One Day in Rome 2025

What could you possibly find to do if you had one day in Rome?!?

We made plans... 😁

We had a very early flight leaving Malta - we left our apartment at 4:30 am, caught our 6:10 flight, and landed at 7:45. We had arranged for wheelchair assistance at the Rome airport; we got rides, but it meant being handed off multiple times, and each time came with a wait. We picked up the checked bag (terminal 1), loaded our extra carry-on stuff in it, got it to luggage storage (terminal 3), and found the shuttle bus into town (we got lucky there!). By 10, we were getting our first coffee of the day, and figuring out which bus to take for the Colosseum! 

Well, that was the last bus that worked out for us! We wandered around the Colosseum a while, then looked around for a bus to our next planned site. After waaay too much time and walking, we realized time was running out! Google maps (oh, so helpful 🙄) told us all about how our bus had left our bus stop right on schedule. While we're standing there waiting for it. On a Sunday. When it doesn't run. Once figured out the sign, and figured out the app's snafus, we walked to another one. Read the sign right off. Not running on Sunday. So, we decided to go straight to the Vatican. Tried to order a taxi via another app. Finally saw that they wanted us to meet somewhere else. Cancelled - just cannot do that walk again! Did walk to a taxi stand - yay! Got to the Vatican! 

It's now lunchtime, and we have tickets to enter Saint Peter's Basilica at 2:00, which means that we have to be in line by 1:15. We're pretty anxious, but we got a pizza pretty quickly, relaxed a bit, then looked for our line.

The square is *massive!*

Found our line

Got some more luck! I asked the line guard if there was any way to borrow a wheelchair. No, but while I was there, a couple walked past, and asked him for the entrance for people who have tickets! Wait a minute... We have tickets! So I showed ours to the guard, and he moved a barrier, let us through, and pointed down an empty lane - no line at all!

Not long after, here we are!

Outside again, we caught the Swiss guards changing over.

We looked around the square some more 

By the time we left, our entry time had just started! We went looking for lactose free gelato, and a place to relax - we got the place, but no gelato 😕.

We found a likely place to catch a taxi, ordered one, and found it fairly easily - off to the airport to pick up the bag, get checked in for our 8pm flight, and get home by 11:30 pm!

I definitely don't recommend planning a trip specifically for this, but when you have an entire day to play, you do it!

~~~

For more pictures, go see the Rome 2025 St Peter's Basilica and Colosseum album.

Rome for another time:

- Sistine chapel 

- Pantheon (5€), and the fountain in front 

- Musei Capitolini (Capitoline Museums) 

- Villa Celimontana (park), Palatine Hill, Forum (maybe a tour?)

- market lunch, Piazza del Popolo

- Monument to Victor Emmanuel II 

Rome to Malta

We left Rome very early on a rainy day...

View from the taxi

We were up at 6am, and left our hotel at 6:30. It only took about half an hour to get to the airport by taxi (arranged via the hotel the day before), so we had plenty of time before our 8:25 boarding! Our plan was to check our bag, get through security, and relax over some breakfast (and coffee!). 

But! When we checked in, the fellow saw our cane, and asked if we wanted assistance - I was pleasantly surprised, since I hadn't thought to book it in time! We said yes please! Soooo... We walked to the aid office (not far), and they took our names and flight info; we sat down to wait for a wheelchair. And sat. And sat. It eventually became clear that their system was to take people in flight time order - straight through security, to the gate, and directly to the plane. No chance for a bathroom, no chance for food or drink. It makes sense from their perspective, but it's really inconvenient from ours. Next time, we think we might split up, meet on the plane with breakfast in my hands 😜.

Well, it was only an hour and a half later to Malta 🙂. Our plan there was to collect our bag, see the tourist office for information, take the next bus to Valletta, drop our bags off at the apartment, then have lunch and sightsee until our check-in time (3pm).

We were pretty discombobulated though, so as soon as we got our bag, we found food! Then I found the bus office (to clarify what our bus passes actually did and didn't do), and the tourist office. By then, it was noon, waaaay behind the scheduled plan. We contacted our host about our delay, hopped the bus (X4, quick and easy), switched to the Valletta city bus (133, modified route), and got into the apartment. Not 5 minutes later, our host is there, explaining things, and said that they had just finished cleaning, so we could just check in then - what a relief!

A couple of hours later, I headed out for groceries - this is just one of the streets on my very short route!

After another rest, we went to dinner; there are *tons* of choices just a couple of blocks away 😁

~~~

Here's my bus pass - we ordered it (and one for Rick - they're personalized with a photo) a couple of months ago. It lets us use any bus without extra charge except the "TD" buses (they're express airport buses; we'd be able to add ~4.50€ to our card online if we wanted to use it). We can also use the ferries between Valletta and the two cities on either side (Valletta is on a peninsula, in a bay). Ferries to the other islands are sold at the entrance, and not covered by this card.

Rome 2025

Arrivederci, Roma! We had a great week here!

Everywhere you look, there are 

Monuments 

Fountains 

Churches 

Corner altars

And ruins, right in the middle of town!

Rome basics...

At first... We didn't know where to stay (what area), and we didn't know where the different sites were...

But then I started marking things on my map - look at that! They're all clustered around where we decided to stay!

It also turns out that buses run to all the good spots, and a stop is just around the corner 😁. How do the buses work? You can't count on buying a ticket from the driver, and many (but not all) buses have the credit card system (tap to buy). What we did: we went to a tobacco/newspaper shop and bought several single tickets (1.50€). 

What about food? Around our hotel, the restaurants are very accommodating - for lactose intolerance, they switched out omelet ingredients, left cheese off pizza, and recommended appropriate pasta dishes. We found a spicy Chinese place, just around the block! Even the gelato place we went to had almost a dozen lactose-free flavors!

We kept an eye on the weather - the first several days were pleasant and partly cloudy, but the forecast for the last 3 days was for thunderstorms! As time went by, the forecast changed to less and less rain. We still front-loaded our activities, and added little trips (no tickets required) when possible. And I got lots of photos!

There's still plenty left to see on other trips...

Rome 2025 - Galleria Borghese

The Borghese Gallery is chock full of masterpieces, telling so many stories! It's impossible to fully examine them all in just the two hours that one ticket gets you!

To really see, go to my photo album - there are captions and description plaques. I did get a little warning on just how much there was to see by reading this description before going. See also the museum's website - full of descriptions!

I did separate posts for a couple of stunning masterpieces, both by Bernini: Apollo and Daphne, and The Abduction of Proserpina 

Meanwhile, here's just a sample of the rest...

Abduction of Proserpina 

Death of a Virgin 

A scene from the Aeneid, where the hero Aeneas leads his family from burning Troy (Bernini)

Paris, nude with the exception of a pileus – a Phrygian cap

Mosaic 

Satyr on a dolphin

Holy Family with the Infant Baptist and Saint Elizabeth

Saint Sebastian tended by the pious women

Caravaggio's St. Jerome

Abduction of Europa 

Marcus Curtius - see the story here

Marcus Curtius leaping into the chasm, saving Rome 

Portrait of Paolina Borghese Bonaparte as Venus Victrix

1804-1806

Bernini's David, created after Michelangelo's version. While Michelangelo's David is shown after having slung the stone, Bernini's shows David winding up, concentrating fiercely!

Fresco of hunters

Lot's Daughters 

Concert

The Last Supper - JACOPO BASSANO

An Amazon and two greek warriors

This painting shows an entire sequence, all at once: Diana is the goddess of the hunt, shown here bathing with her nymphs. Acteon (at the far right, in the bushes) happens upon the scene, angering Diana. She turns him into a stag, and the hunt is on! His own dogs run him down, and the hunters bring the stag in.

DOMENICHINO
The Hunting of Diana

Vecellio - Sacred and Profane Love

Vecellio - Venus Blindfolding Cupid
1560-1565 circa

RAFFAELLO
Deposition of Christ 1507

Cavaspina

 - Boy with Thorn

 - before 1608

CORREGGIO
Danae
1530-1531

Venus and Cupid with a honeycomb

Lucretia

Marcus Curtius (detail)

After the galleria, we walked through part of the gardens - here's a fountain made of seahorses!

~~~

We took the bus there and back - it was *very* crowded on that Sunday afternoon!

Also to note: We pre-purchased and printed our tickets. They are good only for those two hours. When we arrived, all were sold out for the day. You have to check any bags (even a small purse) at "the coat check" *but* they won't take coats... So, go to the bag-check line first, then the entrance line. We were able to borrow a wheelchair, but the arrangement was a bit different - you take a small elevator to each floor (museum employees run it for you; it's restricted), where you get a wheelchair just for that floor.

A few of the "must-see" works were not there - we assume they were either on loan or being cleaned.

There were *plenty* of others!