Rome in Spring! Top Tips for a Perfect Day!
May 25, 2023
Who doesn’t love travel to Italy? We’ve visited Rome & Italy many times ( I lived in Italy in my early twenties when I modeled with Ford Models), but I think spring is the best time to be there. We love slow travel in our vintage van & amazing Italy camping travel , but this time we did a short airbnb stay between our 3 month "Schengen shuffle" winter beach stay in Cyprus & back to our vintage van digital nomad long stay near Barcelona where we are house hunting.
We wanted to get the most out of our short stay getaway at the best price, so booked an airbnb apartment on the beach near the airport.
Big cities tend to be intense with crowds, tourists & traffic, so we tend to like to stay in more relaxed areas (cheaper too) & go into the city ( like Rome) for the day as day trips and most of Europe makes that easy with great mass transit. I will do a review of the place we stayed at. We sometimes use taxi's , ubers or transfers also to save time.
Also, Wizz ( budget) airline changed out flight that we had booked months ago, so sadly, our flight now arrived after midnight, so being close to the airport made that easier & the airbnb owner picked us up.
Travel is always subject to change, so it keeps us on our toes and adaptable, even when it is unfair.
By accident, we ran into an amazing festival where Romans dress up like ancient Romans, celebrating their amazing history. It is called “ Natale di Roma “ and it is enchanting and surreal seeing Romans walking their ancient streets in outfits from their illustrious past.They have celebrated this holiday for eons!
There are an array of events that take place across Rome to celebrate its birthday which is April 21, but celebrated the first Sunday after that.
At the Pantheon at noon on this day, the sunlight shines directly through the oculus opening in the dome illuminating the entrance door! The Pantheon was built nearly 2000 years ago & the ancient builders constructed the building to allow this to take place precisely on this date to honor Romes birthday. We missed it, but might catch it another year as the building alone dazzles.
Even in April the big tourist sites in Rome are filled with tourists, but there are always ways to avoid crowds even in high season, and if one starts the day early for the busiest places that helps a lot as they get more crowded as the day goes on. ( Note this pic was taken hours after we left that area below).
We couldn’t miss classic Roman tourism spots like Trevi fountain and Spanish steps and they remain beautiful and worth the visit.
I had forgotten how much I love the sound of Italian ( as I have been focused on Spanish and how much I love it) & the sensibilities of Italians. Like even the police look super fashionable!
Just walking the streets wandering, taking it all in,is part of the fun. The eyes never tire of the magnificent beauty of this city.
Stopping at a cafe for cappacino or americano coffee is de riguer to take in the ambience and rest a bit the European way.
The Roman Colosseum is a “must sees” as is just about everything in the historical center ( “ centro storico“) & luckily it is easily walkable.
We saw a great looking restaurant above the Spanish steps, but it was all booked up for hours,
so we asked locals and discovered a tiny restaurant that had great food!
I never get to eat pasta because of my diet & weight loss journey, but I splurged in Rome and had the best gnocchi that I ever eaten( with sea bass & dark truffles). Gar’s lasagne and pizza were not as “to die for” scrumptious, but good!
The most magical part of the day was serendipitously discovering Romes largest park that was filled with local Romans picnicking and enjoy this glorious spring day on Romes birthday.
The Villa Borghese Gardens is the most popular park in Rome and absolutely stunning on this beautiful spring Sunday where Roman locals were out, snuggling on the grass, having picnics and enjoying lots of music buskers adding charming ambience to the flowers blooming and sunshine on it's 80 hectares.
One enters at the top of the Spanish steps and it was a perfect place to celebrate spring in Italy.
Every where you look there is beauty and peace.
The park has some amazing viewing platforms that offer stunning panoramas of Rome that will take your breath away and it was a perfect day to experience that.
-
It is funny because this is the exact same view we admired as we arrived in Rome at the airport in huge panoramic ads and we just happened to stumble upon it while wandering.
The view really does ....
... take your breath away and begs to be photographed.
But then it got even more magical as we wandered deeper into the park ..
and we heard and then saw opera singers busking in the park! How very Italian!! Suddenly it felt like we were in a movie with this wonderful soundtrack that fit so beautifully.
So then it even reach a higher level as we saw this beautiful, romantic lake with ducks, swans and rowboats at the fairy-tale Temple of Aesculapius, as the opera refrains filled the air alighting all our senses at once with delight and surprise!
Rome is beautiful in every season and I especially love it in shoulder season spring or fall. What is your favorite time to see Italy?
Who doesn’t love travel to Italy? We’ve visited Rome & Italy many times ( I lived in Italy in my early twenties when I modeled with Ford Models), but I think spring is the best time to be there. We love slow travel in our vintage van & amazing Italy camping travel , but this time we did a short airbnb stay between our 3 month "Schengen shuffle" winter beach stay in Cyprus & back to our vintage van digital nomad long stay near Barcelona where we are house hunting.
We wanted to get the most out of our short stay getaway at the best price, so booked an airbnb apartment on the beach near the airport.
Big cities tend to be intense with crowds, tourists & traffic, so we tend to like to stay in more relaxed areas (cheaper too) & go into the city ( like Rome) for the day as day trips and most of Europe makes that easy with great mass transit. I will do a review of the place we stayed at. We sometimes use taxi's , ubers or transfers also to save time.
Also, Wizz ( budget) airline changed out flight that we had booked months ago, so sadly, our flight now arrived after midnight, so being close to the airport made that easier & the airbnb owner picked us up.
Travel is always subject to change, so it keeps us on our toes and adaptable, even when it is unfair.
By accident, we ran into an amazing festival where Romans dress up like ancient Romans, celebrating their amazing history. It is called “ Natale di Roma “ and it is enchanting and surreal seeing Romans walking their ancient streets in outfits from their illustrious past.They have celebrated this holiday for eons!
There are an array of events that take place across Rome to celebrate its birthday which is April 21, but celebrated the first Sunday after that.
At the Pantheon at noon on this day, the sunlight shines directly through the oculus opening in the dome illuminating the entrance door! The Pantheon was built nearly 2000 years ago & the ancient builders constructed the building to allow this to take place precisely on this date to honor Romes birthday. We missed it, but might catch it another year as the building alone dazzles.
Even in April the big tourist sites in Rome are filled with tourists, but there are always ways to avoid crowds even in high season, and if one starts the day early for the busiest places that helps a lot as they get more crowded as the day goes on. ( Note this pic was taken hours after we left that area below).
We couldn’t miss classic Roman tourism spots like Trevi fountain and Spanish steps and they remain beautiful and worth the visit.
I had forgotten how much I love the sound of Italian ( as I have been focused on Spanish and how much I love it) & the sensibilities of Italians. Like even the police look super fashionable!
Just walking the streets wandering, taking it all in,is part of the fun. The eyes never tire of the magnificent beauty of this city.
Stopping at a cafe for cappacino or americano coffee is de riguer to take in the ambience and rest a bit the European way.
The Roman Colosseum is a “must sees” as is just about everything in the historical center ( “ centro storico“) & luckily it is easily walkable.
We saw a great looking restaurant above the Spanish steps, but it was all booked up for hours,
so we asked locals and discovered a tiny restaurant that had great food!
I never get to eat pasta because of my diet & weight loss journey, but I splurged in Rome and had the best gnocchi that I ever eaten( with sea bass & dark truffles). Gar’s lasagne and pizza were not as “to die for” scrumptious, but good!
The most magical part of the day was serendipitously discovering Romes largest park that was filled with local Romans picnicking and enjoy this glorious spring day on Romes birthday.
The Villa Borghese Gardens is the most popular park in Rome and absolutely stunning on this beautiful spring Sunday where Roman locals were out, snuggling on the grass, having picnics and enjoying lots of music buskers adding charming ambience to the flowers blooming and sunshine on it's 80 hectares.
One enters at the top of the Spanish steps and it was a perfect place to celebrate spring in Italy.
Every where you look there is beauty and peace.
The park has some amazing viewing platforms that offer stunning panoramas of Rome that will take your breath away and it was a perfect day to experience that.
-
It is funny because this is the exact same view we admired as we arrived in Rome at the airport in huge panoramic ads and we just happened to stumble upon it while wandering.
The view really does ....
... take your breath away and begs to be photographed.
But then it got even more magical as we wandered deeper into the park ..
and we heard and then saw opera singers busking in the park! How very Italian!! Suddenly it felt like we were in a movie with this wonderful soundtrack that fit so beautifully.
So then it even reach a higher level as we saw this beautiful, romantic lake with ducks, swans and rowboats at the fairy-tale Temple of Aesculapius, as the opera refrains filled the air alighting all our senses at once with delight and surprise!
Rome is beautiful in every season and I especially love it in shoulder season spring or fall. What is your favorite time to see Italy?
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