Roma, Italia & Vaticano: The Colosseum, Vatican City, and ALL the cacio e pepe in Rome, Italy!

SING TO ME PAOLO!

/obligatory Lizzie McGuire reference. IYKYK.

I am safely back in Arizona following my and Kelly’s two-week trip through northern/central Italy. I recapped our first stop (Venice) last week, and today I’m here to tell you alll about our two(ish) days in Rome.

Kelly and I took an overnight train from Venice to Rome, so after a rough night of sleep (our cabin’s heater was broken, oof) we pulled into Rome bright and early at about 7 a.m.

We’d used Hostelworld to book a hostel (Generator Rome) close to the train station, so we ditched our bags there for storage and went out to grab coffee and explore.

A quick note: We absolutely loved Generator Rome. We booked a private room with a private bath so we had quiet facilities for sleeping, but Generator Rome had plenty of shared common areas including a breakfast room, lounge and bar, and we met a ton of friends (shout out Ronan and Caoimhe from Ireland, and Arthur and Liam from Canada!) that we hung out with during our time in Rome. We were close to the train station so we didn’t have to haul our luggage far, and it was easy enough to hop on public transit to get anywhere in the city. Highly recommend.

We’d given ourselves two full days in Rome, and we wanted to make the most of both.

We grabbed cappuccinos and cream-filled pastries at a coffee shop near our hostel, and started planning our day.

We didn’t do too much pre-planning for our trip, to be honest. We knew we wanted to spend our first day in Rome exploring ruins and monuments (and definitely doing a Colosseum tour, if we could!) and our second day exploring Vatican City, but we didn’t book tickets for anything in advance.

We definitely lucked out, because we were able to snag day-of Colosseum tour tickets from our phones that morning.

With our 4:30 p.m. time slot booked, we left the coffee shop and went to our first destination: the Trevi Fountain.

From there, we continued on to the Pantheon.

It was still really early in the day, and it hadn’t opened yet, so we decided to bop over to a nearby coffee shop called Pascucci Frullati for (more) cappuccinos while we waited.

Once it opened, we were able to snag day-of entry tickets for only a few euros apiece.

We were also there early enough that there wasn’t too much of a line, which was nice.

After spending a few moments inside the Pantheon absolutely gawking at the artistry, we took a quick detour over to Piazza Navona to sit in the sun and people watch.

I know I kind of went on this tangent a bit during my Venice post… but open spaces for leisure! I love them. I want more of them. I’m lucky that we have a few places here in Flagstaff (like Heritage Square and Wheeler Park) but I really don’t think we have enough third places for people to simply exist in public without the expectation of spending money.

After we soaked in the sun at Piazza Navona, the two of us started retreating to our hostel for check-in.

We stopped at a restaurant called Antico Forno Serpenti for lunch on the way.

Kelly had some pizza and I had an amazing mushroom and brie panini.

After lunch, we went our separate ways for a brief moment: Kelly had a tattoo appointment and I went to our hostel to check in and grab our room keys.

After unpacking, showering and taking a quick nap, the two of us got ready for our big excursion of the day — the Colosseum!

It’s a bit of a wild experience to walk to the Colosseum. One moment you’re dodging tiny Fiat cars, navigating crosswalks and tram stops, meandering past modern architecture, and the next, you’re just staring down a 2,000-year-old ruin that is somehow still standing.

2,000 years old! Wild.

We arrived a bit early for our tour, and wandered around the outside of it just admiring it.

Again… 2,000 years old!

We queued up for our admission time and made our way inside.

Admission for a Colosseum tour is 100% worth it, if you’re ever on the fence.

Again, super lucky that despite our overall lack of planning and preparation, we were able to snag day-of tour tickets.

During our tour, we were able to enter the Colosseum from the ground floor and walk in a circle around the upper and lower levels.

There’s a museum built into the Colosseum detailing the building’s multi-use history (originally as, yes an amphitheater for gladiatorial battles and executions, but also as housing, religious quarters, and a fortress) and displaying ruins recovered during excavation. Everything is captioned in both Italian and English (forever grateful I speak the lingua franca!)

After our tour, we were starving. One of the biggest pieces of advice we got re: picking restaurants in Italy is to avoid the restaurants that try to wave you inside.

Using that advice, we ended up at a restaurant called Sapori e Delizie, which was located on the way back to our hostel.

Kelly and I both ordered a cheese board, gnocchi and cacio e pepe to share, tiramisu, and a full bottle of chianti.

After that, we made our way back to our hostel.

We were both feeling pretty social, so we decided to hang out in the hostel bar to try to meet some new travelers.

If you’re new here, I’ve been on a bit of a ditch-the-phone kick lately, so I zipped my iPhone away in my purse (it was almost dead anyway), grabbed a spritz, and plopped down at a table near the bar with Kelly.

At this point, I’ll admit it: I’m old and I know it. I’ve stayed at hostels plenty of times in the past, both while traveling with friends and while traveling alone, and I’ve made some pretty awesome connections at hostels (most recently: Rishikesh, India).

Since a hostel bar is a surefire way to make new friends easily, I was pretty excited to stare down every hostel bar patron until one unwitting stranger made eye contact with me and was forced to tell me all about their recent/planned travels — and maybe join myself and Kelly for a bar-hopping adventure.

(OK, maybe I’m not that old.)

But, I couldn’t get a single solo traveler to look up from their phone long enough to make eye contact. C’mon, Gen Z!

After about 30 minutes of blatant staring at three different solo-travelers, Kelly and I finally made eye contact with two Canadians (real Canadians, not just U.S. travelers pretending to be Canadian), profusely apologized for the state of our country’s government (SERIOUSLY, REST OF THE WORLD, SO SORRY FOR EVERYTHING!) and talked for a bit.

Then, we found Caoimhe and Ronan from Ireland, challenged them to a game of giant Jenga, and found ourselves invited on an Irish pub crawl they’d booked earlier that day.

When in Rome, do as the Irish do?

We ventured out to the Metro and took the subway to the Spanish Steps before walking to a pub called the Highlander, where everyone checked in for their bar crawl and immediately started a round of beer pong.

Full disclaimer: I didn’t book the full pub crawl (OK, maybe I am that old), so after the Highlander stop, I bid everyone goodbye and decided to walk back to the hostel.

I popped my headphones in and cranked up M83 to start my journey.

I mean SURE you could do drugs, OR you could wander solo through a foreign city’s labyrinth of streets at midnight, slightly wine drunk, with nothing but the sounds of M83 in your headphones guiding you. Your choice.— Randi M. Shaffer (@randiwithani.com) March 6, 2025 at 3:22 PM

After a few side tasks (including a few moments alone on the Spanish Steps, a quick detour to take a photo of a lovely Italian/U.S. couple on vacation, and some window shopping), I made it back to our hostel room.

Kelly was back a few moments later as well, and the two of us went to sleep.

We started our next day in Rome with cappuccinos and maritozzi at Begoli Pasticceria.

From there, we hopped on a tram and started making our way toward Vatican City.

We stopped at l’Osteria della Trippa for a lunch of (you guessed it) cacio e pepe.

After lunch, we walked along the Tiber River toward the Vatican.

We made our way toward St. Peter’s Basilica for entry, which is free.

After making our way through security, we wandered into the church and I think both of our jaws dropped in synchronicity.

Photos really can’t convey the grandeur of St. Peters.

We spent about two hours wandering around the interior of the mammoth church. We made our way down to the Papal Tombs in the Vatican Grottoes.

We were able to catch a glimpse of Michelangelo’s Pieta, a Carrara marble sculpture of Jesus and Mary.

After we made our way out of St. Peter’s, we decided to head to a side street for a bite to eat. We grabbed pizza at a random shop, and then had what I will forever refer to as “the tiramisu incident.”

On our way to grab pizza, we passed a small stall with a massive “TIRAMISU” sign placed outdoors, with a list of tempting flavors: white chocolate, dark chocolate, caramel, Nutella…

We, of course, had to stop. The sign was irresistable.

We picked out our tiramisu, paid our 5 euros, and then asked the lady at the counter for a second spoon.

“No. One tiramisu. One spoon.”

We thought she was joking at first, but after she gave us a death glare, turned on her heel and retreated to her storefront’s back room, we were left baffled.

Also? The tiramisu was disgusting. It was so soggy and grainy we couldn’t even finish it.

I ended up pulling up the location on Google Maps only to find out it had a 2-star review.

Go figure, the second I deviate from my iPhone crutch to be adventurous, right?

After our tiramisu, we decided to try our luck at getting Vatican Museums tickets. Like the Colosseum, we hadn’t booked in advance, but again, we ended up getting lucky! We snagged a spot in the last tour group for the day.

We spent about an hour dawdling around until it was our turn to line up for entry, and then we made our way into the Vatican Museums.

If you’re not familiar, the Vatican Museums comprise 26 different museums and 54 galleries, filled with centuries of art collected by the Catholic Church. After wandering through the museums (which can take hours!) you’ll find yourself in the middle of the Sistine Chapel, staring up at a ceiling famously decorated with Michelangelo’s fresco iconographic creations.

Everything I’d read online indicated that I’d be packed into the Sistine Chapel body-to-body, and ushered through the room as fast as possible.

With that in mind, Kelly and I spent a good amount of time slowly making our way through the museums.

We were actually really surprised when we entered the Sistine Chapel and found it only about half-full — and while we heard museum guards shushing and shouting “no photos” at the errant rule-breaker (photos aren’t allowed in the Sistine Chapel) we were mostly left to our own devices.

We spent about 45 minutes soaking in both the ceiling as well as The Last Judgment. I did cry, I’m not going to lie.

I didn’t take any photos because, well, photos aren’t allowed… but I’m sure you’re familiar! And if not, Google exists.

If I could do it again, I do wish I’d thought ahead to get an earlier slot for Vatican Museums tickets. I knew they were massive, but I really could have spent way more than just the two hours we had to spend.

And, if I knew I’d have had time to linger in the Sistine Chapel, I could have easily spent another 45 minutes just staring up at Michelangelo’s masterpiece.

We ended up leaving the Vatican Museums so we could make it to our dinner reservations at Osteria de Memmo, which was a suggestion by a good Peace Corps friend.

And after dinner it was… drinks! Kelly and I wandered to Trastevere for libations.

We wandered up and down Vicolo del Cinque for a bit, dipping in and out of bars.

The standout of the night? Freni E Frizioni, where Kelly and I both had some incredible cocktails.

Kelly’s cocktail was a combination of rum, peas, lemongrass, coconut, green curry and ginger, served in a small soup bowl. It sounds weird, I know, but it was incredible. She actually ended up ordering it twice, it was that good.

After our cocktails, we decided to walk around a bit more.

Quick note: My favorite way to see a new place is always by walking, and Rome was no exception! I think we averaged about 10 miles of walking a day.

We walked past a few cool things, including stolpersteine blocks.

I love the Stolpersteine project so much. I made it a point to read all of the blocks I stumbled across during my trip to Berlin, and until I found these stones in Rome, I didn’t know the project existed outside of Germany.

We also walked past… more ruins.

Because, well, Rome.

The juxtaposition of millennia-old Roman ruins and modern-day buildings did not, at any point, cease to amaze me.

It also never ceased to amaze me that while some ruins — like the Colosseum and the Forum — are widely known, there are dozens of other ruins scattered throughout Rome that just aren’t quite as high on the radar.

Wild.

We eventually made our way back to our hostel and called it a night.

That was about it for our trip to Rome. We woke up the next morning and grabbed pastries and coffee at a nearby coffee shop, then made our way to the train station to hit our next destination.

We were temporarily sidetracked by some International Women’s Day protests along the way.

In retrospect, I think if I had known how the rest of our trip was going to play out, I would have opted for one more day in Rome.

I definitely would have liked to have spent more time in the Vatican Museums, and I would have liked to explore more of the Roman ruins, including the Forum.

I also would have loved to have spent more time bar hopping and dining in Trastevere!

But, I suppose it gives me an excuse to go back to Rome in the future.

I’ll be back recapping the next part of our trip — Florence! — in a few days.

Ciao until then!