Rome and Silversea Day 4

Start of day: Rome, Italy
End of day: Rome, Italy

At 7:30am I bought a ticket to visit St. Peter’s Basilica “Dome via Stairs” ticket (€17) for a 9:30am entrance. I received the emailed ticket straight away and then discovered that a 9:30am dome entrance included an 8:30am Basilica entrance. Now running late, I dressed in jeans, skipped breakfast, then scurried across the river to the same queue I’d been in two days before to enter St. Peter’s from the north side. For some reason police had the main pedestrian avenue leading to St. Peter’s Square (called Via della Conciliazione) blocked off and heavily secured, but people seemed to flow over to the side streets just fine. I was in line by 8:38am and made it into the Basilica at 9:01.¹

Dense crowd of tourists streaming through the travertine columns of Bernini's colonnade at St. Peter's Square, with security barriers and the basilica facade rising in the morning light beyond

Unsurprisingly, it was very busy inside the Basilica. I won’t try to describe the space; I truly wouldn’t know where to begin.

Access to the roof is either by elevator or stairs, depending on the ticket purchased. I started up the stairs/ramp at 9:30. The climb isn’t terrible. Up there you have a panoramic view of the city, plus access to a cafe and souvenir shop.

Selfie on the roof of St. Peter's Basilica with the great dome of Michelangelo's cupola rising in the background under a clear blue sky

From here I continued up. There are two levels up from here. You climb a series of stairways, sometimes tilting, sometimes metal, up to the inner gallery.

Narrow tilted stairway inside the wall of St. Peter's dome, with curving plaster walls pressing in on either side and a handrail running up the cramped passage

There’s a walkway on the inside of the dome. I did a slow loop, admiring the mosaics and the view down into the basilica.

Selfie from the inner gallery walkway inside St. Peter's dome, with the gilded mosaic figures of the dome's interior curving overhead and the basilica floor far below

Then it gets really interesting. You climb a very narrow circular stairway up and up and up until finally reaching the lantern, the outdoor viewing platform at the very top. This outdoor viewing platform is not large, so it’s (uncomfortably, for me) dense with people all shuffling around each other to get their selfies. I more or less beelined over to the stairs back down, stopping only briefly for my own St. Peter’s Square selfie – which didn’t even turn out, though I captured this:

Aerial view from the lantern atop St. Peter's dome looking down on St. Peter's Square, with Bernini's elliptical colonnade embracing the obelisk at center and Via della Conciliazione stretching toward the Tiber

I made my way all the way back down the multiple levels and out into a now very busy St. Peter’s Square at 10:30am.

Close-up of the Latin inscription carved into the base of the Vatican obelisk in St. Peter's Square, with weathered travertine blocks and a bronze cross at the top of the granite shaft above

The Vatican obelisk standing at the center of St. Peter's Square under a bright sky, with Bernini's colonnade curving around behind and crowds gathered at its base

I had an early caprese salad and coffee on the walk back toward my hotel.

Plate of caprese salad with sliced tomato and fresh mozzarella, drizzled with olive oil and basil, alongside an espresso on a Roman cafe table

Mid-afternoon I sunscreened up and read my Kindle on the roof of my hotel. Around 3:30 I started to wander my way over to the Colosseum for my pre-arranged 4:30pm self-guided tour. My €24 “Intero Full Experience” ticket included Colosseum first level/second level/arena, plus the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, and Imperial Fora. Note for future travelers: keep your ticket QR code handy, and be prepared to show it a LOT.

I wandered the Colosseum fairly quickly, stopping every so often to read a placard. Mostly I wanted to be intentionally present, though.

Selfie in a vaulted brick-and-travertine corridor inside the Colosseum, with the late afternoon sun slanting through the arched openings behind

Interior view of the Colosseum from the second tier, showing the tiered stone seating, the exposed hypogeum chambers beneath the arena floor, and the reconstructed wooden arena platform on the far side

View from the Colosseum's reconstructed arena floor looking up at the ringed tiers of ancient stone seating, with shafts of late afternoon sunlight cutting across the structure

After 45 minutes or so, I left the Colosseum and crossed over to the Forum park. I did lots of walking here and tried to take in as much as I could, but felt rushed to see everything before closing. For next time, I think it’s worth making this park its own trip and possibly going first thing in the morning. I was able to get some great photos and videos in the late afternoon sun, though.

The elongated sunken garden ruins of the Stadium of Domitian on Palatine Hill, framed by remnants of imperial palace walls and umbrella pines under late afternoon light

Selfie in the Roman Forum at golden hour, with crumbling columns and brick ruins of the ancient civic center rising behind under a warm late-afternoon sky

Wide panoramic view across the Roman Forum, showing the surviving columns of the Temple of Saturn and Temple of Vespasian, the Arch of Septimius Severus, and the brick remains of the Curia Julia, with Palatine Hill rising behind

I again dined in the small square across from my hotel, this time at Ristorante Pancrazio. The food, service, and outdoor atmosphere were all great. They do encourage you to tip when they bring the card machine, however, which is a bit tacky. Around 10:30pm I got it in mind to see how busy Trevi Fountain was at this hour. Maybe the crowds had died down some vs the middle of the day? Well, reader, they had not.

The Trevi Fountain illuminated at night, with Oceanus and the Tritons emerging from the travertine rockwork and water cascading into the turquoise pool below, dense crowds packed onto the surrounding steps

The Pantheon is between my hotel and Trevi so I stopped at Ristorante M. Agrippa, requested and received an outdoor table right on the square, had a tiramisu, and people-watched for a bit. This was the view from my table:

Late-night view of The Pantheon from low angle

One last selfie on my last night in Rome: Late-night selfie in the small piazza in front of the Pantheon, with the floodlit columned portico and ancient pediment glowing behind under a dark sky

BTW, here’s what the indoor sitting area of my hotel looks like: Hotel Campo de' Fiori sitting room with a gilt mirror over a carved marble mantel, framed prints on Venetian-plaster walls, red-velvet Louis XVI armchairs, and a floral Aubusson-style rug on a terracotta tile floor

Wider view of the Hotel Campo de' Fiori lounge with a crystal chandelier hanging from the vaulted plaster ceiling, a patterned damask sofa beside a landscape painting, gilt mirrors and sconces flanking the marble fireplace, and red-velvet Louis XVI chairs grouped around a floral Aubusson rug

Footnotes:

Seeing the long lines in St. Peter’s Square once I was done touring St. Peter’s Basilica at 10:30am has me convinced that first thing in the morning is the absolute best way to do this tour. ↩

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