Italy Private Excursions

getting to know and discovering lazio is like leafing through a history book; each page is connected to the other by a series of events that left their mark. this is rome, the ?eternal city? in the eyes of visitors; it includes a series of traces to follow in order to reconstruct the course of history. 

first stop in the heart of rome is the solemn flavian amphitheatre, better known as the colosseum, where the gladiator games took place; via dei fori imperiali leads along the most important archeological itinerary, a unique set of temples, basilicas, public and sacred buildings and the roman forum standing out of the surrounding lush vegetation. the archaeological finds and highly valuable works that were discovered during the excavations are kept in the capitoline museums, on the campidoglio, the acropolis of ancient rome. 

not far from there is the theatre of marcellus and the famous mouth of truth, a marble carving representing the face of a faun near the church of santa maria in cosmedin; this mouth, according to legend, swallows the hands of liars. 

the tour of the city continues following the banks of the tiber to castel sant?angelo, a mausoleum for the emperor hadrian, a shelter for popes and a prison. from there, taking the spectacular via della conciliazione, we reach the vatican city, the seat of the papal state. here we can admire the famous piazza san pietro, with the 16th-century colonnade by bernini and the magnificent sistine chapel, with its precious last judgement, another 16th-century masterpiece, this time by michelangelo. 

rome is the main seat of state institutions and we certainly cannot forget its buildings, basilicas and piazzas, like piazza di spagna with the famous spanish steps of trinità dei monti, piazza farnese and piazza navona with bernini's fountain of the four rivers, not to mention the 18th-century trevi fountain, where tourists throw coins and express their wish to return to the eternal city.

in the environs of rome, the castelli romani are a big attraction to those who love cheerful trips to the country to find a cool refuge in hot summer nights. ostia, on the contrary, besides being a well-known sea resort on lazio's coast, encloses the ruins of ostia antica (ancient ostia), the best example of a roman town that we can still observe today. 

approximately 25 miles from rome, the town of tivoli demands a visit, given that it hosts two ancient, lavish estates: hadrian's villa and villa d'este, both unesco world heritage sites. 

other of lazio's provinces worth mentioning offer delightful surprises. an important community since antiquity, rieti is rich in traces from the roman and medieval (when it was a free comune and then papal residence) ages. latina, rather, boasts glorious beaches lapped by the tyrrhennian sea, along with suggestive old villages and the national park of circeo. plenty of green, verdant land and enchanting medieval towns characterize tuscia and its provincial capital, viterbo, oases for relaxation and delicious cuisine, as well as etruscan heritage and the via francigena. not as well-known, despite the many beauties of the terrain, ciociaria treats visitors to gorgeous landscapes and evocative places plunged in both natural and historic environments.