The 7 Hills of Rome

Rome is the city of the 7 hills. Seven Hills, this is what we always read. Some of them are quite popular, others not so much:

1. Capitol Hill, with Michelangelo’s Piazza (square) designed in 1537, where the second most important art collection in Romei is located, the wonderful Capitoline Museums (the first most important art collection is the Vatican Museums)
2. Palatine Hill: it’s right by the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. The archeilogical ruins of the Imperial Palace are spread out here among beautiful pinecone trees.
3. Celius Hill, worth an half day tour to the magnificent churches of St Clemen’s, St Gregory; St Giovanni e Paolo.
4. Aventine Hill: today a quiet and rich residential neiborhood, one of the places where I would love to live, if I was millionaire… The best sunset in Rome is from the Giardino degli Aranci (Orange Garden), by the Church of Santa Sabina. So romantic…
5. Esquiline Hill: the China Town of Rome is here, precisely around Piazza Vittorio. The Basilica of Saint Mary the Major with its unique Medieval mosaiques is on top of this hill. And also Michelangelo’s Moses is displayed in the Church of St Peter’s in Chains…
6. Quirinal Hill: the highest hill of Rome, precisely 160 feet. Famous because of the Presiden’t House, the largest Palace of Italy (only 800 rooms…)
7.  Viminal Hill, the less popular one, with nothing interesting up there, apart from the Ministry of Interior…

In reality the Hills of Rome are not seven, as we keep on reading in all the books. The Hills are precisely 18! Vatican Hill is the most famous one, where the Vatican Museums are located, and at the foot of which stands St Peter’s Basilica. Moreover the Pincio Hill, on top of the Spanish Steps; Gianicolo Hill, by Trastevere neibourhood.

Italy4Real can help you plan your next Italy Travel Package to Rome so you can see our famous hills! http://www.italy4real.com

For as far as the eye could see; Rome Italy has been the epicenter of baroque style hotels dripping in gold trim, fabric walls, and classical European style; all that has changed. In the past two or three years Rome has seen a rebirth of the boutique and hip Rome hotels catering to the jet set and their tastes for the modern, elegant and understated.

These hip gems can be found all over the historical center of the city from the Coliseum to Piazza Navona and typically have less than 20 rooms.  The old school landmark properties such as the 5 star Hotel Regina Baglioni www.baglionihotels.com  offer the finest example of old world charm and baroque European elegance are renewing their style to match the modern revolution in Rome but can’t seem to keep up with the smaller hip properties popping up all over the city.  If you are looking for the latest in luxury properties you need to look past the ordinary and you will find the extraordinary when looking for Rome hotels.

Young entrepreneurs have purchased some of the cities run down Rome hostels, one and two star Rome hotels and invested millions to turn them into the most chic and glamorous stays in the Eternal City.  

A perfect example of this is the Opera Hotel www.theoperahotel.it this former dump has been reborn with all of the style that you could ask for and with only 13 rooms you will feel like a VIP for just getting a reservation. Located on the major fairway via Nazionale, between Piazza Venezia and Piazza Della Repubblica; the hotel has the perfect location to stroll the city sights by foot. The small lobby features glass art and modern architecture. Once inside; the rooms drip with understated elegance; from the fine linens to the bathroom fixtures. More than a dozen of these hip places to rest your head have shown up in Rome in the past year; and more are being built each day.

 It seems if you are wanting to re-live a night with Cesar in gaudy-glam surroundings; you may have to look a little deeper to get past the new wave mod hotels that have become Rome’s latest luxury trend. 

Booking your next Rome hotel has never been easier, Submit your travel request NOW

Pacific Northwest-based travel company Italy 4 Real’s new site provides improved navigation, direct access to maps, enhanced searching, and rich content 

SEATTLE – June 17, 2011 – Italy 4 Real, a Pacific Northwest-based travel company specializing in tours to Italy and Europe, today launched its new website at www.italy4real.com.The dramatically redesigned site embodies the company’s forward–thinking vision and commitment to the growing needs of its customers.

“With this new website, Italy 4 Real can provide memorable travel services to Italy as well as assist travelers in their research with our online Italy research material,” said Rem Malloy, president and co-founder at Italy 4 Real. “The site uses the latest security, advanced web technologies and social networking connectivity in an easy to use platform which is welcome in today’s mega site playing field.”

Out of a global total of 880 million tourists, Italy ranks fifth with more than 43 million visitors per year. The new Italy 4 Real website will allow the company to easily update its product line with the latest trends in travel to Italy while also streamlining operating costs.

The website is packed with useful information such as shopping advice, Venice sightseeing, trips to Tuscany, car rental in Italy and travel tips.

Registered users of italy4real.com  will have exclusive subscriber-only access to maps, guidebooks, city guides, articles and more; all written by local experts and guides.

“The Italy 4 Real philosophy is to provide our customers with the most personalized travel experiences possible through research, local knowledge and the development of customized vacation packages and small group tours that appeal to a broad range of new and experienced travelers,” said Malloy.

From cooking classes to romantic boutique hotels and farmhouse stays, Italy 4 Real’s custom trip planning services provide travelers a wide array of unique trip packages and experiences.

About Italy 4 Real

Mother and son team, Deborah de Maio and Rem Malloy, launched Italy 4 Real in 1995 because they saw a need for a boutique tour operator that understood the hesitations and concerns of travelers going abroad. With extensive on-the-ground knowledge and understanding of culture differences, Italy 4 Real specializes in creating trips from beginning to end sending travelers on their way with the confidence and resources they need to travel solo. For more information, please call (425) 355-3711 or go to www.italy4real.com

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For Immediate Release

Free Wi-Fi Kindle on selected Italy 4 Real Tours

SEATTLE – July 27, 2011– Italy 4 Real, a Pacific Northwest-based travel company specializing in tours to Italy and Europe, announced today that travelers who purchase a tour on its website (italy4real.com) will receive the latest Kindle Wi-Fi reader on selected destinations.

“Giving our clients a top-notch experience is a priority for us,” said Rem Malloy, president and co-founder at Italy 4 Real.  “Helping them relax from the pressures of their day-to-day life by escaping with a good book is a great way to give our clients a better overall vacation.”

One of the company’s many areas of expertise is custom trip planning or FIT (frequent independent traveler) consulting services. For travelers who want to design an independent itinerary, the Italy 4 Real planning experts have extensive personal relationships with boutique hotel and villa owners, auto rental agencies, wineries and active holiday operators.

 "We offer that expert advice people want when planning an independent holiday and devices like the Kindle will allow them not only to read for pleasure but catch up on the lastest news and trends at their destination,” said Malloy.

According to Malloy, the Italy 4 Real philosophy is to provide its customers with the most personalized travel experiences possible through research, local knowledge and the development of customized vacation packages and small group tours that appeal to a broad range of new and experienced travelers.

About Italy 4 Real

Mother and son team, Deborah de Maio and Rem Malloy, launched Italy 4 Real in 1995 because they saw a need for a boutique tour operator that understood the hesitations and concerns of travelers going abroad. With extensive on-the-ground knowledge and understanding of culture differences, Italy 4 Real specializes in creating trips from beginning to end sending travelers on their way with the confidence and resources they need to travel solo. For more information, please call (425) 355-3711 or go to www.italy4real.com

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For those of you who know history and even if the subject is not your forte, you probably have herd of both Pompeii and Herculaneum. Since that fateful day in 79 A.D. the two cities have been in an eternal battle for the hearts minds and dollars of visitors from around the globe; Herculaneum just dealt the death blow to Pompeii; and the world waits for the bell to ring ending the fight.

The two cities are located in the same area around Naples and are only a few miles apart but they have drastic differences that make each unique; but recently the region of Campania has made changes to Herculaneum that puts it on the top of the ruins to see in Italy. 

Let's talk a little history why don't we. First let's talk about the name; Herculaneum is the ancient name and is no longer used except in books and movies. In fact when you are driving on the A3 highway or taking the chercumvisivania (train that runs from Naples to Sorrento with stops along the way) from the Amalfi coast the signs do not say Herculaneum. If you don't know this little tidbit of information you will be forever lost trying to find the site.

Today the name used in modern Italian is Ercolano. On August 24, 79 AD the eruption of Mount Vesuvius buried the town in superheated pyroclastic material.Pompeii being just that much closer to Mt. Vesuvius resulted in a huge amount of damage compared to its sister city just a few miles further away. Throughout history and the expert promotion efforts of the Italian Government and various guide books, TV shows and made for TV movies; Pompeii has risen to the winner's podium in the eyes of the world.

Herculaneum has always been much better preserved than Pompeii and much smaller but was located tightly in a small neighborhood and was fraught with difficult access, parking and support by the local community. Pompeii on the other hand established itself as the easiest to visit with dozens of parking lots, café's, restaurants, audio guides and an infrastructure that could handle thousands of visitors each day. When I went to Pompeii for the first time, it was a hot summer and the first thing that blew my mind was the size of the site. Pompeii is huge, I mean city huge. There is no quick visit of Pompeii; in fact it will eat up a travel day in a New York second.

The site surprises people from around the globe with a maze of ruins that would take most people a week to see correctly. The majority of the structures that remain are double and single walled compounds without roofs but the structures that are more complete are quite amazing such as the bath house and gladiator arena. Pompeii is so large that you see parts of the city one at a time not just individual buildings. If you have the time, Pompeii is a must but Herculaneum is coming up fast and may pass its competition due to the impressive and grand improvements around the archeological site. Less than 20 months ago the town of Eurculaneo decided that the site deserved better; actually they wanted more money from tourist's visits so they made some impressive changes. Prior to the improvements the access to the site was primitive at best.

Tour buses, cars and people had to walk long and hard to enter and ticketing access, information and restrooms were few and far between. The changes made to the flow of people and information is dramatic and places Herculaneum at the top of easy access sites. The improvements to the area include a new underground parking garage, new bus parking, new wide access entrance area and garden, huge ticketing, information and rest area with ample access to restrooms. Herculaneum is well below ground level by about 200 feet so a very wide and smooth walkway has been built that follows the upper rim of the site and offers a very mild slope to a new bridge that puts you directly at the highest point of the ruins. Prior to the new ramping system, visitors had a grueling 200 step climb through a tunnel that was formed through the rock that surrounds the site; that tunnel is still open for those who explore to the lowest point of the site and want to depart from there instead of trekking back up to the new bridge.

For visitors with limited mobility or those that don't care to walk far; Ercolano is the only choice. Pompeii is very spread out and requires hours of walking, Herculaneum is much smaller and one can walk from one end to the other in less than 5 minutes. While Pompeii offers a vast arena of archeological wonders spread over ½ mile radius; it can take a time and imagination to put your mind's eye back in time to the golden days of life in the town while Ercolano offers almost a complete town to explore. Instead of seeing many single and double walled ruins you can take your time to go inside houses, meeting rooms, shops, bakeries, town halls and baths and see complete spaces from ancient wall paintings to wood doors as they stood in 79 A.D. 

The shear amount of details within the ruins is stunning and will keep even the most restless of the family members happy and eager to explore the ancient past of this great city.