Today, we’ll explore the lesser-known corners of the papal city. We’ll begin our day in St. Peter’s Square, where we’ll learn about the symbols hiding throughout the monumental complex, before visiting an unusual location within the Vatican. As for lunch—roll up your sleeves! We’ll be helping to prepare our meal in a hands-on cooking class, where we’ll gain an appreciation for how the Italians do pasta. Afterward, we’ll enjoy a private tour of the towering Castel Sant'Angelo, the mausoleum of the ancient Roman emperor Hadrian, where we’ll explore hidden corridors, dark dungeons, and the ornate bathroom of Pope Clement VII, who used the building as a fortress. This evening is yours to relax, wander, and take dinner at your leisure.

Today, we’ll step inside the opulent, ornate structures constructed by 17th-century Popes in exaltation of the Catholic church. We’ll see the era through the eyes of the scholar and occultist Athanasius Kircher, retracing his steps and exploring the Jesuit church of Sant’Ignazio and its educational campus, the Collegio Romano, as well as the magnificent Biblioteca Casanatense, a library that contains more than 400,000 volumes and manuscripts. Afterwards, we’ll relax over lunch at an elegant restaurant located in Palazzo Pamphilj. In the afternoon, we’ll visit the Piazza Navona, a square built atop the site of an ancient Roman stadium, featuring an obelisk and stunning fountains designed by the sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini. We’ll unpack the influence of magic and Egyptian symbols on the design before continuing on to the nearby Palazzo Pamphilj. After some free time to enjoy an espresso or roam further on your own, we’ll gather for a special visit and performance at the Mirabilia Gallery of Giano Del Bufalo, a contemporary cabinet of curiosities overflowing with natural treasures and rarities. Surrounded by unusual creatures and keepsakes, we’ll sit back, relax, and enjoy a private musical performance.

Today, we’ll journey to the funerary and supernatural worlds. As we wind through the the Ghetto di Roma—the historic Jewish ghetto, founded in the mid-1500s—we’ll hear ghost stories, including one about Beatrice Cenci, a noblewoman who murdered her powerful father and threw him off a balcony. Next, we’ll head to Isola Tiberina, an island in the Tiber river that was once home to the Temple of Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine. The island’s Fatebenefratelli hospital sheltered Jews during the Holocaust by diagnosing them with a made-up disease that kept Nazi investigators away. Rather than go inside the hospital, we’ll be going beneath it, paying a visit to the Confraternita dei Sacconi Rossi crypt. Afterwards, we’ll enjoy lunch at a cozy local spot in Trastevere, a district on the western shore of the Tiber river. After lunch, we’ll visit the historic pharmacy at the monastery of Santa Maria della Scala, which for centuries doled out remedies and antidotes to poisons, including some treatments derived from herbs grown on the premises. 

Today, we’ll ascend Aventine Hill, which was variously home to temples to Juno and Minerva, before passing into the self-governing hands of the Knights Templar and Knights of Malta. Through a keyhole in their garden, you’ll catch a glimpse of the Vatican City. Then, we’ll continue to Santa Maria del Priorato, a church designed by the artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi. We’ll enjoy lunch at Apuleius, a restaurant decorated in the imperial Roman style, in a neighborhood known as Rome’s "Beverly Hills." After lunch, we’ll make our way further down the hill toward the Circus Maximus, the ancient stadium famous for chariot races, historical spectacles, and ceremonies and located next to a secret, sunken temple to the god Mithras. We’ll also take a peek at the Bocca della Verità, or “mouth of truth,” a slack-jawed marble mask with an uncertain past, as well as one last visit before we end for the evening.

On our last day, we’ll spend the morning exploring the Domus Aurea, the vast (and unfinished) imperial mansion built by the emperor Nero, where we’ll be guided through its grand rooms by a local archaeologist. Once encrusted with jewels, ivory, marble, gold leaf, and frescoes, it’s now being carefully excavated and conserved. Afterward, we’ll part ways for the afternoon; you can take the time to explore the Colosseum, Roman Forum, or Palatine Hill on your own, grab a bite in one of the nearby restaurants, or simply rest before our fabulous final evening. We’ll travel back in time to 18th-century masquerades as we attend a private concert with the Marquis Corso Patrizi Montoro in his family’s elegant residence, the Palazzo Patrizi Montoro. To cap off the evening, we’ll enjoy a delicious final dinner and plentiful glasses of wine at the Hostaria dell'Orso, an elegant restaurant inside a 15th-century palazzo, where we’ll raise one last toast to our Roman adventures.