Rome in two days guided tour

You tour guide will meet you at the hotel or at another agreed spot in Rome. Rome in 2 days private tour is the best way to visit the main highlights of the City, having a great overview of Rome.
The first day the morning tour includes the main monuments, squares and fountains such as Piazza Venezia, dominated by the massive looming “Wedding Cake” marble honorary monument erected in 1885 to commemorate King Victor Emmanuel II,  Spanish Steps favorite  spot of European nobles, poets, writers and painters in the Romantic age. Keep going to the Quirinal Palace, official residence of the Italian President originally built by Popes in the 1580s as their splendid summer residence and continue your visit to the the Trevi Fountain, the greatest baroque fountain of Rome. Then you will visit the Pantheon constructed by Emperor Hadrian in 120 BC, spanned by a solid concrete dome, the largest in the world.
After a lunch break you will visit the Ancient Rome with Colosseum, Palatine Hill and Roman Forum.
You will enjoy the spectacular panoramic view of the ancient temples from the Capitoline Hill and then have a lovely walk on the Sacred Way which surround the old Roman Forum, hub of political, religious and commercial life during republican and  imperial days and now forming one of the most historical archaeological complexes in the western world. See the Circus Maximus of Ben Hur fame with its impressive views of the sprawling ruins of the Emperors’ Palaces on Palatine Hill.
The second day you will visit the Catacombs on the Old Appian Way.
The Appian way is the most famous, the longest, the straightest of the old Roman roads and also the best preserved. It starts, more or less, from the Baths of Caracalla and in an almost straight line, a good ninety kilometers , joins  Terracina, Capua(in Campania),then goes trough Benevento until Brindisi. It was the outlet of ancient Rome for traffic going East. It was called the “regina VIARUM”, queen of the roads.
Many patrician tombs line it as it was customary then to bury the dead outside the city walls. To whoever travels along it today the Appian way gives rise to powerful pictures-on wagons, people, armies , travelling merchants-and because of many ancient tombs, the sacredness of death.
The Catacombs
The Catacombs are underground burial places, dug by the first Christians between the 2nd and the 3th century to bury their dead and among them some martyrs, too; their presence made the Catacombs real veneration places and this has renowned unaltered over the centuries.
The most visited Catacombs on the Old Appian Way are: San Callisto Catacombs, Domitilla Catacombs, San Sebastiano Catacombs.
San Callisto Catacombs, dating back to the III century A.D. represent the largest Christian catacomb area of Rome. They are distributed on four levels. A great point of interest is the Crypt of the Popes, where nine Popes were buried during the centuries of Christianity.
San Callisto Catacombs are located on Via Appia Antica, 126; they are close on Wednesday and in February.
Domitilla Catacombs
This is a very large building complex which, according to tradition, derives from a small domestic sepulchre, and precisely that of Consul Flavio Clemente’s wife Domitilla
In the interior  the remains of Basilica of Saints Nereo and Achilleo are preserved. Behind the apse of the Basilica is a fresco of Divina Veneranda (Divine Deceased). A little further ahead is the ancient cemetery area of Flavio Aurelio Family. In the area called Good Shepherd, of particular interest are the paintings of the II century A.D.
Catacombs San Sebastiano
The basilica was built during the first half of the IV century and named Basilica Apostolarum. It was transcribed to the apostles Peter and Paul because according to tradition it stands above the catacombs which conserve the bodies of the two martyrs. Around 350A.D. when the relics of the soldier saint Sebastian were transferred  here, both the name of the church and of the catacombs was changed. The basilica was rebuilt in 1613, with one sole nave and a very beautiful wooden ceiling with the portrait of San Sebastian .The catacombs extend on four levels; of  special interest the area called “Triclia“, where some macabre funeral banquettes once took place.
After your lunch break the tour will continue to the Vatican State. Discover the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica escorted by your personal tour guide.

ITINERARY
First day
Morning Tour: Rome City Highlights including the most famous monuments, squares and fountains.
Afternoon Tour:  including the Ancient Rome and the visit inside the Colosseum, Palatine and Roman Forum or Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Basilica.
Second day
Morning Tour: Catacombs and Old Appian way
Afternoon Tour:Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Basilica.