Need to see list: Rome, Italy

Fountain of the Four Rivers, Piazza Navona

Rome.

I've started to think about some of the things I want to do there on our trip next year. While I've been to Italy, and spent extensive amounts of time in the three main cities we'll be visiting, we'll be traveling with people who haven't been - and so it becomes a balance of checking out things that they want to see, and us not doing things we've done before and can skip this time around. Obviously, this means that at least for certain things, our group might split up. But, there are some things that never get old (no pun intended!) - the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, and of course, the Colosseum.

The Colosseum, photo courtesy of 1photoblog.

I love the Colosseum. Mainly due to the history and architecture, but also because of all of the fiction associated with it. And while I've done a few tours of the Colosseum, there's a new one that I'm super excited to check out! Beginning next week, tourists will be able to tour the underside of the Colosseum - the dungeons. I love that tourists will now be able to explore more of the Colosseum - until now, only about 35% of it was available to the public, and now that has almost doubled! I'm very curious to see the "insides" so to speak of the structure, and will happily be re-visiting the Colosseum.

Castel Sant'Angelo, photo courtesy of 1photoblog.

The other thing I'm really looking forward to re-visiting is Castel Sant'Angelo. I know they don't necessarily have tours, but I have always loved this landmark and try to visit it every time I go to Rome. And after I read Angels & Demons, I loved it even more. The last time I was in Rome was in 2003, on the college trip where I met the bf. One of the first nights of the trip, we stood on the bridge in the photo above and posed for a photo, and it's still one of my favorite photos from the trip.

Strange side note that I just discovered - I looked up a map of Rome and looked at Castel Sant'Angelo, and realized that the piazza around it is called Piazza Adriana! Who knew?? Now it's REALLY my favorite place in Rome!

What are the places on your "Rome-need-to-see" list?