In Rome for a day - what museums shall I go to?

[Charlie_]

I'm flying in to Rome on Friday morning, and will have most of the day by myself with nothing planned before getting a train out to a family wedding about an hour away.

I have made zero plans and done no research - originally I was going with my brother, but now it's just going to be me.

I'm not too fussed about going out of my way to see the big tourist attractions... But would consider a museum or two time well spent.

So are there any good museums you could recommend that would appeal to a wargamer? Any good arms & armour exhibitions or anything?

[shecky]

Castel Sant’Angelo has an exhibit of their armory.  Found it interesting when I was there in March.

[Poiter50]

Capitoline Hill museum/s.

[Hobgoblin]

You can take in a lot of Rome in a day. Have you been before? If so, ignore most of what follows!

The main ancient sights - the Forum, the Capitoline Hill, the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill - are all close together, and it's well worth strolling round all of them even if you don't go in. If you are going in, get a ticket at the Palatine Hill that allows you into the Colosseum and then go there immediately and go to the Palatine ruins afterwards (where you get great views, including of the Circus Maximus).

The arms and armour in the Castel Sant'Angelo are worth a look, although it's a fairly small exhibition. But you could easily look round the ancient stuff in the morning and then stroll up along and across the Tiber to the castle in the afternoon. That would allow you to look into St Peters too. Most of the museums focus on ancient stuff or art rather than arms and armour (the Museo Stibbert in Florence is the motherlode for that ...).

You could see fit in quite a few of the Baroque sights (Piazza Navona, etc.) too in the same day. Rome's a great city to walk around and easy to keep oriented in because the river keeps you right.

[Malamute]

You can take in a lot of Rome in a day. Have you been before? If so, ignore most of what follows!

The main ancient sights - the Forum, the Capitoline Hill, the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill - are all close together, and it's well worth strolling round all of them even if you don't go in. If you are going in, get a ticket at the Palatine Hill that allows you into the Colosseum and then go there immediately and go to the Palatine ruins afterwards (where you get great views, including of the Circus Maximus).

The arms and armour in the Castel Sant'Angelo are worth a look, although it's a fairly small exhibition. But you could easily look round the ancient stuff in the morning and then stroll up along and across the Tiber to the castle in the afternoon. That would allow you to look into St Peters too. Most of the museums focus on ancient stuff or art rather than arms and armour (the Museo Stibbert in Florence is the motherlode for that ...).

You could see fit in quite a few of the Baroque sights (Piazza Navona, etc.) too in the same day. Rome's a great city to walk around and easy to keep oriented in because the river keeps you right.

I'd second all of the above. A wonderful city to explore. Have fun

[Poiter50]

Recently on the Romans FB page, there was mention of a VR tour of the Circus Maximus which sounded pretty good.

[Charlie_]

You can take in a lot of Rome in a day. Have you been before? If so, ignore most of what follows!

The main ancient sights - the Forum, the Capitoline Hill, the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill - are all close together, and it's well worth strolling round all of them even if you don't go in. If you are going in, get a ticket at the Palatine Hill that allows you into the Colosseum and then go there immediately and go to the Palatine ruins afterwards (where you get great views, including of the Circus Maximus).

The arms and armour in the Castel Sant'Angelo are worth a look, although it's a fairly small exhibition. But you could easily look round the ancient stuff in the morning and then stroll up along and across the Tiber to the castle in the afternoon. That would allow you to look into St Peters too. Most of the museums focus on ancient stuff or art rather than arms and armour (the Museo Stibbert in Florence is the motherlode for that ...).

You could see fit in quite a few of the Baroque sights (Piazza Navona, etc.) too in the same day. Rome's a great city to walk around and easy to keep oriented in because the river keeps you right.

Great tips, thanks.

I'll be flying into Ciampino, then presumeably getting a bus or taxi... And sometime later in the day getting a train out of Rome.

Looking at this map..... Is it feasible to walk say, from the train station, through the Colosseo and Old Rome areas, across the river to the Vatican, and back again, stopping in a museum or two along the way? No idea of how big Rome is to be honest....

[Hobgoblin]

Looking at this map..... Is it feasible to walk say, from the train station, through the Colosseo and Old Rome areas, across the river to the Vatican, and back again, stopping in a museum or two along the way? No idea of how big Rome is to be honest....

Yes, definitely. It's less than an hour on foot from the Colosseum to the Vatican - and the Colosseum is at the furthest point of the Forum/Palatine historical area. And it would be signifcantly less than that still to the Castel Sant'Angelo (which is basically beside the Vatican but closer to the river).

So, something like Colosseum/Palatine/Forum/Capitol > Pantheon > Piazza Navona > Castel Sant'Angelo > St Peter's/Vatican would be eminently doable in a couple of hours. Obviously, if you're going into things, you'll spend longer, but walking along that way would be a great 'outdoor museum' experience in its own right.

If you are going into places, a single ticket gets you into the Palatine, Colosseum and Forum. The trick here is to buy it at the Palatine (just across the road from the Colosseum: specify that you want to go into the Colosseum as soon as possible - i.e. 15 minutes from the sale), head into the Colosseum, then go back to the Palatine (very extensive ruins) and walk down from there and through the Forum area and then out into the city again. All three areas are essentially just ruins, but there's a huge amount to stimulate the imagination. If you're more pressed for time, just admire them from the outside.

The Pantheon's free to enter and spectacular, and there are lots of good backstreets restaurants to grab lunch in (as everywhere, just look for somewhere full of locals). Then head to the Piazza Navona. If you wanted to spend a bit more time, about half an hour would let you take in the Trevi fountain and the Spanish steps. Then cross the river to the Castel Sant'Angelo - worth going into for great views and small arms & armour collection.

After that, I'd say that St Peter's Square and St Peter's itself are musts for sheer spectacle. Last time we were there (February), we stayed in Trastevere, south of the Vatican on that side of the river, which has some great old churches and is just a really nice area to walk around (and eat!) in.

As others have said, it's an amazing city to stroll around in, and the density of spectacular historical sites has few parallels.

[Hobgoblin]

One more thing: from memory, a taxi from Ciampino is a flat 30 euros, but doesn't take long. And you get some good views on the way in.

[Gundamentalist 5.56]

I would stick with St. Peters, the Sistine chapel and the Vatican museums.
Nice and compact, and more than a day's worth of stuff to see.

[shecky]

If you’re into obscure WWII history you could also go to Via Rasella near the Quirinale. Really not much to see there in remembrance of the attack but interesting to see if you know the history.  I took my wife and daughter there and gave a history of the allied landings, Anzio, Cassino and the consequences of the Via Rasella attack.

[Nord]

I would stick with St. Peters, the Sistine chapel and the Vatican museums.
Nice and compact, and more than a day's worth of stuff to see.

Sorry, but this is not true. The Vatican museum is one of the worlds largest, about 7km of galleries according to the website. Compact it is not. St Peters is always absolutely packed, it should be a spiritual centre but it's just a heaving mass of tourists, and in one of the most ugly parts of Rome - Mussolini bulldozed the old streets around it to build his new Rome.

Capitoline museum is probably your best bet from a militaristic viewpoint, though it has to be said that most museums and galleries are more art than armour. The Capitoline does have some nice statues and such like, I don't remember much in the way of arms and armour.

And Rome is not a small city. There is a metro/underground, but it skirts around the edges, misses all the central bits. I would take off your wargaming hat for a day and just pick two or three sites you really want to see and head for those, spend plenty of time relaxing in the bars and cafes, but that's me.

[Charlie_]

Yeah I've just arrived. At the airport. I think I'll just get a guide book and wander, then have to get on a train in the early evening! Thanks for the advice.