Buongiorno! I’m back from Italy, back from Utah, and finally back to a *somewhat* normal life! Yay! I’ve also finally sorted through the hundreds of Italy pics and am so excited to share them with you, as well as some of our favorite places. I thought I’d start with the first leg of our trip: Roma!
Overall Experience:
Rome is a crazy, busy, traffic-ridden but wonderful city. Think of it as a European New York City. A very, very hot city. The second you walked outside it felt like you were baking in an oven. We heard from a local that Italy was having record breaking heat this summer. One downside of Rome is that it’s not a super walkable city so we did have to take Ubers quite a bit. We were only there for 3 nights and while it wasn’t my favorite city in Italy, I do feel like we could have stayed maybe one more night.
Is it kid friendly?
Although you wouldn’t think so, Rome was a very child friendly place. From the moment we got off the airplane and were ushered to the front of the extremely long customs line, we were given special treatment because we had a toddler in a stroller. We were allowed to go in a special entry and bypass lines at both the Colosseum and the Vatican . Everywhere we went, people would ooh and ahh over Olivia and give her so much attention. There aren’t kids menus at restaurants, but they will happily make a simple pasta dish for kids.
But don’t mistake child friendly for stroller friendly. Cobblestone streets and the most narrow sidewalks ever put our stroller through the ringer, but our stroller took it like a champ and I highly recommend it for anyone looking for an awesome umbrella stroller. It fully reclines so we had an easy diaper changing station wherever we went, it has a huge canopy that keeps the little one shaded, and it collapses easily/can be carried with one hand. (P.S. This is not sponsored, I just love our stroller that much.)
Places to eat:
Giolitti’s Gelato I had heard of this place before we went and then a few other people recommended it to me and OMG this gelato is SO GOOD. The absolute best gelato we had the entire trip, and that’s saying something! You HAVE to get the Nutella with fresh whipped cream. Just do it.
47 Rooftop at the Circus Hotel has the most beautiful views overlooking Rome and you can watch the sunset. The food is amazing but definitely be prepared for a long meal.
Ambasciata D’Abruzzo was very old school Italian and some of the best pasta! Eric read about it in Conde Naste and it did not disappoint. Get the zucchini orecchiette.
Things to do:
The two most obvious things to do are the Colosseum and the Vatican and we did them both on separate days so as not to overwhelm Olivia. The Colosseum is incredible and if we didn’t have Olivia with us then we probably would have done a guided or audio tour because there is just so much history and it would be cool to learn about that while you’re there.
The Vatican was interesting, but very museum-like and that’s not really our thing, so we mostly just walked through, saw the Sistine Chapel and then left.
The Trevi Fountain was literally steps away from our apartment, so we passed it every single day, multiple times a day and each time it was more and more beautiful. Legend says that if you throw a coin in the fountain, you will return to Rome. Thanks to Olivia, we’ll all probably return to Rome about 10 times. 😉 Fun fact about the money thrown into the fountain: it’s collected every night and given to an Italian charity that helps the needy.
We also went to the Spanish Steps, but have to say that aside from the burn in your legs when you climb them, it’s nothing extraordinary.
Where to stay:
We stayed at this amazing AirBnb while in Rome. It was a beautiful apartment that was so close to the Trevi Fountain. I definitely recommend staying in an AirBnb if you’re traveling with kids for a few reasons– it gives them (and you) more space and Olivia had a place to play with her toys when we were home. Plus, you can put your child(ren) down for naps in a separate room as opposed to being cooped up in one hotel room. It was also nice because we went to a nearby grocery store and picked up some essentials and breakfast items and had a inexpensive breakfast every morning in our own place. It was our first time staying in an AirBnb, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was the best decision we made.
Rome treated us well and it is an amazing city filled with history, good people, and delicious food. I can’t wait to go back! And don’t forget to check out my posts on the Amalfi Coast + Florence!
XO,
L
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Thanks for the tour! Love the classic glamour shot of Olivia with her sunglasses on her head drinking Pelligrino!
This all looks amazing! I love the picture of Livy smelling the rose just like mummy:)
So cute!!
Sounds like an amazing time with great food- Yum!
Thanks for all the tips sister!!