{"id":6145,"date":"2016-06-14T12:20:35","date_gmt":"2016-06-14T10:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rickzullo.com\/?p=6145"},"modified":"2022-01-31T17:34:48","modified_gmt":"2022-01-31T16:34:48","slug":"unique-rome-tours-beth-select-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/unique-rome-tours-beth-select-italy\/","title":{"rendered":"FCI 034 – Unique Rome Tours with Beth from Select Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"

OK, so if you\u2019ve been to Rome once or twice already, you might be looking for some unique Rome tours<\/a> that will help you get acquainted with this ancient city on a deeper level. Not that you\u2019d EVER exhaust all<\/em> of the stops on a standard checklist\u2014heck, even most native Romans don\u2019t see \u201ceverything\u201d in a lifetime.<\/p>\n

But stepping off the beaten path can give you a whole new appreciation for the complexity and richness of Roman culture and history. Today on the podcast I spoke with Beth Rubin from Select Italy tours, and we discussed a few unique Rome tours for curious travelers who want a few experiences that they haven\u2019t<\/em> seen in the movies or someone else\u2019s vacation photos.<\/p>\n

Unique Rome Tours<\/h2>\n

\"a<\/a>Rome Underground: San Clemente. <\/strong>This is one of my favorite places to bring family or friends visiting Rome. For one thing, it\u2019s so unexpected. You enter the 13th Century Basilica at street level, then descend into a 4th Century church\u2014and then go down further still into a 1st Century Roman house. It\u2019s the metaphor of Rome\u2019s \u201clayer of history\u201d brought to life in a very literal way.<\/p>\n

Another bonus: when visiting in July or August, the lower levels become progressively cooler as you descend, until you find a refreshing 60 degrees Fahrenheit at the bottom level. Bring a picnic lunch and stay all day! (Kidding)<\/p>\n

Dungeons of the Colosseum: Behind-The-Scenes Tour.<\/strong> So what happens to the Gladiators who lose their battles? Yes, I\u2019ve seen the Russell Crowe movie, too, and it wasn\u2019t pretty. If you didn\u2019t become the pranzo<\/em> of a lion, then you got thrown in the dungeon where your prospects of a long life weren\u2019t good.<\/p>\n

This tour also includes the view from above, the so-called \u201cupper tiers.\u201d These two areas cannot be accessed with a standard entry ticket to the colosseum, so if you want the \u201cbackstage pass\u201d experience, then this is the way to go.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Rick Zullo<\/a> \u00b7 FCI 034 – Unique Rome Tours with Beth from Select Italy<\/a><\/p>\n

\"gladiator<\/a>Become a Roman Gladiator for One Day. <\/strong>Yes, this one is tailor-made for families, because let\u2019s be honest, I don\u2019t know of any 8 year-old kids who are saying, \u201cPlease,<\/em> dad, can we go see another Flemish tapestry or Baroque statue?\u201d The bambini enjoy the ambiance of Rome, but many of the famous sites are just plain boring to them. And you can only give them so much gelato in one day.<\/p>\n

My little princess fancies herself quite the warrior at times, and I\u2019d love to dress her up as a gladiator and watch her take on the entire asilo nido<\/em> from the local parish in a mock battle. To the victor goes the Kinder Eggs! What great photos to have as souvenirs of a family vacation!<\/p>\n

Tour Rome in a Vintage Fiat 500. <\/strong>I love this idea. They have a Vespa tour, too, and I\u2019m not sure that a 500 provides much more protection against the swarms of aggressive drivers around Piazza Venezia. But I can just imagine channeling the spirit of Marcello Mastroianni as the car swerves down the Via Veneto escaping from the paparazzi. OK, well, you might have to use your imagination a little bit, but I truly love these cars, if only out of nostalgia.\"tour<\/a><\/p>\n

One bit of advice for the taller ones among us: you might want to warm up and stretch a little bit before attempting to contort yourself into the vehicle. Or request one with a sunroof.<\/p>\n

Day Trips from Rome<\/strong>. Not surprisingly, when Beth and I discussed our favorite day-trip from Rome, we both said Tivoli. And when talking about Tivoli, I automatically assume that we\u2019re talking about the Gardens at Villa D\u2019Este.<\/p>\n

After a few hectic days in the city center, it\u2019s soooo relaxing to wander around the lush elegance of Villa D\u2019Este\u2019s sculpted hedges, worn statues, and cascading water features. The star of the show is the famous \u201csinging fountain,\u201d (Fontana dell\u2019Organo), which uses hydraulic energy to power an automated pipe organ that plays a tune every two hours. Don\u2019t miss it!<\/p>\n

Select Italy with Beth Rubin<\/h2>\n
\"villa<\/a>
Villa D’Este by Jessica Burgio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During our conversation, Beth and I also discussed tips for visiting Italy during peak season. The crowds, the heat, and the higher prices\u2014all the reasons that people tell you NOT to visit during the summer. But the summer also offers some of the best opportunities to enjoy Rome, and we talked about those during this episode.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to say \u201cGrazie\u201d to Beth Rubin for coming on my podcast today and talking about some of the unique Rome tours that will get us off the beaten path and bring us closer to the real Mamma Roma (the city, not Anna Magnani).<\/p>\n

Beth was modest during the recorded portion of our interview, but we spoke beforehand and I\u2019ll tell you what she didn\u2019t mention on the show. This year she was awarded \u201cA-List Status\u201d by Travel+Leisure<\/em><\/strong> for Italy Specialists. For those of you who want personalized, custom tours of Rome or anywhere in Italy, email her directly at beth@selectitaly.com<\/p>\n

I\u2019d also like to thank her company, Select Italy, for sponsoring today\u2019s episode. I highly recommend that you check out their unique tours\u00a0of Rome<\/a>\u00a0when planning your next visit to the Eternal City.<\/p>\n

Click the link to check out other episodes and see my list of the <\/span>best podcasts about Italy<\/b><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nhttp:\/\/feeds.soundcloud.com\/stream\/268928140-rick-zullo-1-fci-034-unique-rome-tours-with-beth-from-select-italy.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

Podcast: Play in new window<\/a> | Download<\/a> (Duration: 25:32 — 23.4MB) | Embed<\/a><\/p>

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OK, so if you\u2019ve been to Rome once or twice already, you might be looking for some unique Rome tours that will help you get acquainted with this ancient city on a deeper level. Not that you\u2019d EVER exhaust all of the stops on a standard checklist\u2014heck, even most native Romans don\u2019t see \u201ceverything\u201d in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94,344],"tags":[137,309,396,463,464],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6145"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6145"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11868,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6145\/revisions\/11868"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}