Welcome to our Rome in 4 Days series!
We planned a whirlwind itinerary to make the most of our time in the Eternal City — aiming to see iconic sights like the Pantheon, Colosseum, and Trevi Fountain all in Day 1! Ambitious? Absolutely. But we were determined to squeeze the most out of every hour in Rome, even if it meant a little (okay, a lot of) chaos along the way.
Hits to the Head Count
Steven: 3 total… but 1 was a major skull-rattler
Sylvia: 4 solid smacks
Fast & Furious: Rome Edition
Our Rome adventure began Fast & Furious style. After a delayed train from Venice (thanks, trackworks!), we finally rolled into Rome around 1:30 AM—with a busted suitcase wheel from Venice’s charming-but-deadly cobblestone streets.
Exhausted, we jumped into a cab…Enter the wildest cab ride of our lives. Our driver didn’t believe in traffic rules, road lines, or the concept of stopping. Red lights? A suggestion. Merging? A free-for-all. Lanes? More of a recommendation. It was chaos. And yet, we loved it.
One thing we couldn’t help but notice: the sheer number of ambulances. In Australia, ambulances tend to cruise along at the speed limit, lights mostly for show. In Italy? Those sirens meant business. Steven noted how ambulances in Italy seem genuinely urgent, unlike back home in Australia. Rome blew it out of the water—twelve in two days.
The BnB That Made Us Hotel People
We finally reached our Airbnb at nearly 2 AM. Steven messaged the hosts nonstop, and when they met us, we had to haul our bags up four steep flights of stairs. The last flight? Practically vertical.
Our Airbnb was, in a word, short. Sylvia is 5’4, Steven is 5’9, and neither of us could stand up straight without hitting our heads. So we hit our heads. A lot. The shower was clogged, so Sylvia (second one to shower, when the issue was discovered) ended up rinsing off in the bidet to avoid flooding the place. The host tried to gaslight us into fixing it ourselves as they were able to accommodate us and be flexible enough to give us late check in.
Steven, in peak form, clapped back: “You mean the flexibility you charge us €50 for and advertise on the ad that you provided? We’re not repairing your shower on our holiday! ” By the time we got back the next day, the shower was fixed, a hairdryer appeared, and Steven had officially won that battle. After bashing our heads so many times – we really were just done with Air BnBs and made a point to really look deeper at hotels next time we travel, because the savings were not being worth the hassle at this point.
Bar L’Orologio & Italian Tax Nightmares
Steven spent the night dreaming about fixing the Italian economy after learning about Venice’s insane tax rates. Meanwhile, Sylvia woke up, laughed at Steven’s subconscious political aspirations, and went to get some shower gel from the pharmacy downstairs and promptly walked into a lady carrying a pistachio croissant. That lady, our accidental food guide, pointed us to Bar L’Orologio, which became our breakfast spot. Pistachio croissants, sundried tomato, ham, and mozzarella sandwiches, and cappuccinos—perfection. Google ratings ranged between 4.0–4.8, and we give it a 10/10 for taste, vibe, and authenticity. We ended up visiting this spot a few times during our time in Rome, and don’t worry folks, it’s open in the evening as well for dinner.
Pantheon & The Art of Overstimulation
With how late we got into Rome, how tired were were – we weren’t sure we were going to actually make it to the Pantheon tour! Still Steven convinced Sylvia that they had to at least try. And we did, We got to the Pantheon at 10:33 for a 10:30 tour, assuming we’d missed it. Turns out, it was self-guided, so no stress, we just picked up our ticket. Inside, we struggled to get the official audio guide to work, so Sylvia just Googled fun facts while we wandered.
Fun fact: Emmanuel II, Italy’s first king, is buried there.
Fun fact 2: The Pantheon still functions as a multi-denominational church
Less fun fact: The Pantheon is surrounded by street hawkers aggressively selling scarves and squeaky toys. Picture yourself in the heat, dodging tourists, with a soundtrack of blaring sirens and aggressive squeak! squeak ! squeak! in the background.
Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola: Don’t Miss This Hidden Gem
We made a detour to the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola en route to the Trevi Fountain—and WOW. Massive, intricate ceilings, marble statues, and mirrors placed for easier viewing of the art. This is a game changer if you’ve ever hurt your neck looking up in cathedrals! Sylvia remembers visiting this church maybe 6-7 years ago in her early 20s and back then there weren’t any mirrors.
Trevi Fountain, Bargaining Mishaps & Pistachio Overload
One of the great things about Rome – it’s so walkable, and all the tourist attractions are concentrated around each other, so it didn’t take a long time to go to the Pantheon, St Ignatius Church and now we moved onto the Trevi Fountain, where we made the crucial mistake of talking to a street vendor who came to life with engagement and ended up chasing us down the street. We wanted a selfie stick but after hearing 20 euro and turning that down, the man chased us down the street dropping the price continuously until 5 euro and by that point we were turned off and went to hide from the man.
Next to the Trevi fountain, which was filled with people, so many that we didn’t get much of a look – was Forno’s Bakery, which is TikTok-famous for its pistachio croissant. Sylvia having had a pistachio croissant in the morning wanted another, expecting it would be even better as it was Tiktok famous however —it had an orange flavor which wasn’t to her liking. Steven agreed – he liked it but still preferred Bar L’Orologio’s version.
At this point, there isn’t much to say about the Trevi Fountain – we went there and looked at what we could but really we just made plans and strategies on when we’d come back – see Rome Day 4 of 4, and what we’d do to get a better view than we were able to in the mid morning when we were shoulder to shoulder with every other tourist in Rome.
For Lunch – We followed up with Elle Effe, where Sylvia fell in love with carbonara made with guanciale. Pro tip: It’s superior to bacon, and she’s never going back. We also had there fried anchovies – larger anchovies that we expected. Sylvia grew up eating Ikan Bilis in Singapore and was hoping for those. She tried some and counted it as a new experience and just focused on guanciale and the genius of the foot pedal sinks in the toilets.
One Manly Tear
After lunch we made our way to the Colosseum, and on the way we stopped by St. Andrew’s Church, where Steven had a moment. The church is a black and gold masterpiece so breath-taking that Steven shed 1–2 manly tears. Pro tip: don’t skip the small churches—they’re free, stunning, and often less crowded than tourist hotspots. This was a tip Sylvia told her friends last time she was in Italy, and nearly a decade on it’s still a tip we give to you now. We are in a pickle now with this church because as much as I’d like to write and fully express it’s grandeur, even recollection renders me speechless. We highly recommend you go and see it, don’t miss it and I’m sure you’ll understand when you’re there.
Colosseum Scams & Sweat
Here’s the truth: the Colosseum was underwhelming.
Our “skip-the-line” tickets were a scam—we paid extra for basic entry because THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS PRIORITY ENTRY. We rocked up with our tickets – to be told we’ve have to enter and wait like everyone else and that any special access, special tour, special anything was all fake. The only redeeming factor was that it came with was an audio mp3 clip from a free podcast giving an audio tour of the colosseum.
Outside the colosseum -It was hot, crowded, and hawker-central. Water vending machines were broken, reception was non-existent, and the gift shop was chaos. The magnitude of the chaos and how overstimulating it is… made the actual colosseum seem just boring and banal.
We ended up getting to the top, putting the mp3 audio clip we got from the scammers on loud and just listened in while looking around. We’re not joking that it’s free – it’s the Rick Steve’s Audio guide – here’s the link to the audio, and a link to the rest of his free audio guide series.
We also visited the Arch of Constantine and Palatine Hill, which were much more enjoyable—less chaotic, more scenic, by then the weather cooled down; the crowds have thinned and and strolled home listening to Rick telling us what we should care about.
Almost Pickpocketed at Trevi & Tipsy Shopping
At this point, it’s Aperol hour and we were just looking to decompress and shake off the stress from the colosseum. Near the Trevi Fountain, an Italian woman excitedly told us about a rooftop bar with great views of the Trevi fountain. We went up—and realized the view was of the back of the fountain. The prices? A joke.
When we got back down, Sylvia’s bag was mysteriously unzipped. Was it the lady? Someone else? We’ll never know. Thankfully, we don’t keep valuables in that pocket. Moral of the story: lock your bags. No valuables were taken, but it was a wake-up call. Always use combination locks or anti-theft bags in Rome. Our main pocket of the bag had a combination lock on it and when closed the lock was pulled to the side with the water bottle pocket and tucked into that.
We progressed to blowing off steam in €5 spritzes at Taberna by Trevi before hitting Piazza Navona, where Bernini’s Four Rivers Fountain was under construction. It’s legal to drink alcohol in the streets in Rome and my God, we had a great time doing so. We stumbled into a free liquor tasting shop (because why not), downed some limoncello, and then discovered a tiny black poodle named Mina who pranced into a perfume store. Steven, buzzed from limoncello, bought an expensive cologne that will now live in the fridge for ten years, because apparently that keeps it good for 10 years. What we didn’t know then was that that cologne was to become his wedding day scent, and our ‘something special/holiday’ cologne.
Steven’s Pizza of Silence
For dinner, we skipped the velvet-rope tourist traps—not out of snobbery, but logistics. We simply can’t wait over an hour to be seated, then another 30–45 minutes for food. Enter Mastrociccia, a Roman tavern we stumbled into by necessity… and left singing praises for.
Steven ordered a pizza so good it rendered him completely silent—and this is a man who always has something to say. But for that pizza? Not. A. Word. Sylvia had gnocchi with more guanciale (our new Roman obsession), and it was solid. But the real win? Eating in peace while watching tourists across the street still stuck in line for overpriced food. We arrived, ordered, ate, and left—well-fed and smug—before they even got menus.
Thanks to TikTok and travel blogs (like ours!), some restaurants now have intentionally long queues. Why? If people are forced to line up, the tables are always full. No reservations = no risk of no-shows = no empty seats. Clever… but not worth the hangry wait.
What we’ve learned is this: Look just one step below the trendiest recommendations. Skip the viral hotspots and you’ll find incredible food, faster service, cheaper prices, and way less hassle.
Want to know how we find these hidden gems? Check out our food guide here.
Final Notes on our 1 very full day in Rome
In Italy, dinner starts around 8 PM, which doesn’t work for us early diners. We ended up skipping dessert—again. Sylvia’s still on the hunt for pistachio tiramisu, and we’re planning a dedicated tiramisu adventure on June 18 when we return to Rome.
Top Food & Drink Spots in Rome
Mastrociccia – Pizza so good it silences conversation
Bar L’Orologio – Daily pistachio croissant heaven & unforgettable sandwiches
Taberna by Trevi Fountain – €5 takeaway Aperol & Campari spritzes
Elle Effe – Authentic carbonara & Roman fried anchovies
Rome Travel Tips & Tricks You’ll Thank Us For
Brace yourself in Roman taxis. They drive like they’re in Fast & Furious: Vatican Drift.
There are no deals on the Colosseum – Don’t book anything that says special access, ‘skip the line’, early entry or whatever – we heard it from the staff themselves – it’s all a scam.
Protect your stuff. Use a combination lock or anti-theft bag. Sylvia nearly got pickpocketed at Trevi Fountain.