Our Founder Writes for Wonderlust on The Rome You Don't Know Jesse Andrews shares where Romans actually stay, eat and escape to, far from the queues.
Rome is always busy, but it does not have to feel crowded. In a feature for Wonderlust, our founder maps out the neighborhoods, tables and day trips that most visitors never find.
Our Rome, in the Pages of Wonderlust
A local guide to the Eternal City, from a team that calls it home.
Wonderlust published a feature by Jesse Andrews, our CEO and founder, on how to experience Rome without the crowds. It was written during the 2025 Jubilee, when millions of pilgrims came to the city, but the advice holds in any year.
As a tour operator and private driver service headquartered in Rome, we have spent more than 20 years steering travelers toward the quieter side of the city.
Rome is easier to love once you know which neighborhood to call home.
Choose the Neighborhood, Not Just the Hotel
Rome covers more than 1,280 square kilometers, and the best of it is not around Via Veneto.
Jesse's first piece of advice is to pick the right base. Ostia, the ancient port, pairs an archaeological park with beaches and is under 45 minutes from the center by train. Parioli is green and elegant, right beside Villa Borghese. Monteverde sits above Trastevere with wide views, daily markets and fair prices.
For something more central she points to Trastevere itself, to quiet Prati near the Vatican, and to San Giovanni, a short walk from the Colosseum and full of everyday Roman life.
The best tables in Rome are in the streets most visitors never walk.
Dine Where the Romans Do
The city has more than 14,500 restaurants, and the best tables are in the streets most visitors skip.
The article sends readers to Testaccio, Pigneto, Ostiense, Garbatella and Monteverde, where the dining rooms are filled with locals and a reservation is still essential.
It also lists the Rome that checklists miss: the Jewish Ghetto, birthplace of the fried artichoke, Tiber Island in the middle of the river, the bike paths along its banks, and Gianicolo Hill, where a cannon fires every day at noon and the sunset is worth the climb.
Rome is only the beginning.
Lazio, Rome's Backyard
Lakes, wine hills and seaside towns, most of them within about 45 minutes of the capital.
Rome is only the beginning. Jesse closes with the region around it: Lake Bracciano and the villages of Trevignano Romano and Anguillara, the Castelli Romani wine towns of Frascati, Ariccia and Castel Gandolfo, the seaside at Fregene and Santa Marinella, and the UNESCO villas of Tivoli.
These are the places we build into our own Rome itineraries. Tell us what you have in mind and we will plan it around you.
