Get off the beaten path on your Rome vacation with these must-see local sites.

The Terrace at Hotel Eden

Hollywood’s home in Rome is the Hotel Eden in via Ludovisi. Since it’s reopening in 1994, several of Tinsel Town’s “A-list” have stayed in its glorious surrounds. For drinks in the evening, the Terrace offers some best views in the city and, perchance, a star sighting or two.

Via dei Cestari

This street is the holy equivalent of Rodeo Drive. Often filled with nuns and priests window-shopping, it is an offbeat look into the clerical world you won’t find at the Vatican. It’s also the perfect place to stock up on nuns thermals, which we hear are perfect for skiing.

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If you were visiting Rome 2,000 years ago, you would have been awakened at dawn by the melodious bass of a copper gong resounding through the streets, announcing the opening of the thermae, or heated public baths.

To ancient Romans, their routine visits to the more than 1,000 bath houses in the city were one of life’s ultimate pleasures.  As one nobleman recorded on his tomb, “Wine, sex and the baths may destroy our bodies, but they make life worth living.” These thermae were far more than simple washhouses.

They were the Western world’s first full-service spas, combining the facilities of gymnasiums, massage parlors, restaurants and community centers.  In their beloved halls, citizens of all classes would loll by the pools with their friends, play ball games, drink wine, flirt and even enjoy elegant candle-lit dinners.  Like modern gyms today, Rome’s baths were unofficially graded: Some were chic, others déclassé.  Some were expensive, others cost only a copper.  Some, like the Baths of Caracalla and the Baths of Diocletian that can still be viewed in Rome today, were palatial structures, as large as cathedrals, decorated with multi-colored mosaics of Neptune and his dolphins.

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Thanks to Hollywood recreations such as Gladiator, nothing symbolizes the cruelty of Imperial Rome as much as the Colosseum.  In truth, the games held there were even more extreme and theatrical than modern film directors dare to suggest.

A day at the Empire’s most famous arena was a total entertainment package, mixing bouts of savage violence with solemn religious pageantry, sexual titillation, slapstick comedy and kitschy stage shows.

During the regular festivals, 50,000 spectators would line up early in the morning at the Colosseum’s splendid vaulted entrances with their numbered wooden tickets, eager to take their places.  Thanks to the advanced design, there were no bad seats in the house, although men and women were separated, and the higher social classes got ringside seats near the Emperor’s box. The day’s schedule began with the slaughter of wild animals – ostriches, lions, panthers, bears and leopards brought back from military campaigns.  This was followed by the brutal executions of criminals.

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Get ready to jet set from the sandy beaches of the South of France to the cobblestone lined streets of Rome, Italy.

Sit back and enjoy a frothy cappuccino as you travel with us over the course of this series to the Eternal City.  Tour world-famous landmarks such as the Colosseum, the Forum and the Pantheon.  Learn of not-to-miss sights while exploring Italy’s capital city.  And of course, discover the history behind famous Roman lure.

While on your trip to Rome don’t forget to throw a coin into Trevi Fountain to ensure a return to the ancient city.  And most of all remember, When in Rome…

Michelangelo was often jealous of fellow artists, but he was generous with his praise for the sculpted East Doors of Baptistry – the octagonal building next to the Florence Cathedral, where all Florentines had been baptized for generations.  He said that the 12 bronze reliefs were “so fine that they would grace the entrance of paradise,” and the evocative name, Gates of Paradise, has stuck ever since.

Michelangelo was complimenting the artist, but also referring to the graveyard that once lay in the Piazza del Duomo, where the dead were laid out as if queuing for passage to Heaven. The mastermind behind the Gates was Lorenzo Ghiberti.  Years earlier, at only 25 years of age, the young prodigy had won a competition to decorate the Baptistry’s north doors with scenes from the New Testament.  Those first reliefs, which had been lavishly bankrolled by the city as an appeal to God to end a plague that was ravaging Florence, had taken 21 years to design and cast.  They won Ghiberti huge acclaim.

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StorySuitecase Blog strives to provide you insider information on a destinations most famous landmarks. Today read about the prominent Giotto bell tower located in Piazza del Duomo in Florence, Italy.

The illustrious Campanile of Florence was designed by Italy’s first “Renaissance man,” Giotto di Bondone (1267-1337), a short and notoriously ugly character who pioneered many of the artistic breakthroughs we associate with the period. Acclaimed by Leonardo da Vinci as the first artist to “paint what he saw from nature,” Giotto was also a brilliant sculptor and architect, a personal friend of the poet Dante and a sharp businessman.  Giotto was also a likeable fellow – supremely confident, talkative and cheery, he was known in Florence for his ready wit and repartee.

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Continuing our post from Thursday, here are 5 more insights and suggestions to make your Florence, Italy vacation unique and memorable.

Madova

In Italy, even hands deserve la dolce vida. This family-owned boutique offers an array of handmade leather gloves in every shape, color and size. Lined in cashmere, silk, wool or fur, the friendly staff makes sure your selection will “fit like a glove.”

San Gimienano

The ultimate status symbol in this quarrelsome medieval town was a tall family tower. While only 14 of the original 72 towers remain, this captivating Tuscan city is a study of what can happen when egos run wild.

Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella

A tucked-away Florentine jewel, this charming pharmacy displays the results of more than 800 years of work by the Dominican monks who call it home. Following centuries-old formulas, the shop sells ancient remedies and tonics alongside hand-molded soaps and perfumed powders.

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Today’s must-see picks highlight Tuscany’s capital city of Florence.

Da Vinci’s birthplace

About a half-hour’s drive from Florence down a small country road is an old farmhouse in the town of Anchiano. Here it is believed that Leonardo da Vinci was born in April of 1452. Farther down the road in the town of Vinci is the chapel where he was christened.

La Casalinga

For comfort food in a Tuscan setting, look no further than this quaint little establishment. What else would you expect from a restaurant whose name translates to “housewife”.

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Benvenuti, or welcome, to our series of posts on Florence, Italy. Over the next two weeks, escape everyday life as you check back for our latest travel stories on the city known as the “Cradle of the Renaissance.” We’ll highlight the must-see sights on every savvy traveler’s list as well as the hidden charms of one of the world’s most alluring cities. And take note of local host picks – your where-to-go and what-to-see tips that only an insider would know.

During your vicarious visit to Florence, you’ll cruise into Tuscany down the Highway of the Sun for a bite of comfort food and a glass of locally produced Chianti. Stroll along the banks of the Arno River and catch a glimpse of Giotto’s spectacular Bell Tower. Your Florentine experience is only just beginning…

The world’s most poetically-named bridge, Il Ponte dei Sospiri, the Bridge of Sighs, was built in 1614 so that prisoners of the Venetian state could be transferred in secret from the Doge’s Palace to the so-called Nuovi Prigioni, or New Prisons.  The wistful name was actually conceived by the English poet Lord Byron in the early 1800s that imagined the horror of prisoners taking their last glimpse of Venice before going underground to captivity. Read the rest of this entry »