Day 6 of 8 · Thursday, August 20

Rome II: Vatican & Baroque Rome

Michelangelo's ceiling, Bernini's city, one perfect line of piazzas.

Home by 9:15 PM ~10 km Frecciarossa (BOOK) + Metro A ~€60 tickets + €90 food

The plan

10 stops

6:50

To Santa Maria Novella

~7:30 train to Termini.

9:15

Metro A six stops to Ottaviano

8-min walk to the Vatican Museums.

9:45

Vatican Museums

Laocoön, Gallery of Maps, Raphael Rooms, then the Sistine (read it from the altar end).

12:30

St. Peter's

the Pietà, the baldacchino, the dome from beneath. Shoulders and knees covered.

1:45

Lunch in the Borgo

Borghiciana Pastificiale or Panino Divino.

3:15

Castel Sant'Angelo and the Bridge of Angels

look back at the dome from midspan.

3:45

Piazza Navona

Bernini's Four Rivers vs Borromini's facade.

4:30

Sant'Eustachio coffee

then the Pantheon: stand under the oculus and understand the whole week.

5:30

Trevi Fountain

coin, right hand over left shoulder.

6:10

Metro A Barberini → Termini

6:50 Frecciarossa; home 9:15.

Trenitalia round trip (BOOK NOW)

Vatican Museums earliest slot (BOOK NOW)

On the train or a late Oltrarno plate