Just received this tidbit in an email from my Rome contact.

For the car, you could just go to the Concora booth, though lately we've been using Gianesi because they are more reliable and also cheaper (40 Euros from the airport vs 60 for Concora). They don't have a stand at the airport, but if you send them an email with your flight info they'll have a car waiting for you when you arrive (website: www.gianesibus.it ;email: [email protected]).

This organization has lots of people going back and forth to FCO weekly, so I trust them.

In the past, we used Concora, but we're happy to experiment.

We're scheduled to come in during the March 18th general strike , so instead of the usual fco-trastevere train connecting to the tram a little walk, we'll probably take the car service.

lala

bump...

I will say that our gianese experience was great. I told the dispatcher that we were four people with luggage (one roll aboard and one small bag each), they thought we had "real american luggage" and brought a huge shuttle because of our bags.

The guy laughed when he saw how little luggage we actually had.

They were on time, 70 euros for four of us to FCO and prompt and efficient.

I would recommend them in a heartbeat.

lala

I had a pretty poor experience last month with limoservicerome so I would recommend you avoid them.

Made a reservation for pick-up at FCO to be dropped at the Cavalieri.
Was provided with a drivers' name, Massimo and his cell and he was given mine, flight number etc.
Supposed to be waiting at arrivals with my name on placard.

Arrival on time, but bit slow through Passport control, no driver.
Call Massimo on the cell, excuse given " very bad accident traffic..bad delays" be there in 10 mins.
30 mins later " my driver now pulling into airport" obviously not its not Massimo who is making the pick-up after another 20 mins I decided to take a taxi, fare 55 euro.
Wasted over 1 1/2 hour in a exercise that would have cost 8 euros less, but wait my t-moblie charges came up to almost that anyway.
Moral of the story sometimes its not worth it to save a few bucks.

mike
edited for spelling

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/in...040112_en.html
I might have missed the above link in the first posting. It for setting up the tour of the Scavi beneath St. Peter's. Most fascinating tour for me.

http://www.ostia-antica.org/
Great place to spend a day and bring a picnic.

http://sights.seindal.dk/sight/901_Hadrians_Villa.html
Hadrian's Villa near Tivoli

http://www.villadestetivoli.info/indexe.htm
Villa d Este in Tivoli

Updated. Added three of the four above. I already had one to the Scavi, though not the exact one you provided. Thanks.

I wanted to put my $.02 (or whatever that's worth in Lira), thanks for doing the research and identifying all of these useful links.

You're absolutely welcome! Just add some links when you find them and this will continue to be a useful tool to plan travel.

Added two more.

Here's a link to a cool virtual tour of nearly every room in the Modern Art museum in Rome:

http://www.studioargento.com/gnam.html

Updated....added two more.

Here's a link to the upcoming La Notte Bianca:

http://www.lanottebianca.it/

It's the third year they've done this - it's scheduled for Saturday night, September 17, 2005.

Everything stays open all night long and is mostly free and there are also special events planned...

I'm happy that I'll be able to check it out this year, usually my fall trip happens later in the year. Alot of times I never get in sinc with the time zone - so love the idea of nighttime museum visits - and the "free" part is also, obviously, great!

We just returned (today) from Rome and did a private tour of the Forum/Coliseum + Vatican with Angel Tours Rome for EUR 220 which was about EUR 150+ less than the EUR 65/hour rate quoted by our concierge from some other guide, and was as good as you can get. Angel Tours are operated by guides from Ireland.

Tony at www.threemillennia.com/ does a wonderful job -- he and all his guides are native English speakers with a comprehensive knowledge of Rome, and they provide group and customized private tours.

I just found out that the Domus Aurea has been closed as of December '05.

Since this thread is the most Rome-encompassing (thanks again Dingo!) and many people have shared about visiting Nero's Golden Palace figured I'd post it here.

Came across news in ContextRome's site:
http://rome.contexttravel.com/static/domus.php