Gladiators, Sistine Chapel, and too many stairs
Book timed entry in advance — mandatory. The hypogeum (underground) tour shows the animal elevators and gladiator tunnels. Capacity: 50,000 spectators. Built in 8 years (70–80 AD). Stephanie will want the engineering tour.
Included with Colosseum ticket. The political and commercial heart of the Roman Empire. Temples, triumphal arches, the Senate house. Wear a hat — no shade.
Also included with Colosseum ticket. Rome's most ancient area — emperors built their palaces here. Views over the Forum and Circus Maximus.
Book weeks ahead or do Friday night late entry (7–11pm, smaller crowds). The Sistine Chapel ceiling took Michelangelo 4 years, painting on his back on scaffolding. No photos allowed inside (everyone takes them anyway).
Free entry. The largest church in the world. Michelangelo's Pietà is inside the entrance on the right. Climb the dome (551 steps) for panoramic Rome views — or take the elevator partway.
Fortress on the Tiber. Originally Hadrian's tomb, then a papal fortress connected to the Vatican by a secret passageway. Rooftop terrace with views. Ricki will appreciate the military engineering.
135 steps connecting Piazza di Spagna to Trinità dei Monti church. Sitting on the steps is technically banned (€250 fine) but everyone does it briefly. Best at sunset.
This is the big Rome day. The Colosseum in the morning — book the underground tour so Stephanie can see the hypogeum, the network of tunnels and animal elevators beneath the arena floor. Fifty thousand spectators sat here. The velarium (retractable awning) was operated by sailors from the imperial navy. This was engineering on a scale the world wouldn't see again for a thousand years.
Afternoon: the Vatican. The Museums are a mile-long march through human civilization — Egyptian mummies, Raphael's rooms, the Gallery of Maps — before you finally reach the Sistine Chapel and look up. Whatever you think it looks like from photos, it's different in person. It's overwhelming. Even Emily will go quiet for thirty seconds.
Ricki and Maritza option: skip the Vatican walk and take the golf-cart tour instead (yes, this exists — the Vatican is its own country and has its own fleet). Or split up: Jeremy takes the kids through the museums while Ricki and Maritza sit at a café near St. Peter's Square and people-watch until the group emerges, dazed, two hours later.
Centro Storico
Three nights in Rome. Enough to see the highlights without the death-march feeling.
The Colosseum's hypogeum had 80 vertical shafts with animal-powered elevators that could lift a lion to the arena floor in seconds. The velarium awning system used 240 masts and was operated by 1,000 sailors.
St. Peter's Basilica is so big that the cherubs near the ceiling look life-sized from the ground — they're actually 6 feet tall. The holy water fonts are the size of bathtubs.
Vatican golf-cart tour is the move. For the Colosseum, the elevator to the upper levels is available for accessibility. Forum and Palatine Hill are uneven ground — sturdy shoes essential.