Rome For Less Than €42 Per Day (per person)

view from the roof top terrace

RENT: €1297
Our studio flat in the Monti District was amazing!  We had plenty of room, a secret passageway, a roof top terrace (with a view of the Colosseum), and a super cute piazza right across the street.  We were close to everything and the neighbourhood was adorable.  We couldn't have asked for a better introduction to the city.

FOOD: €380, Dining Out + €208, Groceries
Our most expensive meal throughout the trip was at the Amsterdam airport on our return (€52.34).  Our most expensive meal in Rome (and also our favourite), however, was only €33 (including drinks and dessert).  Most of our meals were only €12 (including wine or beer), though.

Groceries were expensive.  We did find 1 litre boxes of wine for €1 (it met our standards) and the Limoncello was only €5 for a bottle but the food options were disappointing.  There were no freshly baked breads, no pastries, no soup.  The prosciutto cotto and salami were reasonable at the deli counter (and offered us an opportunity to engage like locals) and we did find some ready-made chicken cordon bleu which we paired with noodles but, otherwise, our meals didn't really vary much; pasta most every night.

Vatican Museum

ENTERTAINMENT: €47
We went to the Borghese Gallery (€29) and Vatican Museum, which only cost us €18 because the nice guy behind the counter applied Mike's student discount to both of us.  Otherwise, we entertained ourselves by visiting all the free churches and piazzas and just wandering the picturesque city streets.

TRAVEL: €50
We visited the Lido di Ostia twice (€8), Tivoli (€8.60), and Castel Gandolfo which was only €3.80 but should have been double that.  We bought two one way tickets, assuming we'd buy the return tickets at the Castel Gandolfo station if we couldn't grab a bus back (like we did in Tivoli) but the station didn't have ticket purchasing facilities and there were no buses.  Thus, we jumped on the train and crossed our fingers.  No one came to check our ticket, so our return trip was free.  We also rode the Metro a few times (€1 buys you a ticket good for 75 minutes) and the airport transfers cost us €20.

GIFTS: €40
It cost us €1 for 20 postcards but €31.15 for postage (we'll be rethinking this practise in the future).  I also bought a few gifts for colleagues back home.

GRAND TOTAL
The grand total for our trip was €29.35 per day for expenses and €54.04 per night for accommodations, totalling €41.69 per person per day.  Another budget trip to be proud of.