The screenplay was written by Ruth Brooks Flippen based on characters created by Frederick Kohner.

College-bound Gidget (Cindy Carol) is vacationing in Rome for the summer with faithful boyfriend Jeff, aka Moondoggie (James Darren) and their friends.

In a parody of La Dolce Vita, Gidget attends a high society party and goes into the Trevi Fountain.

Bosley Crowther noted in the New York Times of 12 September 1963:When Gidget, played with the proper pout and correct ingenuousness by Cindy Caroll [sic], arrives in Rome with her group of happy friends, she is bound to fall in love with a married and handsome Italian magazine writer, enjoy such exotic delicacies as fettucini and chicken cacciatore, and experience the thrill of attending a 'Dolce Vita' cocktail party.

Jeff sums up the entire experience in two immortal sentences: 'I guess everybody falls in love in Rome in the summer time.