72 Hours in Rome 🇮🇹 | The Best of Italy's Eternal City

Welcome to Rome, one of the most ancient and fascinating cities in the world. We're spending the next 72 hours here exploring everything that this incredible city has to offer, from iconic landmarks like the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain, the Vatican with some very famous faces. Is that the Pope? The Pope just went past! As well as some true hidden gems you'll definitely want to add to your Rome bucket list. Plus we'll share our top tips for avoiding the crowds and those long wait lines. So let's get exploring. During our time in Rome we are staying in the neighborhood of Prati. Now more than likely you'll come here because it's where you find the Vatican, but it's a really beautiful neighborhood. It's known for its shopping and its cafes and restaurants. It's really gorgeous and the kind of place where you're always taking photos on every street. We're staying at GV Collection. There's six apartments to choose from and they are absolutely gorgeous. We'll link it down below if you want to go check it out. Something that not many people really talk about as a thing to do in Rome is just take a walk along the riverside. And now it's absolutely gorgeous and the bridges are so stunning. We're going to go and take a closer look. But because we're here in autumn the weather isn't quite too unbearable as it can be in summer. We are going to walk as much as we can and see as much of Rome as possible. What? Was that the Pope? That was the Pope! Oh my god! That was insane! My young nephew recently went to London and he just saw the King Drive Pass. I'm in Rome and I just saw the Pope Drive Pass. Amazing! I was thinking to myself there's an awful lot of commotion going on. A lot of police around. There's a helicopter that's circling. And we did notice near the Vatican where we've just come from there was a lot of blocked off roads and stuff. So I'm guessing there is some kind of a procession going on. The Pope is on his way back to the Vatican after an outing in Rome. Okay got some gelato because I was so excited about seeing the Pope. Now you'll probably see these ruins when you're walking around Rome and you can take a look from here but you can also pay to go closer. However there is something about it that you may not know and that is actually a cat sanctuary. So if you peel your eyes you'll spot lots of cats down there. It's so crazy like in the middle of all of this traffic in Rome and you just have this square which is fairly open and in there is just living a whole bunch of cats. They get looked after, they get fed. I guess the donations of the tourists that visit keeps the sanctuary running. Yeah it's just a beautiful little thing in the middle of Rome. When we're traveling around I feel like we've got two very distinct roles in our relationship. My job is to keep us on track and keep us getting in the right direction to where we need to go. Charlotte is finding cats. That is not true. You're the one that's the slow catch. We're trying to make you hurry up. So if you're looking for a really nice photo of the Colosseum then this is the spot. It's the gardens just slightly above the main area where everyone's taking photos. Just go slightly higher up the road and you'll get this gorgeous little kind of courtyard garden and this is the famous photo spot for the Colosseum. Got asked to take photos for people. Just say no. Come on, too nice. Everyone is doing photos. We are now going to go and visit one of the seven wonders of the world, the Colosseum. So excited. We're actually going for a tour and that is one of our top tips is to definitely go and check these places out with a tour because it is so overwhelming and busy and the queues here are insane but with the tours you usually get skipped the line which is what we have. We've got to get your guide all ready to go. Let's go in. Oh my god. I'm glad that we have the tour. This is overwhelming. When you're going towards in the Colosseum it's super important to have ID. They are very strict here. It is so busy here. There are so many people. Thousands. So we are learning so much from our tour guide. I just found out that there was 40 elevators in the middle and there would be slaves to pull the pulleys and up through the ground 40 gladiators would rise to take on each other animals amongst 50,000 people here which is just insane. Now all the marble here was actually stripped by the Catholic Church and used in places like the Vatican but these were all marble benches. The lower three tiers anyway. There is some marble still remaining here. I don't know if that was brought back and replaced but there's a last little piece of marble remaining on some of the seats over there. But man imagine being here when this whole place was just erupting in games and blood. A lot of blood. Got my free sparkling water. Around Rome you can get free sparkling water. Lovely. We're now doing the second part of the tour. So the tour that we booked included the Colosseum, the Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum and what's great about the tour is that the same tour guide just takes us for the Colosseum straight through here through the skip the line with the tour guide tour and the whole tour takes about two and a half hours. Loads of history all about the architecture. It's really fascinating. Let's go explore this part. So we've just been exploring inside Caligula's Palace which is incredible because you couldn't access this before COVID. It's opened post-COVID. So if you've been to Rome before 2020 then you might want to come back and see all inside there and you get to see how amazing and grandiose the rooms are, how high the ceilings are and then the afternoon light is really really beautiful here. Well that's the tour all done two and a half hours later. Yes but the second half I really enjoyed. The area here is really relaxing even though it's busy. The Colosseum was just kind of hectic. It's an incredible place and definitely like a bucket list destination like one of the seven wonders of the world but this area is really peaceful and it reminds me a little bit of when we're exploring Athens. So we've had a great time this afternoon and remember if you want to book this tour go and check it out in the description below. We are just up in Aventine Hill at the moment and this is a really really beautiful place to come up in the afternoons. You get the sunset over Rome. You can see quite a few domes from the hilltop here as well as a lot of really beautiful villas and buildings. Very prestigious places to come and gawk at and it feels like very community kind of vibes here like all the kids are out here playing in the afternoon. It's really quite sweet. So something that you might completely miss if you're not looking for it is the broken bridge right here. It's kind of hidden behind all this greenery. It was first constructed in the 2nd century BC as a wooden bridge and it was one of the longest bridges in Rome which is why it's important. Obviously it's broken now but it is one to visit here in Rome. It's very beautiful. We've got an island and lots of other scenic bridges on the Tiber River. Now there's one thing that Europe does amazingly well and that is eating outside. If they see a street they'll stick a table on it. So we have decided of course to eat outside and we have come to a place called Budi. We're actually only about a six minute walk from the Pantheon. Very noisy here but there's loads of restaurants here. It's definitely a foodie place and we have gone for a pasta and pizza dish. Of course because we're in Italy this place is actually all veggie and vegan. So this is actually a vegan fish. So it's a tuna bake spaghetti style and Corey has gone for a like a pizza parmigiana and it looks absolutely delicious. That is sliced eggplants which we love. A quick break now to say thank you to this video's sponsor. That is Level8 who have provided us with these beautiful his and hers matching suitcases. This is Corey's and this is mine and we are absolutely loving them. This is the first trip we have had with these suitcases and we are not going to go back. We have chosen two separate designs. So I have gone for the traditional clamshell style suitcase and Corey has gone for the one which has an open top option as well. So this is great if you're looking for a space saving suitcase or when you're traveling and you're in smaller hotel rooms. You can open this from the top so you don't have to open up your suitcase like a clamshell taking up lots of room. So Corey has been loving that design. I love the traditional designs of suitcases where I can open it up and see everything and I also love that the suitcase has six pockets. This is perfect for me storing little items in there like my jewelry case or things that I want to reach on a daily basis like my contact solutions and pots I shove in there. I have been loving it. Obviously the colors are absolutely great. We love the yellow and black kind of bumblebee design and this means that they stand out very well on the conveyor belt when you're waiting for your luggage after your flight. We picked these guys out straight away and my personal favorite thing about these suitcases is how smoothly are they are built so well. Honestly when we're going through the airport these cases felt as light as a feather. We could spin them around and just hold them with one hand. Usually we had to drag our suitcases but these even when they were weighing 23 kgs after a flight we could easily maneuver these around the airport absolutely no problems. Something which we also love about these suitcases is the handlebar placement. As you can see the bars go down to the side of the suitcase rather in the middle like the traditional suitcases which saves lots of space. So when the handlebar is down you don't get that annoying lump in the middle of your suitcase wasting space. So if you're thinking of upgrading your luggage then go check out Level8 and we have a special code for you for 10% off. It is CJ10. We'll put it down in the description below and we'll pop it on the screen as well. Go check it out. Thank you so much again for Level8 and now back to the video. We are up early this morning to see Trevi Fountain. As you can see it is crazy busy. We are here at 8am and it's still so packed. Honestly I thought it was going to be pretty quiet. The sun rose only about 30 minutes, 45 minutes ago but already there's crazy crowds. Can you imagine what it's like here when it gets later in the day? I wouldn't even recommend it. Come early if you want to get any chance of going to the front but the fountain is absolutely beautiful and we are going to do the traditional thing to do here and that is throw some coins into the water. So they make crazy amounts of money here. Something insane like a million euros per year. Corey thinks it's about 3,000 euros per day and they gather that all up at the end of the day apparently and they give it to charity which is awesome and the custom is to throw it from your right hand over your left shoulder. I nearly did the wrong hand. All right, let's go. 100k followers this year on YouTube. For the full Trevi Fountain experience make sure you come to the bakery just on the corner especially if you're here in the morning. They are known for their really nice pistachio croissants and there is a queue because this place is popular but it is moving really fast. They only have some tables outside. If you're lucky you can get a view of the fountain. Fingers crossed but if not we're still going to stop here have our coffee fix and a croissant and give you our review. Well we lucked out and managed to get a table outside and with a view of the fountain. Of course it's got the view but we have gone for one of their classics pistachio and they're not called croissants here they're called cornetto. So a pistachio cornetto and a chocolate cornetto and oh I think they're warm. Oh my days that's going to be delicious and I've just gone for a cappuccino as an espresso. This is 5 euros 50. It's with soy milk so it's very expensive cappuccinos but I'm so ready to tuck in. They look delicious. Oh pistachio is so like trendy right now. Yeah really good. We did promise you some hidden gems and this is one of them. It's just around the corner from the Trevi Fountain and it's the Galleria Schiara. I hope I'm pronouncing that right I apologize. But as you walk in here there is a beautiful building that you have to come and look at. It's currently having some refurb but you can still see the majority of it and the walls are just beautiful. Of course Rome has so many churches I think there's over like 300 catholic churches. This is one of the more famous ones in terms of tourism attractions because there's a special mirror there which you can pay a euro and it lights up and it turns the lights on and you get a cool reflection. We went to the queue it moves really fast but we realized we only had two euros we couldn't use it when we got to front of the queue and the mirror actually goes cloudy so you can't even look in the mirror without your euro. It's a bit tight really because obviously the catholic church can't afford that but anyway we left it. It's still very pretty inside though. Behind me is the beautiful Pantheon building where we're going to go to next. It's a must visit here in Rome. If you like you can purchase tickets in advance but to buy tickets on the door the queue is very fast moving so we're going to go and join up. Very fast moving queues under 18 is free and a discount if you're 25 and under but you live in Europe. We got asked if we were 25 and under. I'm a decade older than that so score! We were like unfortunately no but we're in cash only remember and wow this place is amazing it's one of the best preserved Roman buildings of all time and it was originally built as a temple to all gods. Well this place is so impressive. I think this is one of those ones where it's like oh it's so cliche to go but it's definitely worth it. Look at this dome. Now this dome right here is the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome and it is special. The Romans actually invented concrete. They used a mix of lime volcanic ash. I think they also used seawater as well to mix it and because they used the volcanic ash it was very resistant to cracking which has allowed structures like this to last for so long. This place is incredible. It may be my favorite spot we have come to so far in Rome. The atmosphere in here is really amazing. It's busy but it doesn't feel like overwhelming or crowded in a way that the Colosseum was. The Colosseum felt like a tourist attraction. I didn't get any special vibes from that. I didn't really get any atmosphere. It was just like oh it was an amazing place but it's very much like quick photo go and then here you walk in here and as soon as we walked in we both felt it. It was just like this incredible feeling. It's really special. You can feel the history here. It's a beautiful building. It just feels special. Maybe it's going to do with the origin how it used to be a temple to the gods but the atmosphere in here is magical. The open ceiling means that the rain would fall down into the building and it would go onto this area. There's two little holes which I presume is a drain. But imagine if it was like torrential rain and there's just like this waterfall in the middle. I think it would be a spiritual experience. If we might get rain, I would pay to come back to experience that. I think it would be incredible. So right outside the front entrance of the Pantheon is an Egyptian obelisk right here in the middle of the square and it has hieroglyphics. The further you walk away, the more impressive the view gets. I can't believe how incredible it looks. There's people walking down the street seeing that view for the first time. I can hear them all going, wow, absolutely beautiful. One of the busier locations here in Rome, this is the Spanish Steps Church at the top and a lot of tours are walking around here. How busy is it, Shaz? It's very busy. It does look quite beautiful when you kind of look up towards the, is it a church up there? Yeah. The morning light's really lovely as well. The morning light is lovely. It's a nice spot and it's around the shopping district. There's loads of designer stores everywhere, people looking fabulous. So if you want to do some shopping, then you can add on the Spanish Steps as well. And they're called the Spanish Steps because at the bottom was the Spanish embassy. That's why they've got the name Spanish Steps, but they actually have a different name. Scalanata de la Trinita de Monte. That's the actual name. I think if you're super busy, I'd probably skip this. It is very nice, but it is just kind of some steps. There's a lot of other places in Rome I'd rather go to, but if you have it available in your itinerary, it's worth a spot, especially if you're shopping too in the area. Located in the northeast corner of Rome is a huge park called Villa Borghese. It's also home to a famous gallery here and there's also a lake where you can rent some boats. There's also a lot of the classic Rome umbrella pine trees that you probably see all around the landscape of Rome. They are native to the Mediterranean, which is why you see a lot of them here and they are perfect if you're trying to find some shade from the Roman sun. The top attraction to do here in the park is to visit the lake. It is really scenic. We've just watched some turtles in there as well as some large fish and of course there's ducks around the edges. You can also hire a boat. I believe it's five euros per person just for 20 minutes, so it's a very quick time slot because it's so popular. But we're finding this park very peaceful. It's worlds away from the crazy crowds you have around the Colosseum. If you're looking for somewhere to escape that then this park is your answer. And if you work up a sweat walking around the park then you can come for a refreshing drink at the little cafe. If you decide to visit the park then we highly recommend combining that with this beautiful piazza. It's called Piazza del Popolo and it's flanked by three churches and as you can see what really stands out is this huge Egyptian obelisk brought over in the 13th century by Emperor Augustus. He seemed to have brought a lot of stuff over from Egypt. It's a really beautiful plaza and one that we'd recommend visiting. So we know Rome can be a super expensive city but that doesn't mean you can't find some good budget-friendly options for food. We have just had dinner at an Italian bistro and they have really simple menus. We had pasta dishes each for our main meals. Mine was seven euros for a spaghetti dish and it was pretty good. It wasn't like the most amazing food ever but it was perfectly fine especially for the price. You can't grumble at all and as we're leaving this place is getting very busy so I think a lot of people are doing the same. If they can find a decent budget meal they're gonna have it and now we're ready for bed. Food coma! Good morning! We are out nice and early for our coffee fix and we have found a little place called BAP. It's in Prati. We're going to stay in this area today because we're going to the Vatican soon for a tour but this place seems really hustling and bussing. It seems quite cool. There's a university nearby so it's like uni students coming here and grabbing a coffee but they have these really cute little cups and we just walked past and thought this was going to be the perfect spot for our cafe. We have officially entered the Vatican. We are now in a different country and this place is crazy busy. It is bonkers. We're hearing people around us asking where do we go? How do we get in? What do we do? It's a bit overwhelming but it's absolutely beautiful and there's three main things to do here. First is to go inside St Peter's Basilica which is behind me. If you want to go and join the line it's free entry. You may be there for hours but good luck. There's also a tour guide option which is over that way but the line was crazy. We walked past it earlier and even with the tours it was like overwhelmingly long and also you can go into the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museum. So we have booked on to a skip the line tour something we highly recommend if you have any chance of getting into these places without waiting for hours on end you have to go over skip the line tour. We'll pop it up here on the screen and also link it in the description below. Book your tickets in advance and make sure they have skip the line tour. We have a little bit of time to kill before our tour so we decided just to take a walk around and the columns next to the main square in front of St Peter's Basilica are absolutely stunning. It's quite quiet here as you can see there's no one here. Everyone's over there getting their photos but this is beautiful these columns stretch all the way along it feels like you're walking in I don't know though a hall of the gods it's just so magnificent absolutely breathtaking. Well we have joined our tour we are just making our way now to the Vatican Museum we already have our tickets and our guide is going to take us straight to the entrance it saves you going in that crazy queue which we're really grateful for and at the end of the tour there is an option to visit St Peter's Basilica so hopefully by the end of today we can tick off all three attractions. So even though we got to skip the line tickets there was still a queue a queue for tour groups but they're pretty quick moving aren't they? Really fast we're about to go into the entrance and we were queuing for less than five minutes constantly moving down. Firstly work on these tours we are going around the Vatican Museum now learning lots of bits and bobs all about the history and we can't film in the Sistine Chapel but the guide has given us a full explanation of all the pictures and what we can expect to see there they have the full book of Genesis and there's images of Judgment Day I wish we could show you but we'll let you know if it is worth checking out I'm sure it is. These are from Egypt of course and they look very concerned with their little faces. That massive bap used to be in a Roman sauna room wow and that golden statue over there I think our tour guide said that was the largest statue like that ever discovered these are all emperors and goddesses of course. There's so much to take in there's so many people and we're just kind of all just shuffling through. We're all just following our tour guides it's stunning the museum it's incredible pieces but I think we're skipping lots of bits because of the tour just couldn't do it all. Yeah there's too much to see here there's so many artworks thousands literally thousands. Tapestries are quite amazing they are humongous and they're really beautiful but as you can see it's darker in here I'm guessing it's to preserve them because the light won't fade them then. We're in the longest gallery now and this one is dedicated to all the maps the cartography of the surrounding areas in Italy this gallery is over 300 meters long it's just so much to take in it's kind of like too much for any one person to take in and one visit to be honest. We're going into the Sistine Chapel now so we won't be able to film and make sure you cover those naughty knees and shoulders. So we've just exited the Sistine Chapel and oh my gosh that was probably the least spiritual experience I've had it is absolutely stunning the artwork is incredible that is true but the experience it felt like you were you know when you're in an airport and you're waiting in that little area to go on your flight and you're crowded into a space and even the noise is bing bing can everyone be quiet and it's like bing bing Mr Jacobson please board your flight it was like that everybody was it was very loud crowded it was not the experience I thought it was going to be the Pantheon was far more of a spiritual experience than that. We decided to do it. Yeah so the tour guide couldn't get us into St Peter's Basilica but he did get us to the square and he was like if you want to go and enter it now it's actually getting to quite a quiet time it's the end of the day we saw earlier today and the line was way bigger now we're just in front of the security and then once we're through then we can go in and we don't have to pay any extra so we may as well do it we're here let's hopefully get in before it closes we made it we're here that was really quick it was very quick never mind going early go right go later yeah five minutes and we're in it's hard to really express how huge this place is it is so tall and everything is so big and impressive it feels like it's not made for humans it's like this place is made for giants it is massive and that up there is the dome and they have this incredible altar and there's these amazing statues everywhere it really is incredibly beautiful and impressive definitely add this on if you're going to do the tour of the museum and Sistine Chapel this is... I think this is the highlight so go in the extra queues and come in here or do what we did and go late then add this on last thing of the day well that wraps up our amazing three days in Rome we hope you've enjoyed it if you haven't subscribed make sure you do and follow along because we are about to road trip down to Sicily hitting spots like Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast on the way so be sure to check those out thank you for watching and we'll see you again soon bye