Christmas in Italy

After departing from my French friend, I headed down to Rome to meet my family for the holidays. Italy is a much more laid-back country compared to the UK. Things move at a slower pace and shops are usually closed during the siesta time around 1-4 pm. It’s still a gorgeous country, and the food is amazing, which is really all that matters.

The important points to see are Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps of course. Make sure you get some tortufo (chocolate gelato) at Piazza Navona, and find Raphael’s grave within the Pantheon! Also at Piazza Navona is the church of St. Agnes in Agone and the interior is absolutely stunning, definitely stop by there. When I was there the Spanish Steps were mostly boarded off for cleaning, but apparently they just finished doing the same thing to the Trevi Fountain and it’s gorgeous now!

There’s also a great food and clothes market in the Campo del Fiore if you’re into that, I’d recommend trying the limoncello since it’s a regional specialty. Oh and the pasta of course!

There is so much more to see, just not within walking distance like those other stops. This trip was the first time that I’d seen the Borghese gallery, which is a beautiful collection. The building that it’s housed in it gorgeous as well. The collection isn’t huge, but it features a lot of Greco-Roman works and I’d highly recommend it. There’s also the Coliseum, get there early even if you bought your tickets online because the line is always very long. The Roman Forum and the Circus Maximus are nearby, but there isn’t too much to see there, you can just drive by it.

Having said all that, I really couldn’t enjoy hanging out in any of these places that I mentioned because they’re all tourist-y areas and therefore there are guys everywhere practically shoving selfie sticks into your hands and trying to make you buy them. It’s incredibly aggravating. However, if you cross the Tiber River and walk around in the Trastevere area, it’s more residential and no one is trying to get you to buy anything. It’s lovely.

If you cross the Tiber in a westerly direction, you’ll head towards the Vatican. Of course since it was Christmas time and it’s a special jubilee this year it was packed when I went, so that meant more selfie stick hassle. This was also the first time I saw the Vatican museum, and I would highly recommend it. I saw the Greco-Roman works, the hall of tapestries, and the hall of maps (this section was particularly interesting), but there’s so much more than that, I’ll have to go back again! And of course the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica with the Pieta are always amazing.

After doing all that in Rome, my family headed to Sorrento to relax for a bit. There’s less to do here, but the Amalfi coast is gorgeous (if you’re courageous enough to drive down it, haha) and the food is amazing.

We also went to see Pompeii, which was cool but not as cool as you’d expect it honestly. The people are all in a museum, and you really have to know what you’re looking for to fully appreciate it. It’s also a little hard to walk around because the roads are in such bad shape. Still a cool way to spend a day though.

And that was my grand Italy adventure with my family! That country still has the best food anywhere, despite all the tourists.