I have recently experienced what it means to be in Rome, about a month ago I had a dilemma where to spend a mini-holiday in Italy, I was torn between Bari, Tuscany, Rome or Milan.
In the end I chose Rome.
After going through your post I realized that Milan is also an amazing city worth visiting, and yes very beautiful photos you captured here.
Thank you for reinforcing my idea to visit Milan.
I have a plan to visit Rome and Vatican City because it's my long-time wish. I couldn't visit Rome because my last Italy trip was to visit cities like Venice, Milan, Genoa, and Lake Como; so we didn't have time for Rome. You made the right decision to visit Rome and I saw your post about the fountain. Milan is not historical like Rome but if you like to explore the metropolitan city with Fashion, Milan would be nice to explore...
Rome is an encyclopaedia of historical monuments, you can see them everywhere and moreover you can learn many details about everything you see.
Unfortunately I only got to visit part of the Vatican, I didn't visit the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, I arrived at the Vatican around 10 am and the queue to visit the Vatican Museums was over 1 kilometer long and honestly I didn't have the patience to stand in line for more than 2 hours (it was too long).
I hope that in the future I will have the opportunity to visit other Italian cities, so far I have visited Venice, Mestre, Treviso and Rome.
I wish you that your plan to visit Rome comes true as soon as possible.
This happened to me when I tried to see inside Duomo di Milano. I thought it was better to see something else rather than wait for a long queue. You have visited some amazing cities, I saw Venice, Pisa, Milan, Lake Como, and Genoa. My next target is rome side and florance... I personally enjoyed my time at Genoa though...
I have to admit that I am not very comfortable wasting my time in line.
But when I want to see a place I've been dreaming about for a long time, I sometimes make an exception.
I wish that your wish to visit Rome and Florence will come true.