1) Wake up early if you want to Avoid the crowd;
2) Make a list, not a planned tour: Rome itself is a museum, so there is a good chance that you will keep going with a crowd instead of following the plan. Just make a list of things you want to see.
3) Download the helpful apps.
4) When in Rome, live like a local: the farther you live from the center, the more you will enjoy. There is nothing better than coming back to Italian neighborhood after a chaotic day as a tourist. During our stay in Rome, we lived in the beautiful Airbnb apartment 30 minutes away from the center, and we couldn’t be happier about it!
5) Rome is not cheap, but you can get the best food for less if you simply Google where locals eat. If you come in and hear mostly Italian language — that’s the place to be in. This is a great way to avoid frozen pizzas and poor-quality food.
6) Start your day with coffee and croissant, drink water from nasoni (drinking fountains) and end it with aperitivo in Trastevere.
7) Go to Naples: this is where the best pizza is made.
8) Use italotreno to get to destinations: it’s fast, comfortable and clean.
9) If you fly from the USA: change for T-mobile — they give you unlimited data with no extra charge.
10) Use public transport: it’s a great and cheap way to get you to destinations anytime. You will save a fortune by using bus rather than a taxi. Alternatively, download an app called “mytaxi“ if you really need to use a cab.

                                                                             XX,
Gena.