Visited Venice and now in Como/Bellagio. Next week in Cinque Terre, Amalfi and finish in Rome. Any suggestions on must dos in any of those places. What is the best way to avoid crowds in Rome while still going to the main attractions?

I am not a fan of tours at all but my wife is. In Rome a day after Christmas she booked a tour of the Vatican. There were two lines, those that will wait for hours and us. Did the exact same for the colosseum. If you don't want to wait in long lines book the tours.

We used this group for both Rome and Florence back in 2019. Did private tours for just my wife and myself. Was awesome. Guides met us each day at the hotel, and away we went. As others have mentioned, the lines are crazy and not sure how we would have managed without their help…..

https://www.yourownitaly.com/

Thanks Mule.

The crowds in Rome will be unavoidable around the major tourist areas. I would try to pick some neighborhoods out of the center to go have dinner each evening. I found Monti to be much less crowded in the evenings. I also enjoyed San Lorenzo, Aventine, and Testaccio.

Tours of the main sites and wandering out of the city center is the ticket

+1 for private tours.

As for specific recommendations, one option that is often overlooked is to visit Ostia. It is a remarkably well preserved and mostly intact Roman city that you can walk through. It is similar to Pompeii but on a smaller scale and way less commercial. When we visited a few years back in April there was hardly anyone there, and we were able to explore a whole city of Roman ruins almost by ourselves…one of the major highlights of our trip.

We did a tour on e-bikes out the Appian Way and to Aqueduct Park. It was one of our favorite days in Rome. https://www.topbikerental.com/rome-bike-tours/appian-way-catacombs

A few things that people don't usually see if they're on the 2 or 3 day Rome itinerary.

The Baths of Caracalla - massive public bath structure that still stands. We didn't use a guide for it and purchased the ticket w/the "3d viewer" that shows images of what it looked like in its original days.

Tivoli - Hadrian's Villa - we had a private guide and were the first into the complex by at least 30 minutes. It was incredible to walk the areas without another tourist in site. Hadrian's Villa is incredible.

Tivoli - Villa de Este - beautiful multi-tiered estate with thousands of waterfalls, all naturally spring fed.

Tivoli - Bonus points if you can eat at Sibilla. We sat right next to the temple. Excellent meal to match the scenery.

Edit: We also used https://www.yourownitaly.com/ for our trip. We booked the Baths referenced above on our own used these people for most everything else. We intentially left our last day (day before flying home early) open so that we could add stuff on our own. B of C was one of those items.

Thanks again for all the replies. Enjoying Monterroso for a few days and then to Rome.

Post any tips/restaurants you have for Cinque Terre here. My wife and I are spending a few days there later this summer

Jumping in here. Wife and I are planning our first trip out in late October. Probably flying into bologna as it costs the least generally and is sort of central. Any tips on booking flights and stays separately or as a package? We plan to do public transport and walk a lot. Might spend half the trip staying in bologna and the other half in Rome, 7-8 days or so. Just looking for tips and ideas.