• Side note – this post may look a little bit different than usual. Rome, and the things we were interested in seeing, were mostly all historical things. I have 70+ photos from this day, and most of them are of places that have gobs of historical information available. In other words, anything I could tell you in my own words about these places, are already written in detail elsewhere. My plan is to show you a lot of photos of what we saw and include links for you to read about the places you’re interested to read about.

Our 2nd day in Rome was full of sightseeing! We wanted to see as much of Roman history as we could cram into a day. Below, is a screenshot of Shannon’s google map with many points of interest. The red line is the route we loosely followed. We had a GREAT time in Rome, walking everywhere we went. We walked 10 miles this day!

Due to the close proximity to our hotel, we set out first for the Spanish Steps. Which from the link; ” climb a steep slope between Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the Trinità dei Monti church, at the top. “(Church of the Most Holy Trinity of the Mountains). It’s interesting to me that the steps and plaza are Spanish, but the church is French. (one of the 5 Francophone Catholic churches in Rome) . There’s a WHOLE thing about it if you want to read those links

Next, we headed to the Trevi fountain . It is one of the most famous fountains in the world! The origins of the building of the fountain began in the late 1680’s, but work on it didn’t begin until the late 1700’s. The fountain was completed in 1762. There’s a lot of info about it in the link. A month or so before we left for this trip, we watched the 1953 film, Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. I thought it was a lot of fun to compare these landmarks in present day, to the movie from the 1950’s. The Spanish steps and the Trevi fountain (and surrounding streets) both stood out to me in that film, and added to the fun of seeing them in person.

We stopped for lunch and our first restaurant meal in Rome, a few blocks past the Trevi fountain. We opted for the Ristorante Quirino due to the location, outdoor seating, and convenience. I’ve linked it from Trip Advisor because there’s a picture of it from the alley.

One of the highlights of the day (and the whole trip if I’m being honest) for me, was that Shannon suggested that I pick out my wedding ring while we were in Rome. I loved this idea! I had been looking at the jewelry stores around where we were staying online before we got there to save time – as I knew we only had 2 days to complete this mission. What we ended up getting was a complete and total surprise, in that it wasn’t anything I’d seen online. We found it inside of an adorable and quaint jewelry store near the Trevi fountain.

The sweetest, kindest, older gentleman helped me pick out my ring. Once we decided on THE one, he agreed to size it for us that very day. We explained that we would be leaving Rome the next day, so he said “come back today at 5:00 and I’ll have it ready”. He was true to his word and it is absolutely perfect!

When we finished our lunch, we headed to the Chiesa di Sant’Ignazio di Loyola. A Latin Catholic titular church dedicated to Ignactius of Loyola. It’s one of the beautiful Baroque style churches built between 1626 and 1650.

Next, to the Hadrianeum, which honestly was amazing to see. It’s an ancient Roman structure, dedicated to the “deified” emperor Hadrian in 145CE. It’s OLD. Really old. And that made it very cool to us:

I have to admit that we kept getting the Pantheon and the Parthenon mixed up when we were planning this trip. The Parthenon is in Greece, and according to this site, was built “centuries earlier” than the Pantheon. What we saw was the Pantheon! Built on the site of an earlier temple that burned down, the current building was ordered by emperor Hadrian and “probably” dedicated in 126AD. It is said to be one of the best preserved of all Ancient Roman buildings, because it has been in continuous use throughout its history.

Next, we headed over to the Victor Emmanuel II Monument. Also known as the “Vittoriano” or “Altar of the Fatherland”, this Italian National Monument was built between 1885 and 1935 to honor Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of a unified Italy. There are several fountains around the grounds that they do NOT want you sitting on but there are a few small parks with stone stairs and some green space that you can sit down on if you need a rest between sites.

The Roman Forum is something that we were extremely interested in and excited to see. Another backdrop from the movie Roman Holiday, it is one of the sights that we have both heard about and seen in books for most of our lives

As usual, it’s impossible to do it any justice in photographs. The link above lists out all of the surviving structures, and each one of the structures is also linked there. The Roman Forum was founded in the 8th century BC, and has been largely neglected since the 8th century AD, although for centuries the Forum was the hub of day-to-day life in Rome.

We mainly walked around the perimeter and looked inside, as our plan was to see a lot of places in a short amount of time. Neither of us are big fans of guided group tours, crowds, or of not being able to leave somewhere when we’re ready. For this reason, we avoided the hundreds and hundreds of guided tours available, which it seems were highly attended otherwise. A very short walk from the Forum, and visible from it, is The Collosseum.

The Colosseum in Rome was built between 70-80AD. Famous for hosting gladiatorial contests, animal hunts, and public spectacles for over 500 years, it is the largest ancient amphitheater ever built. It also hosts throngs of people from all corners of the earth, and is a ticketed entry. The lines were long to enter, and we were far happier to walk around the perimeter and peer inside through the doors so that we could move on to see more things. We watched a great detailed youtube video about it before we went, https://youtu.be/evmyQGmuzqA?si=dOc765covkIM_bsH. There are lots of those available!

At this point, it was late afternoon and we were ready for a break. We headed back to our hotel, and on the way, stopped for our first Italian Gelato at Classico caffe Circi

I cut off the video above before he was finished talking, but the cannoli type dessert he had was like rolled soft pistachio brittle around pistachio cream. Fantastic!

We went back to our hotel room for a small siesta before heading out for the evening. On the way back up to our room, I took a video of us riding in the tiny, charming yet antiquated elevator in the building where our hotel was because we thought it was interesting:

We’d read about 2 of the Piazzas in Rome which hosted festive and entertaining nightlife. The first was the Piazza Navona, and the Chiesa di Sant’Agnese in Agone. . I was fascinated by the martyred, Early Christian Saint Agnes, for whom the church was built. I’ve linked the church above, and there are links to more details about her history there. She was a young, devout Christian martyr, around 12 or 13 years old. In early 4th century Rome, she was renowned for her purity and unwavering faith in Christ. She refused marriage, and other advances, and was beheaded after a few previous and miraculous escapes from fire and a brothel. She became a powerful symbol of chastity, courage, and spiritual integrity, often depicted with a lamb.

As the sun started to set, we headed over to the Monument of Giordano Bruno in the Campo de’ Fiori. Giordano Bruno is a historical figure that Shannon told me about who I had never heard of. He was burned on this spot in 1600, as a heretic. Born Filippo Bruno in 1548, he was a philosopher, poet, alchemist, astronomer, cosmological theorist and esotericist . As a result, he denied several core Catholic doctrines and was condemned as a result.

We decided to hang out in the Campo Di Fiori for awhile and eat some dinner and watch people in the square. We had some excellent Pizza, and were entertained by a group of musicians!

• Side Note – Both of my daughters were in the Show Choir in Jr High and High School. It was a really really big deal where we’re from. They went to competitions all over the Southeast every Spring Semester – and all of the parents were there watching every one. One year, in one of their shows, they sang “The Pretender” by the Foo Fighters, which is how I now know every word to the song. It was SO much fun to hear it being played in the Campo Di Fiori and transported me right back to the show which is hard to explain if you don’t know what it is. Because I don’t want to leave you guessing – They start singing the song at 16:07
• https://youtu.be/ID8IGORT-OM?si=Jwwiew8JR8kYFyQP

After a huge meal, we ended our night with a walk back down the Tiber River, with Vatican City lit up at night and it was beautiful!

The next morning, we checked out of our hotel, and headed back to the airport to pick up our Fiat Panda rental car. As an aside, we used Alamo and had a good experience with them coming and going. We’d probably use them again. Shannon got an international driver’s license, and made sure we had all of the insurance we needed to be driving in Italy. We were very happy with the decision to drive instead of taking trains everywhere (although we did take a few day trips by train)

Next, I’ll tell you about the first stop on our trek!