Rome Travel Guide
Roma Tourism, Italy

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The Pantheon, Rome.

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Why travel to Rome?
The home of one of the world's greatest ancient civilizations, this magnificent city is loaded with history, artistic and architectural treasures, piazzas, pizzas and the Pope.
Rome's 3,000 years old Centro Storico is a must-see even for artphobes - and it's not an expensive city either, unlike Venice or Florence.

Rome weather:
Best: May-October, very best May, June, October. July and August get very hot and overcrowded so avoid them if possible. Romans celebrate October for especially beautiful weather, but who knows these days? Midsummer temperatures average highs of over 30C [86F] and lows of 15C [59F].
Winter sees most rain [and even snow], though not that much, perhaps one day in three, with average low temperatures of 3C [37F] and highs up to 13C [55F].

Current Rome temperature and time.

Attractions:
Rome [Roma in Italian] is a very romantic, walkable experience and bikeable too, or you could do the Dolce Vita thing and rent a scooter.

Apart from the vast numbers of lovely piazzas [as in square, not thin crust], Roman relics and gorgeous Rome churches you will want to see at least the mega-rich, independent state of the Vatican, its museums [see Top Three Museums below] and the vast Basilica of St. Peters [not as interesting or spectacular internally as many other Roman churches, but big], the vast Colosseum amphitheatre [see Skip the Queues], the remains of the Roman Forum and its triumphal arches, the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain [try it at night], the Pantheon [built by angels according to Michelangelo; way more impressive outside than in], Piazza Navona with its fountains, artists and cafés, Campo dei Fiori open air market and the bustling narrow streets of Trastevere for a real Roman night dining experience.

Getting around:

The metro/tube/subway system is efficient but hardly comprehensive though useful for getting to the Colosseum, Spanish Steps and Vatican Museums. Beware pickpockets at busy times, the Bugcrew had their pockets felt in 2006. See 'Thievery' below.

Cars: Car parks and directional signs are more or less non-existant and outside the centre streets are stuffed with cars parked higgledy-piggledy so don't bring a car here unless you have GPS, nerves of steel and a hotel in Rome with parking! A Smart car would be an excellent choice of vehicle, or - four wheels bad, two wheels good - get around by scooter, though beware cobblestones in the rain.

Walking: Pedestrian crossings are common but walkers need to develop a system to use them effectively because vehicles will not stop at crossings unless compelled to do so. e.g. by your lurching body. This is the way it works: stand at the beginning of the crossing and look at driver's eyes. If they don't stop [most unlikely], start to cross confidently when there is a reasonable gap in the traffic, but maintain eye contact with drivers to check they are actually slowing down. By law they should stop, though Italians have a well-known disregard for the law - but at the same time they really don't want to maim or kill you.

Arts/Culture:
Museums and Galleries: Rome has an amazing variety of art offerings, not just a line up of pricey paintings; hundreds of spectacular and sometimes bizarre marble statues for a start...

The Top Three Museums are:

The Vatican Museums, Musei Vaticani. Perhaps the richest collection of art in the world, the 12 museums include Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel and Raphael's four fresco rooms as well as the best of Roman, Etruscan, Greek, Egyptian, Assyrian and modern religious art, but are always crowded and a long line may be anticipated to get in.
The full 7kms [4 miles] and 1,400 rooms of sights will need at least two days of attention but there are colour-coded highlight walks.
The museums are not in St. Peters Basilica. They're a little out of the city centre but easily walkable from the Piazza Navona area or take the tube to Cipro-Musei Vatican. Skip the Vatican Queues. More Vatican information.

The Capitoline Museums are dead centre Rome, built on the low hill where the city originated and designed by the city's favourite artist, Michelangelo. No queues here, plenty of space and focussed on wonderful Greek and Roman sculptures though there are some excellent paintings too.

Galleria Borghese: A small but perfectly formed collection of sculpture and paintings, including Bernini's Apollo and Daphne, this museum requires a reservation in advance to get in. How to get into Galleria Borghese.
It's a hassle to get to as it's a bit north of centre and has no metro running nearby so expect a long walk or taxi ride, but art lovers must see this.

Dance/Opera:
Teatro Olimpico has the best reputation for dance.
The Filarmonica is for ethnic and contemporary.
The Opera season runs from Nov-Mar at Teatro dell' Opera; in summer it moves outdoors [eg. Stadio Olimpico, Baths of Caracalla] and the prices come down.
Theatre: Teatro Agora holds a short season of international theatre in other languages, while the Colosseo Ridotto presents English language shows every week.
Live Music: The city's more in favour of jazz than rock with plenty of venues
Check 'Time Out' for event info/listings. Ticket Office 'Orbis' is at Piazza Esquilino.

Thievery:
Termini station [Stazione Centrale Roma Termini]- where the metro, overground rail networks, buses and tourist buses all meet near Rome's centre - big, complex, busy and not short of pickpockets, so don't leave wallets in unsecured pockets and put shoulder bags around necks to the front.
Italy also apparently suffers from the less subtle snatching of valuables by scippatori, who may rip jewelry, wallets, handbags or even watches off and disappear, sometimes on scooters. The Bugcrew saw no evidence of bag-snatching, but caught strange fingers fumbling at a velcroed Bugpocket in the subway! It is advisable to tone down the blatant wearing of expensive goodies. Save the flash for Paris.
See Safety Guide

Day trips out:
Why bother when there's a lifetime of sights in the city? Well, if you must escape for a few hours...

Try Ostia Antica for ancient Roman ruins [n.b. not tacky Ostia seaside town]; Tivoli for Hadrian's spectacular Villa Adriana, fountains and landscaped gardens [40kms out of Rome]; medieval Viterbo with its great town wall and nearby Bomarzo's tranquil, wacky scuplture garden Parco dei Mostri [a favourite of Mr S. Dali]; Terracina for big, calm, uncrowded white sand beaches with minimum life support or Sperlonga for the full monte Italian beach resort experience.
Note that if you're driving signposting is dreadful and views are generally not much better.

Food:
Rome has plenty of little trattorias that serve excellent meals at the right price, but don't expect much other than classic, low-end Italian cuisine...pastas, pizzas, salads and excellent ice-cream [gelato]. International cuisine or even wildly different Italian is hard to come by.

Fast foods and sandwiches are common.
Some establishments don't have English menus so if you are a gourmet or even just like to know what you're eating then study up on the Italian language of food.

BTW, one guide book of much repute had several pages of food names but overlooked the translation of 'the bill please'! [il conto per favore].

The Trastevere area on the left bank of the river is a bit of a hike to reach [no metro stop] but interesting, evocative, very local [as opposed to touristic] and bursting with tiny eateries, while streets around Piazza Navona offer nice little places with reasonable prices, though prices often get silly at restaurants on actual piazza's.
The oldest pizzeria is said be Da Ricci in Via Genova, the best is Dar Poeta in Trastevere.
For vegetarians try Margutta Vegetariano in via Margutta.

Accommodation:
Longish-stay visitors or those on a tight budget who like to cater for themselves may like to rent an apartment, though they are often a bit of a walk from the core attractions, so check here for good value, well-organised Rome self catering apartments that also include centrally located places if you book ahead or travel out of season.
The subway system is neither very convenient nor safe during busy times from tourist hot-spots when pickpockets roam with apparent impunity but if you're traveling in/out from a suburb there should be few problems.
If it's possible stay in a Rome hotel near the centre, this is a wonderful walking city but you'll need to recharge your batteries [literally and metaphorically] frequently!

Shopping:
Rome offers some stunning high quality goods in original and imaginative designs and fantastic varieties of colours. Shoes, gloves and other leatherwear, cotton clothing, kitchenware, all stylish but reasonably priced.

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