All Roads Lead to Rome

Monday 6 April 2026

Trevi Fountain as the Sun Rises

All advice was that a shrill alarm before the light peeps over the horizon would pay off – and it did.

We left home shortly after 6am to actually lay eyes on the monuments of Rome. The crowds were definately thinner and it seemed that less annoying people got up early.

Leauges and leauges

I’ll start by saying that in the last two days, we have walked about 40km, so I thought tracking (despite the drain on data and battery) might be interesting. Today, we clocked up 23km and covered most of the Western and Soutern parts of Rome.

St Peter’s Basilica

The crowds of yesterday were gone.  About 20 or so people were queuing to get into St Peters at 7:45am, so we joined and had an easy stroll up past where the Pontiff delivered the Easter sermon only yesterday.

St Peter’s is grand, overwhelming, pompous. All I can think of is this concentration of wealth, due to the effort and toil by the craftsmen of the time, when their lives were simple and poor.  Not quite the fair, safe life I thought the Christian spirit was about supporting.

Monte Testaccio and the Pamphili Park

We headed towards this man-made mountain (not sure that it would qualify for this honour in Australia) but could not gain entry. It was in antiquity one super large rubbish heap – made from discarded and broken olive oil terracotta amphora (two handles). Over the years, it became the site of jousting contests, defence of the city, and at one time a massive wine celler.

So we moved on to the Villa Doria Pamphili Park.  This massive open space just outside the ancient walls of Rome was filled with mid-moring runners.  Joggers, sprinters, shufflers of every description pounding the gravel.  We walked. 

The single Villa at the centre had impressive formal gardens and even two turtles in the pond.

Olivia was keen to see the view of St Peter’s Basilica from a keyhole in the Priory of the Nights of Malta on the Aventine Hill.  This is what you are meant to be able to see …

Ths is what we saw … and fled.

The Appian Way

After visiting a few more famous attractions we headed further south to at least walk a small length of the Appian Way.  A 300BC paved road from Rome to Capua.  I understood that Roman roads were famous for being arrow straight, but clearly property disputes and poor masionary has encroached on the original precision.

By now, the consequencs of heat and an early morning was taking its toll on our resolve.  With an estimated 1:45 to go, we voted to travel on a combination of bus and metro.  We were absolutely shattered and needed to get ready for our adventures on the morrow.