Turn any corner in Rome and you come across something impressive – either for its beauty or simply the fact it was constructed hundreds, if not thousands, of years ago. Very few man-made sights earn a “wow” from me, but this city is overloaded with incredible things to see: churches, monuments, buildings, fountains.
With so much to take in over the next few days, we opted to start our time in Rome with a tour. Walks of Italy was recommended by a travel blog I like so we made a last-minute booking to join the Twilight City Stroll on Tuesday night.
We met Flaminia, our lovely curly-haired guide, at the top of the Spanish Steps. The tour started at 5.30pm, which was the perfect time. It’s just so hot for me during the day. Over the following two and a half hours Flaminia shared Rome with us. We visited a few of the “must-sees” including the Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, the Fountain of the Four Rivers and Piazza Navona.
The Trevi Fountain is incredible and bloody huge! The detail and scale of the work is as impressive as the crowd around it. It’s a place you want to keep an eye on your belongings. But it was the Pantheon that had me a little awestruck. It’s just so well preserved for its age and to think people had the knowledge and skills to design and build something like that all those years ago. I still can’t find an umbrella that lasts.
On top of these iconic attractions, Flaminia showed us a few lesser-known sites as we walked from place to place. To be honest, it was these that made the tour for me. We’d walk past a fairly plain building and Flaminia would lead us into a side door. There we’d find a beautiful church, a quiet courtyard or a Bernini statue that few know about. Things I’d never suspect were hidden there.
I’m usually a fairly content independent tourist. Load me up with a map and a guide and I’ll happily take myself around a city and teach myself as I go. But in Rome there’s just too much. Flaminia has a degree in history and art restoration, and when she’s not leading tour groups she’s restoring paintings. She talks about Rapha (Raphael) and Michelangelo with such familiarity, you’d think she knew them personally. She’s that passionate about what she showed us.
Our tour only had five people, which was really great. Walks of Italy has a limit of 12, so it’s never going to get too crowded. Plus on this tour we got free gelato (the store had the most amazing selection I’ve ever seen) and the scoop on the city’s best coffee place (it’s Sant’Eustachio il Caffe).
