allowed us to walk to all the major sites in Rome.

The closest major site was the Pantheon. About a 5 minute walk from our place. Hard to believe the cement roof is over 2,000 years old.

Another 5 minutes and a few other cool sites and we are at the Trevi Fountain.

Maybe 10 more minutes and we are at the Spanish Steps. The picture above shows how crowded Rome is. This is 2017 social distancing.

Closer to the Pantheon was the only Gothic Style Church in Rome. Out of the hundreds of churches in Rome only one is built in the Gothic Style. So of course we had to stop.

So south of our place was the Jewish Quarter. The picture above is an example of all the history in Rome. Around every corner is some type of history. An amazing place.

Over the river from the Jewish Quarter is the Testaverde neighborhood. Which has a great wood fired pizza place we stopped at.

Of course the Testaverde neighborhood has more churches. The above was a great visit at night.

Another church in Testeverde – St. Cecilia Church with the famous sculpture above.

Like mountain springs in Switzerland, Rome has fresh drinking water everywhere that is safe to drink.

About 10 minutes to the east is the Roman Forum. Hard to describe how big it is and all the sites. Plus the Colosseum is just east of the Forum.

Everyone has seen the outside of the Rome Colosseum. This is the inside and again a view of the crowds in Rome.

Again more churches to see down by the Forum. I think the above was from the church Moses in Chains. So many unique – not famous – things to see in places all over Rome.

On our visit to St. Peter’s in Rome we did take a bus. It would have been maybe a half hour walk. We took the bus because we had an early appointment to tour the catacombs under St. Peter. We got that reservation thanks to a recommendation from a Priest I know. No pictures allowed, but a wonderful tour and ending with the box holding the bones of St. Peter.

Just inside the entrance at St. Peter’s is the Pieta by Michelangelo. It is closed off by glass and hard to get close to because of the crowds. But still amazing.

Of course we also had to climb to the top of St. Peter’s. Very cool thing to do with some tight spots and again very crowded.

The last thing we did on the trip was to visit the Vatican Museum. It is huge and has lot’s of amazing things. You can only see some of the highlights in a day. We did walk back to our place and found some very cool neighborhoods on our walk back. I would say if we went again we would do more walking in all the different neighborhoods of Rome. Of course this being our first trip we had to see all the main sites – which are many. Being located in central Rome was a great decision and we had a wonderful 5-6 day trip.