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17 Best Christmas Markets in Italy to NOT MISS! 2024/2025
Christmas is a special time of the year, and nothing makes it more special than spending Christmas at a special place where the memories created last longest. You are all on a plane, and luckily none of you are in the exit-row or middle-of-the-plane seats. However, halfway through the flight you catch on from the conversations around that at least half of you are headed for Rome. Sure, Rome is pretty popular, right? And whatever numbers come, Rome can and has taken down all barbarians, so don’t worry too much about accommodations and pricing hiking up. But… You take a look at your significant other, feel the small box with…
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What To Do in Rome For 3 Days
Imagine you had 3 days to spare and you planned to visit Rome… 📌In a Rush? Pin it for Later!📌 better yet, here is the TOP 15 FREE THINGS TO DO IN ROME checklist … Planning a trip to Rome last minute? We have you covered! Here are some of the top tours and fun activities! Top Tours in Rome: Most people would probably be wondering where they would go and what they would do in this great city. I was lucky enough to schedule some 4 and a half days all to myself in Rome and had a great time planning where to go, the fun things I would…
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Speed-Running Italy in 10 Days
DISCLAIMER: 10 days is a short time but I’ll help you make the most out of it. Then you can relax when back home 😅… alright, let’s go … The Ultimate 10 Days in Italy Itinerary Italy is an immensely popular tourist destination. It has great culture, fabulous art, and even more fantastic architecture. For centuries, Italy dominated the Renaissance scene, with most – if not all styles and schools – having something to do with a foundation in the country. Setting that wonderful period in time aside, there is even the Classical and Roman period as well, and that’s not even accounting for the influence the Italian peninsula has…
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21 Scams in Rome…and How to Avoid Them
There will always be scams all around you and for a city as old as Rome, as visited, loved, and expensive, here are the scams in Rome to watch out for … My peronal experiences are no. 1, 8, 11, 17 & 19 Humans are ingenious!!! The amount of tricks we have developed over the millennia is incalculable. I imagine the first scam happened when some pitiful and weak human somewhere convinced a wild and dangerous wolf that it was better to eat that delicious-smelling piece of cooked meat in his hand than to look for other game elsewhere. Then man upgraded his game and moved on to tricking cows…
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TOP 15 FREE THINGS TO DO IN ROME
My mission is to see as much of Rome on a zero-budget! And I mean the top-tier! As a local, here’s the list of the free things to do in Rome, Italy. “The good things in life are hard to come by, but the best can be free to have.” ~ Anonymous, after a gelato and aperitivo… Roaming in Rome can be difficult for those traveling around with tight budgets and even tighter schedules. Some of Rome’s greatest attractions require pre-booking just to see, and when you throw in tickets for every booth, a few euros for a gelato and aperitivo here, a train ride, a taxi ride there, a…
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10 Beautiful Day Trips Around Rome
The Italian Gems You Didn’t Know About 1. Bracciano Vacationing like a Roman Emperor in Bracciano What do ancient volcanoes, Roman emperors, Popes, Cardinals, and WW1 fighter aircrafts have in common? Bracciano, Italy. Bracciano is an old town just 18 miles to the North and West of Rome, making her perfect for day trips around Rome. Bracciano’s origins are set alongside her greatest attraction, Lake Bracciano, ancient Rome’s private lake of the Emperors. 40,000 years ago, an ancient volcano gave out, collapsing and creating the lake that is now known as Lake Bracciano. Crystal clear and having the most startling indigo blue, the waters around this lake are today a…
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Tips on how to AVOID CROWDS in Rome
Rome is a popular tourist destination and can get quite crowded during peak season. However, there are a few tips that can help you enjoy Rome without too many crowds: 1. Visit during the shoulder season: Rome tends to be less crowded during the winter months (excluding Christmas and New Year) and early spring. The summer months, especially June-August, are peak tourist seasons, try to avoid those if possible. 2. Visit popular attractions VERY early in the morning or late in the evening: Many tourists tend to visit popular sites like the Colosseum, Vatican City, and the Trevi Fountain during the middle of the day. 3. Explore hidden gems and…
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A Brief History of Rome
From the Tarquinian Kings to a Murder on the Senate Floor: In a nutshell, the Roman civilization lasted from around 753 BC to 476 AD, encompassing the founding of Rome by the mythical twins, the Roman Republic, and the Roman Empire… let me take you through this not-so-a brief History of Rome, the greatest civilization that ever existed! The political and geographical unit known as Rome was inarguably the longest-living ‘nation’ to have ever existed in Western Civilization. Rome, beginning from the kings of Tarquin in 753 B.C., to the fall of Western Rome under barbarian invaders 1400 years later, underwent monumental changes as the challenges of keeping a civilization…
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The Year of the Four Emperors (68–69)
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse! No, that’s not right… The Ambitious Four? Still not there… The Four Unfortunates? Hmmm, Vespasian did win out in the end… The Four Candidates? It is hard to put a title to these four gentlemen coming up next. History tags their period “The Year of the Four Emperors.” Only one of them made it past the goal post, and even then, it was something of a close call. Even then, while history acknowledges just these four, there were several others who made claims on the throne. Among the most notable were Gaius Julius Vindex, a governor from Gallia, and Nymphidius Sabinus, a Praetorian Prefect…
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THE GREAT CASTRATION
Nudity and Fig Leaves in Art To cover, or not to cover; am I a prude? Let’s talk about the Great Castration of all time! Did you ever wonder why walking in Rome, to be more precise, the Vatican City, why most ”male genitalia” were covered in fig leaves or even shocking, were ”smaller” than ‘real life sized’ ones?? Well, by ‘real life sized’, I’m basing on what I have actually seen around…. and I have BEEN around so I have lots of proof, LOL. Well I did, the first time I visited the Eternal City, ROME! There is an interesting story behind these two portraits. They were painted by…
