Mar 032013
 

natale_di_romaSunday April 21st Rome will be  2766th year old!

Even this year there will be the historical parade along Via dei Fori Imperiali, just in front of the Colosseum, ending at Circus Maximus (the ancient chariot race track) where  the ritual ceremony of the “digging of the trench”, a ri-evocation of the foundation of Rome, will take place: Romulus, Remus, the Vestal Virgins, the she-wolf…the whole tale will be much clearer afterwards!

PS. The historical group arranging the parade is also offering our activity-tour “Gladiator for a day”, a fun way to learn about ancient history!

 Posted by on 03/03/2013 at 17:10
Feb 222013
 

ape-piaggio-calessinoWhat’s a “calessino”?

The Piaggio commercial states:…the folding top and the four seats make the Calessino ideal for a leisurely drive, perhaps with a picnic hamper in the back.

Yes, why not? All the tours we can offer you by bike, by scooter or on foot can be much more relaxing with a driver and a calessino at your disposal, don’t you agree?

Have a look at this video : this is not in Rome of course, you will film the ride in Rome, ok? 

 Posted by on 22/02/2013 at 12:32
Feb 192013
 

tivoliSpring is definitely a great season to visit Rome, it might be crowded, but if you follow our off-the-beaten-track tips, you’ll enjoy Rome a lot!

In fact we always recommend to visit Rome at least twice! The first time is meant to  get acquainted, visit the must-sees and taste a bit of this Eternal City. For this kind of trip the winter months are the best, as you can explore the Vatican Museums, the Colosseum, the Forum, the Pantheon without a thousand people around you and maybe you can even find a good spot to throw the coin into the Trevi fountain without queueing to take that iconic picture.
Once the ritual of the coin has been accomplished, you can be sure you’ll be in Rome again. That ‘s when Spring is a great season! Leave the crowds to the main attractions you already know (you will catch up at night with the charming ruins of the Forum and the familiar arches of your “old friend”, the Colosseum…) and start exploring the city where the Romans still live, work,  eat, drink, love and enjoy life! 

 Posted by on 19/02/2013 at 12:07
Feb 122013
 

Your Friend in Rome always prefers to meet you directly at your Rome’s accommodation, especially on first day of tours. But sometimes this is not possible…Maybe you are staying very far away from the starting point of the tour or we meet in the afternoon and you’ll plan to be around the centre already. Or simply you wish to find your way in town and meet us in front of the main sites.
In those occasions, we prefer to give you here exact information on where to meet for the two main attractions which are often crowded in high season, i.e. the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum.
For the Vatican Museums we always recommend the tickets pre-booking, therefore you’ll be entitled to get in from a preferential access, just along Viale Vaticano and easily identified with a special brown sign.

We will be there!
meeting point vaticano

For the Colosseum and Roman Forum, there is a pleasant “visitor centre” along Via dei Fori Imperiali. If you walk there from Piazza Venezia you will find this “Tourist Information Point” to your left, otherwise if you reach the area by metro from the B line station “Colosseo”, you’ll find this spot to your right giving your back to the Colosseum. Here some useful images which can help you:
DSCN0242

The entrance from closer:

DSCN0243

To help you identify ourselves, we will show a sign reading “A Friend in Rome” with our logo.

See you soon in Rome!

 Posted by on 12/02/2013 at 15:37
Jul 012012
 

Today we have 34 Celsius degrees, so we decided to post this “survival” advice to travellers currently in Rome (and those who will plan a trip in the warm months in the future)

If your hotel or B&B has no private pool, you can enjoy some public open-air pools. This is surely the best way to spend a few hours during the summertime after a cool morning tour of the city’s attractions.
The slick RivaNord lounge bar is located along the Tiber River near the Ponte Milvio, the bridge famous for inspiring lovebirds to “lock up their love” with a padlock and throw the key into the river.
Whether or not you have a key to throw, you’ll likely start a love affair with the uber-sleek temporary pool that’s set up shop at  RivaNord. There are cushy lounge chairs on hand, and a slick bar and lounge for when all that splashing around works up an appetite. Note that this hip spot fills up quickly. If there’s no space at the RivaNord, try one of these other reasonably priced pools:

  • La Piscina delle Rose (Viale America, 20.Transport:  Metro B to EUR Palasport): an Olympic-size swimming pool that the public can use for nominal fee. Visit on weekdays to get the most bang for your buck.
  • Blue Wave Team – Sporting Club Ostiense (Via del Mare, 128. Transport: Metro B to Marconi): an outdoor pool that’s part of a larger sports club. Save yourself a couple of euros by waiting until afternoon to visit.

 Posted by on 01/07/2012 at 16:28
Jun 122012
 

ROME is a city made for the summer. The sun shines, the classical, medieval and Baroque settings are sublime and the balmy evenings offer a long, languorous round of warm cobbled streets, candlelit trattorias and fountain-splashed piazzas“… this is how an interesting article by Tim Jepson starts…and we totally agree!
Many visitors are worried about the heat but it’s just a matter of good planning and scheduling activities smartly.
Wake up early and explore the city (emptied by most of the Romans who prefer to leave) in the cool hours of dawn: galleries, churches, museums and ruins will be flooded  by a magical light. After a fresh light lunch, relax in your air-conditioned hotel, in a park, on the beach, or next to a nice pool and “resist the temptation to sightsee in the heat of the day“. At night you will discover a city full of events, terraced restaurants, open-air concerts…you can enjoy the breeze of the night during a scooter tour, have a romantic walk with your sweetheart or simply enjoy the bars under the stars with your friends and find more!

And, as Tim Jepson rightly underlines, “don’t be tempted to tackle too much: a single visit, even one that lasts all of a long Roman summer, is not enough to do justice to a city with an eternal past“.

Nightlife along the Tiber during summertime…

 Posted by on 12/06/2012 at 10:04
Feb 252012
 

March 8th is the “International Women Day”: the original political and human rights theme designated by the United Nations makes it a  celebration for women’s economic, political and social achievements. And we believe that travelling alone, just girlfriends, or even solo,  is a great sign of women independence and freedom which little by little might change the world.

Girls tuned! You  may plan a trip to celebrate this day and your independence and strenght. You would also enjoy the special offer of the public museums and attractions, a free entrance to all women on March 8th and you’ll probably receive a bunch of yellow mimosa, the local symbol of the day.

We offer you a small gift, a tale of a woman exploring Rome solo on Xmas time;  we liked this statement: “memorable experiences often require risk and trust”. If you have similar travel stories to share, that’s the  time to post a comment!

 Posted by on 25/02/2012 at 17:45
Jan 252012
 

Family Travel“It’s no longer automatic that a vacation with the kids means a week in Waikiki or four days at Disney. Increasingly, parents are figuring out how to bring the family along on trips to explore the world in all its complex glory”… this is  the incipit of  an interesting article from Conde Nast Traveller  in far March 2006. We totally agree and encourage you to plan a trip in Rome with your children… we will post some tips  here soon and we have some tours ready for your family and instruction files to send you about activities to do with kids and teens in the Eternal city!

This is the link to read the full article, but we have underlined some interesting  passages:

  • Families that feel at home abroad raise children to have a global outlook.
  • A bored child is never a fun traveling companion. So from a purely selfish point of view, you want to make sure you have an endless supply of age-appropriate tricks up your sleeve (or more likely in your bag or their backpacks) to keep the dreaded boredom at bay.
  • In the end, children are not very different from the rest of us. They appreciate lovely food and beautiful hotels, they prefer not to be bored, and they like to be treated as reasonable human beings.
  • When you travel with your kids, you have the added delight of introducing them to all the places you love and watching as they, too, enjoy the ride.
  • Kids just wanna have fun. Ever notice that when a child is having fun, he/she doesn’t get cold or hungry or tired? The moment the fun stops, the whining starts. Forget the goal-oriented adult approach.
  • The trick is to figure out not just where and when to go but also how to travel and what age the children should be. (…) make sure the destination and the activity are appropriate for your child’s character and interests.
  • Street markets and grocery stores are good places to introduce kids to local culture, to find out what people eat, wear, make. When we hire a guide, we make it a habit to ask friendly questions about his or her family (…) Navigating a foreign subway system, eating at a restaurant where you can’t read the menu, and calculating a strange currency all constitute adventures for kids, especially if you get them involved.

And finally…our favorite statement: “It goes without saying that travel feeds a child’s curiosity and contributes to good citizenship by encouraging human contact and tolerance of cultural differences.”

 Posted by on 25/01/2012 at 19:01
Jan 172012
 

lovers on Spanish StepsHappy Valentine’s Day!

Of course we know today is not Feb 14  yet! But if you wish to make a special gift to your special one…this is the time to start planning.

In fact a romantic trip is always an unforgettable present and Rome is a sensual city of “Roma-nce”!

Did you know you can read “Roma” the other way around and you’ll get “amor”? We believe this is not just a silly coincidence… As an article of UK Telegraph was stating some years ago… “Rome makes you want to hold hands, whether it’s skipping together down the Spanish Steps or sauntering through the Borghese Gardens.”

A cozy B&B or a deluxe hotel, a perfect meal (we can reserve a nice table for you in a good restaurant or arrange a dinner just for you two in a special location), a Vespa tour or just gallivanting around with no destination, a drink at sunset on a roof-top bar, a pampering SPA treatment …these are just some ideas to spend a few days in Rome and celebrate your love story!

A Friend in Rome  offers a dedicated “Romantic Rome” tour  if you prefer to be guided across the city and visit some of the famous sites next to some  lovers’ corners. For example, did you know St. Valentine himself is buried in Rome? Swearing eternal love over his tomb would be an unforgettable way to celebrate the day or to propose to your partner! 

In this tour your guide will be a discrete chaperon leading your way, telling the history and anecdotes about the sites and introducing you to local love rituals, but he/she will also leave you alone from time to time, so you two will be free to  sip a coffee or a drink and exchange some intimate feelings and kisses.

Moreover, on February 14 every monument and museum offer a special discount to couples, the “pay 1, get 2 tickets”! 

Well…haven’t you booked a flight for two yet???

Sarcophagous of the spouses

Lovers of the past…this Etruscan couple is together since the VI century BC!

(and now they hang around in the beautiful museum of Villa Giulia)

ponte milvio

Lovers today…a ritual you will learn about:

closing a padlock and throwing the key into the Tiber from the Milvian Bridge…

 

 Posted by on 17/01/2012 at 18:33
Jan 132012
 

cooking classesIt was not my first time in a kitchen (eheheh!…),  but it was really fun, interesting and rich in contents. I just had a great experience in the new location of the cooking classes lead by Chef Andrea Consoli!

After seven years of classes and a great success, they needed a larger kitchen and they found a very nice place along a charming street of Trastevere, a few steps from the main square S.Maria in Trastevere . The group attending the class will always be a small party of about 12 enjoying the lesson and then a great lunch. If you book this class, you’ll start at about 10 a.m. and you will prepare a full lunch in approx 3 hours and a half before sitting down and appreciating what you have done! The supervision of the chef Andrea will ensure your lunch is delicious and during the class  you will learn several tips about food and cooking.

After a tasty abundant lunch served with wine, the best option is walking around the beautiful neighborhood of Trastevere on your own or with your “Friend in Rome“, of course!

Ancient churches with mosaics, little alleys and picturesque corners, the stunning view over Rome from the Gianicolo, the Tiberine islands will complete your day before heading back to your place, provided with a lot of pictures and nice memories!

hand made pasta

making pasta from scratch!

fettuccine are readyFettuccine are ready

Andrea condisceLast touches…

table…ready to taste!

 Posted by on 13/01/2012 at 19:31