The Spanish Steps, Trinità dei Monti, Colosseum, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain and so on: Rome is an open-air treasure best discovered by walking around with curious eyes and an open heart. The Eternal City has much to offer tourists, who come from all over the world every month of the year to explore its history, art, culture and food. Eating cacio e pepe on a terrace while admiring the Rome’s beauty, or wandering through iconic neighborhoods like Trastevere, the capital offers experiences for all the senses. We wanted to suggest some alternatives for those eager to get acquainted with a less touristy Rome or find aspects of the city that are still little known. Here are ten original tours that will surprise you.
The Eternal City dedicated to...
Influencers
In the era of social media, smartphones often replace cameras, especially when traveling, to document every new location you visit or food you taste. There is certainly no lack of amazing pictures to take in Rome with the beautiful sights of the capital as a backdrop: from the Spanish Steps to the suggestive Trevi Fountain. Managing to capture the perfect image, preferably with no one around, is a difficult undertaking, if not impossible. But don’t be discouraged, all you need to do is book the special private tour in English with Rome Experience called the “Insta-Boyfriend Rome Photography Tour.” Just like the famous Italian influencer Chiara Ferragni was photographed by her boyfriend Riccardo Pozzoli, a personal professional photographer will be dedicated exclusively to you. Getting around by car, you will visit special locations together like Campidoglio or Trinità dei Monti for about three hours, and you’ll bring 20 perfect shots home.
Theatre lovers
Have you ever imagined strolling through a piazza with the Borgias, or shaking hands with Michelangelo? In Rome you can. History takes center stage on these dramatized guided tours, breaking down the barriers between the stage and the audience, transforming streets and monuments into the most exciting scenery ever. I Viaggi di Adriano has been organizing these fantastic experiences for a decade, offering a calendar full of unique tours every year. You can choose to learn more about Marquis del Grillo, get passionate about the Borgia family history or follow Michelangelo in the creation of his most famous works, like a journey through time. Make sure to book your time travel early, as the program closes at the end of September and the tours are in great demand!
Wine and Archeology
History and wine lovers find their perfect match in Rome. There is an organization in the city dedicated to these two passions that lets you truly enjoy the taste of Italian life. The Archaeological Aperitivo starts with a guided evening tour of the most beautiful sites and monuments of the capital, and in each location you can enjoy recipes from the same age as the site visited. For example, while visiting the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, the largest temple of the Roman Forum, you learn about the emperors’ favorite foods, tasting wine with citron. The originality lies in the recipes proposed, which have been reconstructed with experimental archeology and delightfully made by local chefs.
Rediscovering origins
If your great-grandparents emigrated to the United States and you’d like to learn more about your roots, or if you grew up in Northern Italy hearing your grandparents’ stories of southern peasant life, this tour is for you. If you give the Roma Experience agency the name of your relatives’ hometown and any other details you may have, their specialized investigators will trace your family’s history for you. This tailor-made experience is to help you learn about your origins while enjoying food, folklore and the emotions self-discovery.
Treasure Hunt
How about a game instead of following the classic tourist itinerary, immersing yourself in the city while discovering the “Treasures and Secrets of Rome”? Fragrance Tour offers a different way to explore the wonders of Rome and reveal its secrets and hidden corners. By solving puzzles and answering quiz questions, you’ll learn about famous monuments, enchanting and suggestive places – sometimes impossible to find in tourist guides – statues and fountains, plaques and engravings, and you’ll learn about history and legends. To solve the puzzles you’ll need a combination of culture, imagination and intuition, and if you get lost you can always ask some Romans for help!
Like Audrey Hepburn
If Roman Holiday is your favorite movie, this special Rome tour is for you. Just like Princess Ann clinging to the American journalist Joe Bradley, played by Gregory Peck, you can visit the city on a Vespa. Rome For You agency organizes the Vespa Tour: while riding fascinating, original, vintage Vespas and led by an expert Tour Leader on a second Vespa, you will discover the City beyond the traditional routes offered to tourists, giving you the chance to get to know the city deep down, right into its heart, to enjoy the most spectacular and sumptuous monuments and at the same time experience the human and social aspect of the Eternal City.
For Goosebumps
The evening walk “Ghosts and restless souls among the streets of Rome” will take you through history, legend and fantasy on a journey among the ghosts that populate the Eternal City. These phantoms, many of them feminine, who had a tormented life, still love to visit their favorite places at night, making them even more suggestive and fascinating. Starting from St. Peter’s Square, an unusual and intriguing itinerary leads you in the footsteps of Roman ghosts. You’ll learn about the specter of Julius Caesar, the column of spirits, and the supernatural events of the Pantheon.
World War II
History buffs will be happy to be able to retrace an intense experience such as the guided tour of the Savoy Bunker, built between 1942 and 1943 for the Savoy family who lived in Palazzina Reale, today the Embassy of Egypt. After a short walk in the park to learn about the history of the villa and the Savoy family, you come to the bunker that can be visited both from the outside and on the inside, where the original materials have been recovered and the rooms have been set up as they originally were. The visit ends with the screening of a short documentary by Fabio Toncelli, which collects original photographs and films on the history of the royal family and the war years. The bunker had been in a state of neglect for about 70 years, and was then reopened to the public in 2016 after it was restored thanks to the Capitolina Superintendency for Cultural Heritage of the Municipality of Rome, carried out by the Roma Sotterranea Association. It will remain open to the public until 2021.
Street Art in Rome
By now, Rome is considered one of the most interesting European street art capitals. The works created by important artists make for a real open-air museum, with a striking visual impact. Only in the Italian capital is it possible to enjoy a combination of urban artwork among social housing districts, industrial archeology complexes and the remains of ancient Rome. By bicycle or on foot, the Street Art Tour leads you to admire the facades of industrial buildings and residential buildings in different neighborhoods such as Tor Marancia, Quadraro, Torpignattara, Ostiense, with your eyes wide open.
Rome for Free
The New York Times considers the Thermal Baths of Diocletian – the largest public baths of ancient Rome – a must-see in Rome. They are now fully accessible in all their glory thanks to free admission on the first Sunday of the month. Take advantage!