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The wife and I are off to Rome on Thursday for a few days, never been to Italy before. Any must do/must avoids, restaurant recommendations especially welcome.

Pistachio ice-cream.

Have a great time.

Went there a number of years ago, best city holiday I ever had with the then girlfriend. The airport to the hotel we were staying in was not that far so on the way home we decided to get the underground. Two younger girls pushed into us as we were getting on the train and got off again just as the doors were closing. Off course they had pickpocketed the missus handbag and got her purse and digital camera. Quite a large expense to the end of the holiday particularly as not only was it her dad's camera but he didn't know she borrowed it let alone was in Rome! A hurried airport purchase was all we could do to replace it.

Havent been back since but will do one day.

Hope you have a great time.

Tripadvisor restsurants, there is a lot of slop served up in the tourist areas. I was in Parma last week with some locals, they took us to some excellent places, you will no doubt find the same with some research.

I think we got a Rome pass which covered travel for a couple of days, with that you also got something like free entry and could jump the queue at one of the big attractions.......I forget exactly but check it out.

Don’t be a mug and spend a fortune in the cafes by the pantheon. Go to a local corner shop, buy a few beers, sit by the fountain and absorb the history it oozes.

We randomly saw the pope in the Vatican at the back end of mass, if you plan it it’s not hard to see him.

St. Peter’s basilica/Sistine chapel is nice but effing busy. Thin you can book a specific time to go, if I were you I’d research the quietest times and book to go then.

Colosseum obviously....

Don’t worry if you don’t get to the Trevi fountain, overrated and absolutely mobbed....

agree with much of this.  Trevi fountain a bit meh.

colusseum and forum both very good.

vatican a bit of a walk and a lot of queueing.

loved to just walk around and come across stuff.

loved Rome a lot.

This, watch out for pickpockets!

I got ripped off by a cabbie - coming back from a long day out, had a terrible cold so was feeling really rough.  Tried to pay a cab far with a fifty euro note, all of a sudden he's switched it for a 5 euro note.  I did try and argue but feeling crap and him not speaking English all of a sudden there wasn't a lot I could do about it.    Pay for cabs with small notes is my tip.

Might have just been us being unlucky but most of the service people we interacted with (restaurants, cabbies, bus, etc) were bloody miserable. 

The sites are great though and we had an entertaining guide at the Colosseum.

We went to Florence rather than Rome, but in terms of Italian things, definitely keep an eye out for gelato shops.

There is a similar problem to the restaurants in that some of them are very tourist based and are mass producing what is basically just ice cream. We were told that if there is a display of the shops gelato which basically constitutes several tubs of mountains of unnaturally bright gelato - that's probably cheap tourist fodder. But after that it gets more difficult. In Florence we found some of the best gelato shops were down tiny back streets - but some of them were right next to major tourist attractions. The best plan is just get lots of gelato from different places and work out which is best that way :D


These were the 2 Rome based winners of the Rome leg of the Gelato Festival (http://www.gelatofestival.it) 2017 if you happen to be near them, we don't know them but this should be a guarantee of quality
Capitan Cono
Via di Porta Cavalleggeri, 117, 00165 Rome (RM) (https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Capitan+Cono/@41.8994749,12.4533612,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xd6a12ab267dec945!8m2!3d41.8994749!4d12.4533612)

Hedera
Piazza del Catalone, 22-30, 00193 Rome (RM) (https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Hedera/@41.903775,12.4616061,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x7cc18d59ffefad2!8m2!3d41.903775!4d12.4616061)

Definitely don't fall into the trap of assuming every joint is going to be shit hot because it's Italy, there's plenty of tourist fodder in the main spots.

I don't know if it was just variance but one thing that worked out well when I was there a few years ago was going to the Forum before the Coliseum. There was a massive queue for the Coliseum but none at the Forum. Could buy a joint ticket, and skipped the queue at the Coliseum later on.

We went earlier this month and stayed in the Trestevere area and walked to all the attractions from there. Did a tour found the Coliseum which was informative as well as beating the queue.
We thought the Pantheon was great and echo others thoughts about Trevi Fountain. Two/three hour queue to do the Vatican so we did the museum/Sistine Chapel.

For fresh pasta we ate here,

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g187791-d8818499-Reviews-Pasta_e_Vino_Come_Na_Vorta-Rome_Lazio.html

informal table layout but very good. "Cow chunks with tomato" was actually Oxtail which was fabulous as was the Parmagiano.

Excellent, many thanks everyone.