Written by Alexandria Hilton
So, you think you’ve been to Rome?
Candidly, I cannot imagine how people keep finding reasons to go to Italy. I’m in my rookie season, though. This is precisely where the big players make a real difference.
Office veteran, Michelle Andersen has assured me that even if you’ve been to Rome 6 times already, you haven’t exhausted all of your options.
Sure, you’ve been to the Vatican but have you ever visited the summer home of the Pope?
Travelling off-peak is one way to avoid the crowds and it’s something we are surely recommending these days. Another way, though, to tick off your must-see destinations without the risk of a street brawl with a fellow American over a trappizzino in Trastevere is to, quite simply, get out of the city.
Michelle explained to me that to rest your head in Rome proper will suffice; you don’t need to spend all of your time walking the streets of The Eternal City to say you’ve been. “Our guests can, for example, wine-taste themselves along the Apian Way to Castel Gandolfo, ensuring they don’t get caught in the tourist traps and guaranteeing a unique experience.” While undoubtedly there is value in visiting popular destinations, there are many benefits to doing so in a personalized way, a way that accounts for your specific interests.
Don’t for example, wait in a miles-long line to enter the Colosseum if you have no real interest in ancient architecture. Gone are the days of seeing the thing just to see the thing; we are far too globally connected for you to justify spending 8 of your entire family’s 24 precious waking hours in Rome doing anything other than exactly what you want to do.
The question — oh, the million-dollar question — that arises here for me and maybe you as well is, “what exactly do I want to do?”
That’s why we’re here! We want to really give you La Dolce Vita!
There’s not much Michelle hasn’t seen in her 26 years here at ATI so I trust her when she tells me, “There is something worth seeing everywhere. The real magic of what we do is in the connected dots we present to the traveler. We piece together something from nothing, really. And it’s the most rewarding thing about the job; to help people realize what their interests are and, perhaps more importantly, where theirs might overlap with others. That’s how travel connects people, after all.”
She says it all so……. matter-of-fact! Like it’s so obvious! I have certainly visited places and paid, in dollars and time, to see things that I don’t care much about at all just for the sake of saying I’ve done it and in the end, I remember the small things. I remember the smell of the train station or the conversation I had with my brother about what the pigeons could possibly spend so much time talking about…
Michelle assures me that Lake Bracciano and its surrounding areas outside of Rome offer some content seriously worth the visit. There is potential for a really lovely day and so many travelers have not a clue about it. “Just because the castle there, for example, hasn’t shown up on your Instagram feed does not mean it doesn’t exist. In fact, it makes it all the more enticing and special, if you ask me. “
I am called to think, here, of how the sharing and posting that I am so accustomed to has changed how people travel and what their intentions might be. While I can obviously see the challenges associated with our increasingly web-connected world, I am starting to think that there is a real opportunity for a new wave of explorers willing to go off the ever-beaten path.
So, yes, you have been to Rome. But don’t you want to go back and see what we can help you discover?
