The Eternal City Rome and Its Environs

This is one of Mr. O’s favorite excursions. We spend an intensive week in the City of Rome. In addition to the Classical sites such as the Forum Romanum and the Colosseum, we also visit the offbeat, to include the Via Appia, Tomb of the Scipios, the Catacombs, the Aurelian Wall, Ostia Antiqua. The trip also includes an excursion to Hadrian’s Villa in Tivoli, and visits to the Capitolium Musuem and Vatican City. Ping Mr. O at timothy.p.oflaherty@mroteaches.com

for costs, itineraries and details.

Please note, all Itineraries are heavy on walking

Our itinerary will be as follows:

• 12 APR: Departure from Logan International Airport on the late afternoon of April 12 to take a "red eye" overseas to Fiumicino Airport in Rome.

• 13 APR: Land in Rome. I'll pick up my van rental, which will hold 9 passengers (more on this below). Check into our lodgings, a B&B along the Via Appia Antica. After check in, move to the nearby Tomb of Metella to take public transit via bus to downtown Rome. Here we will start an orientation tour, followed by an early dinner. We return via public transport back to our B&B.

• 14 APR: The Roman Forum, Palatine, Capitolium Museum and, of course, the Colosseum. Also included will be Trajan's Market, and as it is a Sunday, and it's open, the Emperor Nero's Golden House on the Esquiline. Lunch on your own. Dinner in the Eternal City.

• 15 APR: On Mondays, the major museums are closed. The smaller churches, however, are open to the public. This day will include the Roman street level of Santo Clemente where underneath the church's altar is the Mithraeum Shrine. We will visit the church of the Capuchin monks, Santo Luigi, where several famous Carravagio paintings are displayed. We will visit Santo del Populo, where more Carravagio paintings are located. We will visit the Piazza Navona as well as the Pantheon, where Rafael is buried. Dinner in the City.

• 16 APR: Early morning departure to Vatican City to see both the Museo Vaticano (in the Morning), a lunch break, then in the afternoon the Saint Peter's Basilica itself. A stop at Piazza Fiori to shop for victuals to make our own Italian dinner back at our B&B.

• 17 APR: An enjoyable day to Tivoli, to take in the massive palatial villa of the Emperor Hadrian. Dinner in Tivoli. Return to the B&B.

• 18 APR: The Via Appia Antica, to include the Claudian Aqueduct, the Villa Quintili, the brothers murdered on trumped up treason charges so the Emperor Domitian could confiscate their estate for his own use, several tombs, to include the Scipios, the slave, freedwomen and Freedmen Mausoleum of Livia Augusta (We'll take lunch here), build by the empress to house the remains of those humble servants who waited on her hand and foot. The Catacombs of Saint Sebastian, patron saint of soldiers, Metella's Tomb, and the Aurelian Wall. Dinner back at our B&B.

• 19 APR: Early morning departure to return to Fiumicino, and our connecting flight back to Logan Airport, Massachusetts.

I want to emphasize that this is an educational trip. There's going to be an intense focus on topography, epigraphy, history, art history, and architecture. We're doing a lot of walking. Make sure you have comfortable shoes, and something appropriate to enter the churches, which have dress codes (No jeans and no cutoffs; I'll send out a packing list later).

COST: I'm looking at approximately $2,500, subject to change. Most of the sites are either gratis or have minimal entrance fees. You pay for your lunch, incidentals and gifts. The trip covers your airfare (I have got a group quote from Delta), accomodations and museum entrances, as well as your 7-day public transport subway-bus-tram ticket. The cost also includes an evening group meal. The hotel B&B should provide a Continental Breakfast.