Italy was the next stop on our vacation. We visited Roma, Pompeii, and Napoli seeing all sorts of fantastic sights, including Colosseo (the Roman Coliseum) shown above.
Our first stop in Italy was to play with this dog in an apartment building that we eventually discovered was not the location of our AirBNB. It might have been the wrong building, but it was a happy mistake that led us to this dog!
Our AirBNB was a large, lovely apartment with stone floors and great kitchen and bathroom. It was near the Piramide stop, and the Piramide Cestia gave a nice visual landmark.
Italy was the first country we visited that was actually warm. We were thrilled to be able to put on some shorts and leave our jackets at home, although I admit it got a bit too hot! We stopped for a photo in front of the Colosseo on the way to find dinner.
This delicious potato, sausage, black pepper, and extra virgin olive oil pizza was one of the best I had on the trip. We ordered it at Sapori e Delizie along with a ham, mushrooms, olives, and anchovies pizza as well as tiramisu and a cannoli for dessert. The second pizza was odd in that each quarter of the pizza had a different topping. How are we supposed to split that?!
We took our time walking home so we could explore, stumbling into Roma Pride. We caught it before it was at its peak, but it was fun.
For second dessert, we stopped at Il Gelato for salty peanuts, chocolate mad orange, and natural rice flavored gelato. This wouldn’t be our last gelato stop.
The next morning we started with the “Last Minute Roma” tour of the Colosseo with our tour guide, Isabella. Cameras weren’t allowed inside, but camera phones were. They could be brought inside in bags only. This proved a problem because we didn’t bring bags, but eventually they let me go inside with my DSLR on a shoulder strap. Once inside, there were tons of people taking photos. I don’t understand.
Naturally, I used it to take photos. Here’s a good shot of the upper areas as well as the lower areas. The ground floor of the Colosseum would have covered the area in the lower-left of the photo. Those were tunnels that ran underneath the floor.
Here’s a closer look right at ground level showing the tunnels. It was so cool to be walking through such an amazing structure that’s been standing for thousands of years. It’s crazy to think that I likely had ancestors who saw events here.
Some kind stranger was nice enough to take a photo of the four of us.
gem looked nice taking a short rest, although she also looks like she was questioning why I was taking a photo.
Anela and gem made friends with a horse outside the Colosseo too!
There was a small convenience store that sold this ice cream that Anela remembered liking from her childhood, so we bought some.
It didn’t look like much, but it was a nice treat.
Next we were off to the Vatican. What an amazing collection of art! Yes, I admit it wasn’t all obtained in the best ways, but I thoroughly enjoyed the museum.
I actually hadn’t realized they had such a large collection of pre-Christian art, which made for a pleasant surprise.
It must have taken so much skill and sophistication to properly capture the muscles and curves of the human body.
Look at the detail in the beard!
This was my favorite part of the museum. It seemed like the roof was glowing. Photographs don’t capture the beauty.
That didn’t stop me from trying though. Here’s a shot without us in the way.
The Vatican had a nice garden outside as well.
Even the spiral walkway was beautiful.
Not being a fan of heights, Anela didn’t seem to enjoy it as much as me, but she made it unscathed!
On our way out, we stopped by the Vatican’s post office. I purchased and sent some postcards while I was there.
We took a break from the Vatican to get some lunch at a oh-so-traditional Italian restaurant – McDonald’s! This bucket had three kinds of chicken. I think there were at least one type of chicken wing, but maybe there were two.
McDonald’s dessert game seems stronger in Italy.
After lunch we saw St. Peter’s Basilica, which was quite beautiful.
I liked the way you could see the rays of sunlight shining down.
Don’t they look lovely?
This looked really beautiful as well.
Back outside, we watched the changing of the guards.
And then we took a final selfie before leaving the Vatican.
For dinner, we bought an assortment of pizza from two fast pizzerias near our apartment. We ate a lot of pizza in Italy.
We started the next morning with a tour of Palotino and the Foro Romano (the Roman Forum). We walked through the Museo Palatino, which was short but had an interesting collection of marble samples from various regions. I jotted down “something square, Musea capitali” in my notes. Did we go there? What was that? I don’t remember.
Something tells me “LOSER” wasn’t there originally.
I don’t remember the significance of any individual building during the tour to be honest, but I liked some of these shots.
That’s a beautiful view.
This building looked really cool. I don’t know if I knew what it was at the time, but I don’t now.
Edit: gem identified it! This is the Altare ella Patria at Piazza Venezia. Thanks, gem!
Here’s a closer look at the flag and some detail of the building.
We walked to the Pantheon in Rome, a beautiful church built at the site of a former Roman temple.
There was a fountain in front that we used to cool off. We were really feeling the heat, so it was nice to dip our arms in the cool water. I sweat it was like a magic potion. You could practically see it rejuvenate Anela!
We took a nice photo in front before exploring inside the Pantheon.
We stopped by Federico Polidori’s leather shop. He’s known for hand-crafting leather goods. I actually bought one of the few pieces he didn’t make himself – an Italian army bag from 1955.
I had to haggle a bit, but I’m happy with it. It mostly got used to hold resumes and blank paper for interviews.
We stopped for pizza and pasta for lunch. I had cacio e pepe at the recommendation a friend. He was right. It sounds simple but was super delicious. Afterwards, we stopped at Very Buono Ice Cream for dessert and got another cannoli as well.
We wanted to visit a beach while we were here, so we took a train to Ostia Beach.
We got to play in the Tyrrhenian Sea, part of the Mediterranean Sea. I never thought I’d do that.
After splashing around, digging our feet into the sand, and collecting shells, we headed back toward our apartment. We had dinner at Novecentro Cucina & Pizza, across the street from our apartment if I remember correctly, and then headed to bed.
We started our last full day in Italy with Pompeii. Honestly, I thought it was underwhelming.
There were a few bodies in glass cases, but the bodies were removed from the ruins themselves, which I didn’t realize.
We still spent a lot of time exploring anyways. gem had to wait there so I could get a shot without other people being in the way.
Here Anela explores more ruins.
What are you pointing at, gem? I bet it’s the fact that the doorway was perfectly gem-sized.
After Pompeii, we headed to Napoli where we ate a ton more pizza. Our first stop was Donna Sofia.
We ordered two pies for the four of us, and they were both amazing. Dang, I’m hungry thinking about them.
After Donna Sofia, we went right next door to Di Matteo for more pizza. Unfortunately, it wasn’t nearly as good as Donna Sofia!
We split up to do some shopping after Di Matteo. It started raining soon after, which was bad news for gem and Antonio since Anela and I were the only ones with umbrellas. While we shopped. a man who claimed to be the best salesman in Napoli tried to sell us some socks. I guess he wasn’t that good, because I didn’t buy any.
When we all came together again, gem brought us another pizza – this one from L’antica Pizzeria Da Michele. She had read about it, and it was apparently quite well-known for its amazing pizzas.
It was certainly delicious!
We picked up some desserts which we ended up sharing with some other tourists from the US.
After getting back to Roma, I wanted to go back to Il Gelato. I convinced the group by saying I’d buy for everybody.
There was fun art on the mirrors too! Here’s Joy from Inside Out.
And here’s Elsa from Frozen.
And lastly, here’s Olaf!
The next morning we signed our AirBNB host’s guestbook and took a train to the airport. Unfortunately, this is where Anela parted ways with the rest of us. The only thing that could cheer me up was more pizza!
