I could really use some suggestions please for areas in Rome that would make it easy for our family to get around. I realize Rome is a big city. it’s been forever since I was last there and I can not rememberer what part of town I stayed in. We have a 12 day window in early July when we can go and I’m thinking an airbnb might be best for since we are a family of five. I just want us to be able to leave the apartment and be able to start walking and sightseeing-not interested in staying in the outskirts. Picture stepping out and finding espresso and gelato at our doorstep.
I lived in Milan for several years so I’m very comfortable in Italy with the language and logistics of things, but I definitely don’t know Rome nearly as well so I’m hoping you guys can point me in the right direction.
I am not a Rome expert by any means, but when we went as a giant group in 2019 (my family of 4, my parents, and my sister’s family of 5) we stayed in two apartments near Campo De’Fiori. Looks like airbnb is calling it Regola? We walked almost everywhere, but we do walk a lot. It looks like it was 1.5 miles to the Coliseum and 1.5 miles in the other direction to Vatican City (with other stuff in between)
Edit - the bus and subway system was also pretty easy to use. My brilliant S jumped off an aqueduct and we thought he broke his foot. (it got better after a day thankfully.) But, we took the bus with him to/from Vatican City one night so he could see the museum.
For our 2015 family trip to Rome, I asked for advice from a friend’s son doing a summer semester there. He recommended staying near Piazza Navona (in center or map below - we loved our 4 nights at an airbnb there) or Campo De Fiori.
I second the suggestion of Piazza Navona. Easy walk to everything you may want to see; rented a big apartment which made the jet lag nights more bearable than a hotel room (anyone who wanted to watch TV hung out in the living room, those trying to sleep were in the bedrooms, you don’t wake the entire family when you open the refrigerator door.)
I’ll add to the Piazza Navona recommendation. Long before the days of vrbo/airbnb, we found an apartment there to rent and it was wonderful! Walking distance to lots of stuff. And the kids loved the laundry lines hanging out of the apartment - I was worried we were going to lose one of them out of the window
In our 2015 research, I think Travestere was often mentioned. But maybe it was the area described as “gritty”(?). Hoping others will jump in to correct if I’m remembering incorrectly.
our family of five spent 5 days in Rome last August (2021). We stayed in Trastevere area. It was fabulous. It is not in the middle of the tourist-heavy area but more of a neighborhood. We loved it, and we walked quite a bit. We also took a bus(easy) and uber to some places.
One of the fun things we did when looking at Rome neighborhoods was to use Street View. (Hubby says “drag the person to the location”). For our Piazza Navona airbnb we were able to see the front door of the lovely old building and walk into the nearby leather goods store full of handmade purses.
There were plenty of tourists in the area. But we loved having cathedrals and cafes and restaurants right there. The place had thick stone walls with inner/modern windows. That meant from our upstairs bedroom we could listened to all the music/chatter outside (not cars - it was a pedestrian street) … or close the windows and take a nap.
It was wonderful to have a small grocery store on our block. It most have been a lot of locals there because there was no English signage - fun memories, picking out our breakfast and snack foods there.
