This was my first time in Rome, end of May 2016. I know, it was too late.

Of course, I had been waiting for it for a long time, but other plans kept interrupting. I was transiting to another city, I had 24 hours to at least “taste” the roman atmosphere. I knew I would come back again, and a coin tossed into the Trevi Fountain made sure that happened 8 months later, January 2017. I will let you know about that in a future post.

Is it possible to really immerse and enjoy Rome in one day? Possible enough to make you crave coming back.
Firs, avoid the museums. Too much time in the lines, so it will take a lot of time. If your absolute priority is the Vatican, than try going there first thing in the morning, but don’t expect to have much time after that, especially if you want to visit the Sistine Chapel. It is really amazing and awe inspiring experience, but I decided to enjoy it the next time.

So, 1 DAY IN ROME… You can start with the Colosseum or St Peters Basilica, everything else is in the middle. Apparently there are people trying this, and it is pretty doable, so I was checking and I found this great, short, description of Rick Steves, which became my inspiration:

“Rome in a Day…
Some people actually try to “do” Rome in a day. Crazy as that sounds, if all you have is a day, it’s one of the most exciting days Europe has to offer. Start at 8:30 at the Colosseum. Then explore the Forum, hike over Capitol Hill, and cap your “Caesar Shuffle” with a visit to the Pantheon. After a quick lunch, taxi to the Vatican Museum (the lines usually die down mid-afternoon). See the Vatican Museum and take a short-cut from the Sistine Chapel directly into St. Peter’s Basilica. Taxi back to Campo de’ Fiori for dinner then walk to Piazza Navona for dessert .”

What is a must see for me? Sunset in Piazza del Popolo, even thought maybe not the perfect place to watch the sun set until the end, because of the buildings in front, but going one hour before enjoying the last rays, it was perfect. You can climb a bit the Pincian Hill, just behind Piazza del Popolo overlooking toward St. Peter’s Basilica (like my featured image for this post).

There was even a street performer with live instrumental music.
In that moment, it was my favorite place in the world!