Ever since Grand Tourists invaded in the 18th century, Rome has been a major tourist attraction. Every year millions of visitors pour into town, lured by a reputation that modern advertisers would be pushed to improve.

The city’s main gateway is Leonardo Da Vinci Airport (aka Fiumicino), although if you are flying with a low-cost European airline you’ll probably land at Ciampino. Both are well connected with the city centre. Once in town, you will find the centre is best explored on foot – it’s not big and the streets are wonderfully vibrant. – Reprinted from Lonely Planet Rome, Italy

Pages: 322 pages

Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches

Weight: 11.4 ounces

Maps: The maps in the Lonely Planet books are the best I have found in any guidebooks. There are city maps, regional maps and a country map. You can actually use the street maps to find your way around a city.

Pictures: There are a limited number of photos.

The Via Veneto was made famous in Fellini’s film “La Dolce Vita”.  The Via Veneto came to symbolize the “sweet life” of Rome in the 1950’s and 60’s.  Today it is the long winding street known for its luxury hotels, cafès, restaurants, shops and in some key places wild traffic.

I love the Via Veneto.  Dr. Seuss wrote a book “And to Think I Saw it on Mulberry Street”.  That is the way I feel about the Via Veneto.  Sit in a café on the Via Veneto long enough and you will see enough to fill your travel journal.  Italian business men wander by in their designer suits with their jackets swung casually over their shoulders, elderly men and women stop by and order strange looking drinks (no ice please!), tourists zoom by rushing to the next Roman ruin on their “to do” list, vespas almost hit pedestrians, taxi drivers shout at other drivers and pedestrians and all up and down the street people are talking to each other as if they are about to burst with all they have to say.

Rome is a city of popes, emperors, romance, sunny days, and fountain filled piazzas; a city filled with museums, galleries, churches, and glorious monuments to almost a thousand years of empire. – Reprinted from National Geographic Traveler

Pages: 272

Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches

Weight: 1.1 pounds

Maps: Regional maps, limited number of street maps. Since the book is too heavy to carry with you there is not really a need for street maps

Pictures: Excellent pictures printed on glossy paper

Rome is magnificent and brutal at the same time. It’s a showcase of Western civilization, with astonishingly ancient sites and a modern vibrancy. But if you are careless, you’ll be rundown or pick-pocketed. And with the wrong attitude you will be frustrated, by the kind of chaos that only an Italian can understand. On my last visit, a cabbie struggling with traffic said, “ Roma Chaos”. I responded, “Bella Chaos”. He agreed.

While Paris is an urban garden, Rome is a tangled forest. – Reprinted from Rick Steves’ Rome, Italy

Pages: 376 pages

Dimensions: 7.9 x 4.5 x 0.9 inches

Weight: 12.8 ounces

Maps: Rick Steves includes hand drawn maps in his books which can be helpful in showing you the layout of an area but are not helpful in getting you to a specific place, especially in larger cities where more street names and landmarks would be helpful. You will definitely need a supplemental street map to accompany those in this book.

Pictures: There are no photographs to speak of

Rome is over 3,000 years old: that’s a lot of history. Ruins from ancient Rome are everywhere. You will be walking down a street and see an ancient column roped off right next to a very modern parking meter. Churches, ruins, fountains, piazze and the Vatican are all popular places for visitors, both local and foreign.

Pages: 192 pages

Dimensions: 7.5 x 3.9 x 0.7 inches

Weight: 5.6 ounces

Maps: There is a map of Rome, but it is very small.  You will need a supplemental map of Rome to help you get around the city

Pictures: These books have pictures though because the books are small, most of the pictures are small

Rome, Italy is over 3,000 years old: that’s a lot of history. Ruins from ancient Rome are everywhere. You will be walking down a street and see an ancient column roped off right next to a very modern parking meter. Churches, ruins, fountains, piazze are all popular places for visitors, both local and foreign.

Pages: 216

Dimensions: 8 x 4.5 x 0.6 inches

Weight: 10.4 ounces

Maps: Detailed street maps of Rome, including Vatican City. A metro/subway map is located on the inside of the back cover

Pictures: Good pictures of most of the major sites

Campo de' Fiori is not just about flowers. Campo de' Fiori translates as field of flowers in English and though the flowers are beautiful and plentiful it is really the fruits and vegetables that are fun to see and sample.

The colors and smells make this one the many sites in Rome that will put all of your senses on high alert. The market is surrounded by cheese stores, wine stores and deli's selling salami and prosciutto. It is the perfect place to pick up everything you need for a picnic. If a picnic is not in your plans then choose from one of the many trattorias and bars in the area.

As safe and beautiful as this market is today, it wasn't always so. In medieval times and during the Renaissance this was one of the liveliest and roughest areas of Rome. Wealthy Roman nobles and Cardinals from the Vatican mingled with fishmongers and farmers at Campo de' Fiori.

Rome, Italy can be expensive but if you need to give your pocketbook a vacation while you are on vacation there are plenty of things to do that won't cost you a thing.

1.Fountains! Fountains are everywhere in Italy. Two of the best are in Rome, the Fontana di Quattro Fiumi in Piazza Navona and the Trevi Fountain.

2. The Borghese Gardens and the Via Veneto. Wander up the Via Veneto to the Borghese Gardens. The Via Veneto is home to cafés, bars, stores and one really nice book store.  At the top of the Via Veneto you can see a section of the old walls that surrounded Rome. On the other side of the wall are the Borghese Gardens, a large public park with its own fountains and statues.

3.Piazze. The Piazze are considered the centers of life in Italy. The Piazza Navona is my favorite. You can sit in the Piazza and enjoy the fountain (Fontana di Quattro Fiumi) and the architecture of the surrounding buildings.

4.The Pantheon. Built between AD 118-125 the Pantheon is a marvel of ancient Rome.

My sister, Susan, and I frequently travel to Rome, Italy. On our most recent trip we stayed a few days in Rome before taking the train to Sicily. We have both traveled to Rome more times than either of us can count.

For the first time in all those trips spread over so many years, we failed to follow our own advice and Susan had her wallet stolen while getting on a train at Termini train station.

Here’s what we did wrong:

•Too Tired: Having arrived in Italy only a few days before we were both tired so we were not as alert as we normally would be

•Too Obvious: We both walked the length of the train on the platform so we gave the thieves ample opportunity to observe their targets (us). One of us should have walked the length of the platform to look for our train car while the other stayed with our luggage.

•Trust Your Instincts: I saw the three girls standing in the door of the train, but did not trust my instincts that they were thieves. We had been in Termini so many times and no one ever bothered us before.

Rome, Italy's main airport is Fiumicino. The airport's name was actually changed a number of years ago from Fiumicino to Leonardo da Vinici Airport, but most Italians and the rest of the world still use Fiumicino.

There are three main terminals at Rome, Italy's Fiumicino airport:

Terminal A handles domestic flights
Terminal B handles both international and domestic flights
Terminal C handles international flights

Most gates at Fiumicino lead directly to the plane; however, there are still a number of gates where passengers have to be bused to their planes. Let your airline know if you have physical restrictions that will make such a transfer difficult.

The main train station in Rome, Italy is Termini (Stazione Termini). Located in the heart of Rome it is very convenient to the entire city. There is a taxi line outside the station with cars ready to take you to hotels and tourist sites. Bus service is available to all parts of Rome from Termini.

Termini was renovated in 2000 and is now a city within a city. The station is huge, with 225 square miles of shopping, restaurants, bars and services. There is a little bit of everything in Termini - an information center, banks, travel agencies, a pharmacy, and a health club. There is even a chapel for those who get so lost that there is little to do but pray.

About 800 trains arrive and depart from Rome, Italy's main train station each day. Trains from all over Italy and the rest of Europe come and go from Termini. You can purchase tickets from Trenitalia.

When you stand outside of the Pantheon in Rome and look up at the Latin inscription across the pediment you are taken back over the centuries to the time of Marcus Agrippa and Emperor Hadrian. The inscription translates as "Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, consul for the third time, built this". Although this is not an entirely correct statement it is hard not to be moved by a building that is 2,000 years old.

The first temple was indeed built by Marcus Agrippa, son-in-law of the Emperor Augustus between 27 and 25 BC. However, this temple was destroyed by fire in AD 80. It is thought the original temple was rebuilt and once again destroyed by fire before the current structure was built. The existing structure was probably designed by Emperor Hadrian in AD 118 and completed in AD 128.

As you emerge from the narrow cobble stone streets that open into Trevi Square you will be greeted by the breathtaking site of the Trevi Fountain, one of the largest and most beautiful statues in the world.

The Trevi Fountain (Fontana di Trevi in Italian) in Rome is located in the heart of Rome's historic center and is a site that should not be missed by anyone visiting Rome.

The Trevi Fountain is located at the meeting of three roads (tre vie).The fountain was built at the end of an aqueduct (Aqua Virgo) that was constructed in 19BC. The Aqua Virgo was built by Augustus's son-in-law Agrippa to supply water for the Roman Baths. The water for the fountain comes from the Salone Springs about 14 miles outside of Rome.