10-day Rome & Amalfi Workation Package

Rome is an exciting city to visit and explore from the moment you arrive at the airport. Your Workation representative will meet you and travel with you to your accommodation in the heat of the historic city. Typical Italian cypress trees climb up the border the streets on your way into the city and medieval tower buildings rise over the cobblestone boulevards in the classic Roman neighborhoods. 

Your accommodation will have everything you need for a successful Workation, with amenities pre-screened before your booking. After taking your time to visit your accommodation, you can walk the neighborhood to get grounded in your time in Rome. If you are in the Tridenti neighborhood, you can walk down the boulevard lined with luxury shops like Gucci, Fendi, and Valentino, each decorated with elaborate window displays. 

Focus:
Walk around your new neighborhood and enjoy the sounds and aromas. Turn on your timer. How long does it take before you check your phone?

Suggestion:
Get acclimated to your new surroundings by trying a typical local dish like cacio e pepe or suppli. 

Start your morning with a unique opportunity to visit the Vatican Museum before opening hours. You can travel to St. Peter’s Square for your introduction to Vatican City and view the dome designed by Michelangelo that towers over the plaza and acts as a beacon for pilgrims. 

The Vatican Museums have more than 70,000 artifacts on display, including the famous Sistine Chapel. You can enjoy a typical espresso in the gardens, eat a deliciously sweet pastry, before moving through the galleries with a guide. The Sistine Chapel acts as the end of the tour and you can find the frescoes scaling the front wall and layering the ceiling. You may recognize biblical interpretations circling the central figures depicting the “Creation of Man.”

Focus:
View Raphael’s “School of Athens.” Close your eyes and notice if you can see the color and light. Does it have the same effect? 

Suggestion:
Don’t miss Michelangelo’s “Pieta” inside St. Peter’s Basilica. Tour the Layers of Rome’s History

Rome is a city easily recognised by the images of the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. You can meet with a guide and explore the spirit of the former empire, walking through the historic architecture before you start your work week. The Colosseum once held up to 50,000 people and still offers summer concert performances. You may visit the top of the structure where you can look down into the Hypogeum, where the gladiators once warmed up before their time on stage.

You can continue your tour through the Renaissance and Baroque monuments in the city taking you from the Trevi Fountain to Piazza Navona, the Pantheon to the Spanish Steps. The steps are paved with marble and connect the Church of Trinita dei Monti with the piazza below. The elegant design of the staircase frames the church spires.

Focus:
Walk the Piazza Navona and look for the artists painting the surrounding scenery. What catches your eye? Try to memorize the details. After leaving the piazza, can you remember what the piece was and how it looked? 

Suggestion:
Visit the artisan shops to see the locally made paper, notebooks, and leather goods around the piazza.

Rome is both traditional and experimental in its cuisine, using the culinary past to inspire the future. Home to local dishes that reflect the importance of connecting to Italy’s food heritage, you can finish your first day of work in Rome with the promise of delicious dishes that demonstrate the spirit of the city’s past, present, and future. 

You can find dishes known as national staples, famous around the world for their simple ingredients that result in massive flavor, such as cacio e pepe. Your guide may lead you to a restaurant known for cooking pasta alla Carbonara, which combines egg yolk, pecorino cheese, and black pepper coating spaghetti or tonnarelli noodles for a rich, delicious, and filling dish that really captures Rome’s heart. 

Focus:
Sip a glass of wine at an outdoor cafe, close your eyes, and see if the surrounding smells and food affect the characteristics of the wine. 

Suggestion:
Try the different flavors of gelato from a variety of shops. See which one you like the best and why.

After work, you can spend time exploring the hidden corners of Rome. The neighborhoods each have their own distinct personality, and visiting each one can give you a very different perspective of the city as a whole. The neighborhood of Monti is close to the Colosseum and Roman Forum but can feel miles away. Restaurants and boutique shops surround the Piazza della Madonna dei Monti where locals tend to sit and relax with a drink. Depending on the street, you may see the tip of the Colosseum reaching above the surrounding buildings. 

In the neighborhood of Prati, you can find a more contemporary food scene and architecture developed in the 19th century, which makes it practically brand new for Rome. Restaurants and bars open their doors to music and a lively atmosphere beneath the towering dome of St. Peter’s Basilica making it a great place to find an unforgettable dinner. 

Focus:
Keep an eye out for different neighborhood cultures as you explore the hidden neighborhoods around Rome. What details tell the neighborhoods apart; the architecture, the restaurants, the atmosphere?  

Suggestion:
Find the Pyramid of Cestius if you have time for a different view of Rome and its history. 

You can once again start work early and focus on your necessary projects before meeting your Workation representative. You will travel to the train station and board a high-speed train to Naples where you can use the wifi to keep your workflow at pace. Balance the time staring at your screen with looking out the window at the scenery as it changes from hills to towns, mountains to the sprawl of the coastal city. 

You will continue around the Bay of Naples to reach the Amalfi Coast and the quintessential town of Positano squeezed between the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Lattari Mountains. Your central accommodation will give you access to the charming atmosphere cast by the combination of sea breeze, aromatic pastas, and colorful homes that shine white, yellow, and blue. 

Focus:
Enjoy a limoncello tasting. Close your eyes and pay attention to the layered flavors, and smells to see the different kinds of limoncello that can be made. 

Suggestion:
Visit the shops in Positano and meet with a famous cobbler who makes leather sandals by hand. 

The Amalfi Coast is legendary in its ability to charm the international Glitterati with colorful towns, gorgeous coastline, and beautiful islands. Spend your early hours working and adhering to the ritual you have created to feel comfortable easing into your schedule. At the end of the day, you can travel a portion of the Amalfi Coast to view the distinctive towns that each carry their own personality. 

The bronze doors on the Amalfi Cathedral represent the maritime power’s affluent centuries. The majolica tiles decorating the church of Santa Maria Assunta’s dome in Positano add a quintessential Mediterranean touch to the skyline. In Ravello, you can enjoy the impressive panorama that spreads across the coastline when visiting the terraces at Villa Rufolo or Villa Cimbrone Gardens.

Focus:
Walk freely among the historic towns and create a story about the streets and tower homes around the churches decorated with majolica tiles. 

Suggestion:
Visit the Villa Cimbrone Gardens in Ravello for one of the best views of the Amalfi Coast.

After work, you can bring in the weekend by learning the art of Italian cuisine from a local chef.  Experience the joys of a pizza-making class that specializes in the traditions of Neapolitan pizza. Each region of Italy has its own style and flavors but Naples is the original pizza with a recipe dating back to the 19th century.

Learn the steps for making the dough and how to create an easy circle. Try not to overload the dough with toppings, or it will become too heavy and won’t transfer easily into the oven. The kitchen can quickly fill with the smells of roasted tomatoes, garlic, and basil. You may learn how to check if a pizza is done cooking just by the look of the dough before you take your first bite.

Focus:
Focus on the directions for making pizza. Listen intently and pay attention to each detail. When the pizza is cooking, what do you hear, smell, see? What sense is the most powerful in this moment? 

Suggestion:
Make sure you eat the pizza with a fork and knife rather than cutting it into slices. 

With a full day to explore, you can spend time relaxing on Positano’s beach or visit the archeological parks of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The cities were buried in ash and pumice during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE, but the layers of soil have protected the cities from deteriorating with time and the moisture in the seaside air.  

Pompeii is massive and covers nearly five square miles. You can visit with a guide to focus on the most interesting points of the city including the remains of the Roman Forum and the public baths. You can quickly see the activities of daily life where food vendors stood near shrines and temples. At Herculaneum, you can continue to uncover the past by walking the preserved streets, seeing columns still painted with the original colors, and visiting an inn that possesses a fantastic wall painting. 

Focus:
Visit the museum in Pompeii and notice the outlines of the artifacts cast in ash. Does it tell more of the story of the eruption? 

Suggestion:
Don’t miss the excellent frescoes in the Sacello degli Augustali when visiting Herculaneum. 

Sundays in Positano can feel quiet and serene before church. Locals take their time enjoying an espresso and a sweet pastry, the sounds of crashing waves or the church bells echoing through the streets. You can join them in the Sunday ritual before meeting your Workation representative and traveling around the Bay of Naples to reach the international airport. 

You can travel home or continue your Workation experience in another city in Italy. The Italian peninsula also has easy connections to other cities great for Workation, so your combination of work and exploration doesn’t have to end.. 

Focus:
Enjoy the beauty of town in the morning with a quick espresso and pastry at the local bar. Observe others around you one last time before leaving for the airport.

Suggestion:
Naples has notoriously bad traffic. Leave early to account for possible delays.